Can you become an FBI agent (job application, credit check, applications, degree)
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They don't care if your dad is a felon -- as long as you aren't and that you don't have ties to terrorists.
Criminal justice degree, of course you can.What's more important is your experience. You can't even apply unless you have a bachelor's degree plus 2-3 years experience. There are some certifications (especially in IT) which may waive a year. I have not looked at the requirements in a while, so I'm not 100% sure.
That being said, they lay out all of the requirements for you.
The first bolded part is technically incorrect. You can apply with a CJ (with 3 years work experience) but chances are that your application is going to the shredder. A CJ degree alone means nothing to the FBI. That degree and a degree in Art history hold the exact same value to an FBI recruiter: they are both Bachelors'. With that said what he wrote about experience is true. If you have a Bachelors in a non preferred field; you must have a specialized skill experiance in order to be taken seriously. For example, a Bachelor's in Art history with fluency in a language deemed critical to the FBI would qualify. A Bachelor's in CJ with 5 years of experience in law enforcement (road patrol) would not (only experience as a detective in a LE agency counts as qualified experience).
The last part I bolded from unixfed is 100% correct. You should really go on the FBI website. They make their requirements very clear and easy to understand. You will get a better idea there then any forum you can visit.
https://www.fbijobs.gov/eligibility Hint: look under "current FBI needs." If you don't fall under one of those categories you don't have a chance in hell unless you have a connection. Also, "diversified" under the needs is just a legal way of them hiring those that have a connection so don't let that give you false hope. In short you need a bachelors, need to meet the age requirement and have 2-3 years of employment history in one of their "needs" category for them to even give you a chance at being an agent.
Last edited by griffon652; 02-01-2016 at 02:40 PM..
In their own way, and based on their own experiences, all of the previous posters have some tips. Mine are a bit dated (because I'm retired), but you can make it. You just have to try harder than everyone around you.
A CJ degree isn't of great value to the Bureau because about 90% of applicants have one. What they are looking for are Masters degrees, accounting degrees, forensics degrees, law degrees, people who speak foreign languages (Arabic speakers are really in vogue right now) and scientists. Airplane pilots get preferences, too - they have their own Air Force.
Back in my day, minorities were sought; caucasian males with a CJ degree were cannon fodder. In 1986, two of every class of thirty were white males with CJ degrees. 28 of 30 were something else. Be something else.
One thing the Bureau doesn't do is hire kids right out of college. They want to see you work for someone else for five years or so because they want to evaluate your employment record. Here's a secret - hire on as a clerk at the FBI right out of college and work there for three or four years, and then apply to be an agent. They tend to get picked up first. (We used to call them 'clagents.')
The 'hire before 37' rule has to do with current retirement law. You have to have a total of 20 years in federal service by the time you reach 57 in order to get your pension. All 1811s face mandatory retirement at 57.
To be successful in the Bureau, you have to want to enforce federal law really, really badly - and be willing to sacrifice a lot to do it. If you are willing to work harder than everyone else around you, you can make it in. I highly recommend it over the other 80 or so federal LE agencies - if enforcing federal law is your goal. (And I used to sit on an applicant interview board. )
The Agency is an entirely different story. If you want to go that direction, send me a PM and I'll send you some thoughts.
Stage one - you need a LAW DEGREE in most cases to be an FBI agent, or an advanced degree beyond your 4 years. No this isn't a job for Barney Fife with a GED.
CIA by the way (someone mentioned it) - nothing to do with law enforcement (put your James Bond fantasies away), they are looking for analysts - technical skills, etc. White collar jobs mostly.
FBI:
Accounting (forensic especially - following the money trail)
Finance (the best get recruited by the opposing team i.e. Wall Street, K Street firm$)
IT Tech specialists (communications / computers / quantitative research analysts)
Language (Arabic especially, Russian)
Law (again the best get recruited by the opposing team i.e. Wall Street, K Street firm$)
As a family friend who made it to SA explained to me in my university years when I expressed interest, "It's 95-99 percent of time spent observing and writing reports about what you (and others) observed". Unlike Unixfed's experience, at the time family friend made it, you got stuck in remote field office and had to work back to larger metro office- though that may have changed.
So you better like sitting around and writing unless you have some tech skill that you can be a subject matter expert. Don't let mass media induced images skew the reality.
One other avenue you may want to try is State Department service. The State Department is one area where "Agency" types get placed. State Department takes many of same areas of study but may give more sway for specialty, especially language dual degree holders. They are also highly selective.
With a criminal justice degree... or a dad who is a felon?
Frankly, I think we're looking at this all wrong!
"I want to join the FBI"...(Sheesh) OK, you will get them crawling up your backside and checking every nook and cranny. you have to fit a profile, have a college degree (2 or 3 can't hurt) and basically be a sort of "Preppy" looking guy/gal to get a foot in the door...
But not with SPECTRE or COBRA, heck you can ASK, that's it. Just ASK! No need for a college degree, it's really a simple interview.
"HI welcome to Cobra, pick of the gun on the desk and shoot that innocent person in that chair"
"Bang!"
"Welcome to Cobra, we have three hots a cot and hot looking women (Or males if you prefer) and we'll start taking over the world and crushing any rebellion. Ready?"
"I don't need a degree?
"Dude, you just committed murder, we don't need no stinking degree!"
"Oh yeah!, great! Ummm, what about a pension. retirement ya know?
"If we succeed in taking over the world, you'll have the nicest retirement package ever, even better then what the POTUS gets"
"If we don't?"
"Then you ain't got no worries about retiring...."
I have a nephew who has been an agent for several years now. I can't remember what his degree was in but he was an air policeman in the Air Force for about 8 years prior to going to the FBI. I also don't know what, if any, influence his dad had but the dad had worked in law enforcement for many years, e.g., a jailer, State policeman and an elected county sheriff.
I am now retired but I worked for several years in a Federal regulatory agency. Unfortunately, I could not give you a clue as to how the Feds hire. All agencies are different. However, I am fairly sure my military experience probably helped me getting hired as it probably did my nephew.
With a criminal justice degree... or a dad who is a felon?
Your dad's criminal record shouldn't reflect you, unless he is a terrorist. To work with the FBI/CIA you will have to wait 6 months while they do a thorough background check. You will also have to have a doctor visit to check your health for some types of jobs. Your prior work history will be checked out.
Good luck.
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