Dear kodak,

These positions do not require a four year degree.  Many applicants take these positions to set themselves up for applications to state and local departments as they try to continue night school (mostly criminal justice or law enforcement curriculums).  The three letter word looks good on a resume.

Applicants for these positions do not fare any better than general applicants for special agent positions after getting their degrees.

They work tough constantly rotating shifts but get exposure which is valued by other departments.

Pretty tough for married individuals because of the difficulty in predicting schedules.

You will still need to go through the poly process which is a 50-50 crapshoot.  You can hit the lottery ticket or be banned for life from most law enforcement postitions if you fail.   

It just depends what is your final destination or goal.

Regards.

Dear kodak,

Positives, paycheck and benefits everyweek including four weeks vacation after three years,  access to information that few people are aware off, some cases are very interesting.

Negatives, you cannot tell anyone about anything interesting about your job because it is all top secret, you cannot impress your friends about what you do because it will be frowned upon by the security people of the FBI.  The FBI wants you to keep an exceptionally low profile almost to the point that no one is aware of the fact that you work for the FBI period.  The FBI is experiencing a low point of prestige after the 911 commission findings and the Director, to his credit, is fighting with all of his might to keep as much work under the FBI as possible.

You can contact me with specific question via private messages about anything more because I do not want to bore people with the details.

Regards.

Quote:


Fair Chance,

From what I gather you have not been involved w/ folks in the Inv. Specialist postion right? 
 
If so, I was looking mor for information on what a day in the life of an IS is like or what reasons people like the job? 
 
Thanks 

kodak,

Many SSG personnel [not all] are usually hired into what is known within the bureau as Professional Support Positions, generally GS-11 positions. SSG personnel often work directly with Special Agents. They are not issued weapons, nor do they carry a badge. They are however, given bureau cars, credit cards, bureau credentials that look nearly identical to Special Agents. Additionally, they hold TS security clearances. Support personnel attend squad meetings, and are a big part of case workload to include big arrests. They are also allowed overtime if authorized. 

There are various specialties within SSG units and its assigned personnel. For the most part, SSG support personnel are treated no different than SA's, and in some cases, respected more than some agents within SO and SSG units.

A typical day in the life of an SSG support employee is a very interesting and at times, exciting career. It all depends on what you find exciting. If you are assigned to an SSG unit, you will be treated the same as if you were a special agent. Make no mistake about it, SA’s trust, depend on, and rely heavily on their support personnel.

SSG personnel do a lot of surveillance support, photography, and generally works with special types of surveillance and counter intelligence, surveillance equipment, electronics, cameras, computer specialists, various types of analyst, video, audio, etc., etc., and the list goes on.

Do not be fooled into thinking an SSG position is not a desirable job, they are good positions that can lead to other things within the bureau. Look at it as getting a foot in the door, and remember, SSG support positions can lead to higher paying GS support positions out-side of an SSG/SO unit.

Good luck with your future FBI endeavors. .

Knowledge is power, educate yourself on how polygraph exams are administered. 


Triple x

There are not any specific dislikes that I have heard of, they are different from person to person. If there was one, however, probably the biggest would be the hours.  From my understanding they are pretty irregular, you could be required to work at any time, at any hour.  I venture to say that this would make it hard for someone with a family.  The FBI also requires a two year committment for this position, this in itself leads me to believe that they may have trouble keeping people in this position and have high turnover. I suggest that you go this website www.911jobsforum.com, there is an array of information on the investigative specialist position.  You can actually conduct a search and strand upon strand of posts will pop up.  Good Luck!!!

Dear Kodak,

Triple X and Rugger are accurate and as about detailed as you are going to get on a non-secure bulletin board.  Read in between the lines.

Anyone who admits to "being in the know" of "day to day real life experience" of what you want to know is not going to post for good reason.   

You are an anonymous poster on a website trying to get information on how investigative specialist work on a day to day basis.   If you really understood what you are applying for you would not ask such questions and expect a legitimate answer.

Please be patient and understand that you are not going to get details from any legitimate source other than the agency that you are applying for concerning specific day to day likes and dislike about the position.

Regards.

Thanks for the reply. I know that in this particular position the positves can't be divulged b/c of the covert actions of the job. I am looking more for the daily nuiances of the job, why folks that have been doing this for a while either like or dislike the job.

Thanks for any additional feedback you can provide.