CIA interview process

[Anyone1]

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

[Wallerstein]

Go to the message board on http://www.vault.com/companies/company_main.jsp?product_id=687&ch_id=267&co_page=1.

It's pretty helpful.

[Ruckover]

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

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.  

[revo1776]

Can anyone else elaborate on what occurs on the information session and one on one interview with the DI?

Is it more than just the "Dayton" test?

[Mohmedraza]

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?

[anonymous00]

Mohmedraza,

You should hear from them within a month (but sometimes it takes longer) with a YAY or NAY.  If you get a YAY, they will give you a Conditional Offer of Employment, meaning your job offer is not offical until you pass all the security stuff (background check, medical, psych, and the dreaded polygraph). 

A few questions that can help determine your likely fate if you'll get hired by the CIA:
- What was your general timeline (when did you apply, when were you contacted,  was it by email or phone, when did you complete the brainbench tets, when was your interview)?
- What location was your interview in?  Were several other applicants there are just you?
- What position did you apply for?
- How long did the interview last, what kind of questions did they ask? 

Depending on how quickly your process went and such, it can help determine how much they want you! I'm going through the process myself now also.  Just a note, we will not find out the results of the brainbench tests, so no need to ask them about it.

[AlfredDreyfus]

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.

[anonymous00]

AlfredDreyfus ,

I'm currently going through the CIA process now as well and I'm curious.  You mind telling me your general timeline w/ dates:
- when did you apply to the CIA?
- how long before you got a response?
- did you take the brainbench tests? get your scores?
- did you ever have a phone interview?
- when were you contacted for the info session invite? what method (phone, email, etc.)? Was the trip paid for?
- what is your school/career level and what position are you applying for?
- Why did you have to have 2 polygraph sessions?

Thanks!

[Katelyn Sack]

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. 

[George W. Maschke]

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

While the current Information and Privacy Coordinator's name does not seem to be posted on-line, the CIA website does in fact provide information on how to file a Privacy Act request:

http://www.foia.cia.gov/sample_privacy_request_letter.asp

[AlfredDreyfus]

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. 

[anonymous00]

Thank you AlfredDreyfus. Its ok if you don't want to give too much information, I don't blame you.  But trust me, I don't work for the CIA. LOL. 

Actually, I applied a few months ago and just completed my Brainbench tests.  There are several of us over on the FederalSoup forums trying to get a feel for everyone's general timeline so we know what to expect.  Check out these threads:
http://federalsoup.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9979&title=cia-hiring-timeline

http://federalsoup.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=19468&title=cia-info-session-interview-dress

In my brainbench email, it said I'd be contacted 30-60days if they are interested.  I've heard of people being contacted anywhere from 2 weeks to several months later.  I've heard of people taking several polys, and people who pass on the first try.  A friend of mines got hired by the CIA and his process took only 9 months, I read one posting online where it took a guy only 5.5 months, and some people it takes years. 

I've heard of people attending "hiring events" (at their own expense) where they received a conditional offer (COE) on the spot, some people get a COE after a phone interview, and some are flown in (paid by the CIA) to Langly for their initial interview.  So apparently the CIA has different methods of recruiting. 

I just hope I get contacted soon for my interview.  And if I'm lucky enough to procede on with the security process, I hope it goes smoothly.  I've never taken a poly, and i must admit, after hearing so many stories, I'd be scared if and when I had to take one.

[AlfredDreyfus]

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]

AlfredDreyfus, man where are you from?!  You have a unique way of articulating yourself.  You almost write/talk as if you aren't even from the U.S.!  No offense, lol.

But I get what you are saying, though I would disagree somewhat.  The CIA requires a very high security clearance level.  So a COE only comes after you interview, just like in any  job, and it means they like you and you are hired if you get through the security stuff.  At my current job, I have a Secret clearance.  I got hired before I had to turn in the forms and get my clearance.  Now a secret clearance isn't hard to get, but I wonder what would have happened if my clearance was denied?  I had an interim clearance for months when I started before my final clearance came through. 

However the CIA doesn't do interim clearances I think, so you have to wait for your official Top Secret SCI Full Scope Poly clearance to come through before you can start.

Anyway, I will be pretty excited if I get a phone call for an interview/info-session and get a COE and receive that magical "thick packet" in the mail.  All I can do now is wait and hope...

-------
On another note. check out these stats for FBI Special Agent Applicants in 2009:
http://www.clearancejobsblog.com/cleared-news/fbi-applicant-processing/
Surprised about the polygraph stats?
What I don't get is that according to these stats, 1,144 Special Agents applied in 2009, 838 were discontinued and 493 were hired.  Hmmm... 838+493 = 1,331, not 1,144.  And the average processing time is only 63 days, or 2 months?  I thought the process took up to a year?!  Am I misinterpreting these stats? 

[BBernie]

AlfredDreyfus, man where are you from?!  You have a unique way of articulating yourself.  You almost write/talk as if you aren't even from the U.S.!  No offense, lol.

But I get what you are saying, though I would disagree somewhat.  The CIA requires a very high security clearance level.  So a COE only comes after you interview, just like in any  job, and it means they like you and you are hired if you get through the security stuff.  At my current job, I have a Secret clearance.  I got hired before I had to turn in the forms and get my clearance.  Now a secret clearance isn't hard to get, but I wonder what would have happened if my clearance was denied?  I had an interim clearance for months when I started before my final clearance came through. 

However the CIA doesn't do interim clearances I think, so you have to wait for your official Top Secret SCI Full Scope Poly clearance to come through before you can start.

Anyway, I will be pretty excited if I get a phone call for an interview/info-session and get a COE and receive that magical "thick packet" in the mail.  All I can do now is wait and hope...

-------
On another note. check out these stats for FBI Special Agent Applicants in 2009:
http://www.clearancejobsblog.com/cleared-news/fbi-applicant-processing/
Surprised about the polygraph stats?
What I don't get is that according to these stats, 1,144 Special Agents applied in 2009, 838 were discontinued and 493 were hired.  Hmmm... 838+493 = 1,331, not 1,144.  And the average processing time is only 63 days, or 2 months?  I thought the process took up to a year?!  Am I misinterpreting these stats? 

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.