Hello everyone,

I just stumbled on this message board and have a quick question.  If you are invited to the "informational session", I know there is a one on one interview there.  What do they ask?  How can one study for it?  Is there also a written test at this point or is that only if you make it to the next stage in the DC area?  If so, what is the best way to study for that.  I guess my question is, what is the general order of things, and how best can one prepare themselves.  Isn't there some kind of personality test too?

Thanks for any help

Anyone1 wrote on Mar 30^th, 2006 at 2:49am:



If there is a one on one, its just to make sure you can walk and chew gum at the same time.  It's also to see if you pass what's often referred to as the Dayton test (similarily, the Des Moines test, or any other small city).  Essentially the test is determine where or not the person would want to be stuck with you at the airport in Dayton, Ohio during a snowstorm.  If you're a complete introvert who can't hold a meaningful conversation, then you won't make it past that step.

I also have a question. CIA was coming to my town to recruit for a day. I submitted my application online. Then I received a email saying that They are considering me for interview and I need to give them time for one hr interview one on one. With that same email, they emailed me a code to take an online IQ exam and analytical writting exam on Brainbench.com before I arrive at interview. I believe i did good on my interview, cuz person who was taking my interview compared herself with me at the end. she told me that it takes 3 weeks to write them a interview report. However, I am just wondering whats gona be the next steps in line if they have interest in me?

As with so much of the process of CIA hiring, opacity cloaks everything.  My experience subsequent to the IQ/Brainbench exercises was a trip to Chantilly for the various briefings followed by a 1 on 1 interview with an employee from an office in the analytic division.  It's my experience that one can generally discern whether such interviews have gone well, and my impression that it had was confirmed when I received a call on my cell phone within 20 minutes of that interview to inform me that I was being made a condition offer of employment.  I don't suggest that this is normal; on the contrary, I was advised that notification either way could take up to 3 weeks.  That said, my experience with two sessions of polygraphy has damaged my previously favorable impression of the agency.  I am still in process and awaiting word on my candidacy, and I don't have even the slightest sense of whether my offer will be withdrawn any day now or whether I might have good news at some point between January and April (the three to six month window during which it might be anticipated that the follow-on security investigation might be completed).  In short, I wouldn't necessarily expect to hear anything in less than the 3 week window followin the interview, but I also wouldn't expect a conditional offer of employment necessarily to mature into a start date either.  I will post more as I have additional information.

FYI the Information and Privacy Coordinator at CIA is Delores M. Nelson.  For correspondence (FOIA requests):   

Delores M. Nelson
Information and Privacy Coordinator
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505

Why is this info not already online?  It seems very banal and basic, but it was hard-won so I had to share it.   

Once you get a conditional offer, it's my understanding CIA employment processing can take about 9 mo for the BI, 3 more for the poly (so that's a year into the process and you're not done with security screening).  That surely varies within a wide range.   

I've heard of people having a problem with their polygraphs expiring before the rest of the process concludes, because they have to be so recent... And that's if you make it past the poly, which typically takes multiple sessions.   

I've also heard from numerous independent sources that the CIA is renowned for sexually intrusive polygraphs.

Hello Anonymous,

Thanks for your inquiry.  If I were to answer your questions I would likely reveal my identity, which I would prefer not to do, especially if, as I must assume is a possibility, you are a CIA polygrapher!  Instead, let me offer the following: generally, if there is interest you will be contacted by email within 60 days of your initial application.  You will then be required to take the IQ/Brainbench tests and complete other paperwork within 30 days.  Following this, if the agency remains interested, you will be contacted within an additional 30 days and  invited to the informational session/interview (the agency will pay for this if you are located more than 50 miles from Langley).  If this is successful, you will be contacted within three weeks and given security paperwork for processing.  Once this is complete, you will be scheduled for the medical/poly/psych testing (over a 3 day window) at a date approximately 3 months subsequent.  You will have a telephonic interview with a security agent prior to the med/poly/psych days.  Finally, to the extent that anyone is scheduled for a first, second (and sometimes a third and even a fourth) poly, it cannot be justified by necessity but rather by the frame of reference of the process itself: it is, at best, pseudoscience more reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials of late 17th-century Massachusetts or Beria in Lefortovo Prison in 1930s Moscow than of what one would expect from the world's foremost intelligence agency.  I am utterly confident that the polygrapher was lying when he accused me of having been deceptive on my answer to one question.  If there were any doubts whatsoever, they could be resolved by the most straightforward investigation, with which I would cooperate completely.   

I think that a conditional offer of employment (COE) is really not an offer of employment at all.  Rather, it is only at the point where one receives a COE that one actually becomes an applicant.  Theretofore, although the agency has expressed some interest and asked for more information, the applicant is not really an applicant at all--just an interested outsider for whom the agency has some data.  Once a COE is in hand, the application begins.  Moreover, I would go so far as to say that for most applicants, the determination as to whether or not their applications will be accepted is the polygraph, because, if my understanding of the statistics is correct, 2/3 of those with COEs will not be hired, and of those who are not hired 3/4 will be rejected because of the polygraph (for those who may have better data, please correct my statistical errors here).  In short, congratulations for securing a COE, but the reality is you should curb your enthusiasm a little, at least until you "pass" the polygraph, because until you pass the polygraph you are still, in fact, just an applicant.

A rational way to make hiring decisions?  No.  But this is how it works.

anonymous00 wrote on Nov 12^th, 2009 at 1:37pm:


Don't believe anything that the FBI publishes.  It doesn't surprise me that there are discrepancies with those numbers.   BTW, just to let you know -- I "passed" my polygraph but failed the background investigation for "failure to provide pertinent information" on the SF-86 regarding problems I experienced with two previous employers. I'm in the process of submitting a statement to the record about it because I made mistakes in completing the SF-86 but wasn't intentionally trying to hide anything...in retrospect, and from what I've learned about the process, I would have submitted a statement to the SF-86 outlining EVERYTHING that might look unfavorable on me from an investigator's standpoint.  For some reason, I was under the wrong impression that I was only obligated to report disciplinary actions or reprimands.  Well, these people want all information, including any grievances that were filed against former or current employers, performance counselings, and the like.  A polygraph is just one tool they use.  It is a deal-breaker if you fail it, but it can be a deal-breaker if you pass it --- and still have derogatory information uncovered in the background investigation that wasn't reported/disclosed.  The whole hiring process in and of itself, is intrusive, and unforgiving...so you have to be aware of this before you apply.  Knowing a little about this complicated process beforehand will make it easier for you.