International Opportunities

[zxcvbnm]

I have been looking for ways to get some good international experience, figured some of yall might have some input...

-DSS
-NCIS
-AFOSI
-DEA(How long does it usually take to have the possibility of overseas opportunities with DEA?)
-ICE(I think you have be at least a GS-13 though...)
-UN (I think its around 4-5 years experience to even apply for any LE related positions with them
-USAID Foreign Service Inspector

Non-LE

-Foreign Service
-CIA


Anyone got any other agencies/areas to loook at? Both LE and non-LE...
Or any knowledge about any of those listed...
I also heard you can sometimes apply for positions at specific US embassies abroad but I don't have much knowledge about that.

[Group 29]

-DEA(How long does it usually take to have the possibility of overseas opportunities with DEA?)

.

Depends on where you want to go. It takes a lot longer to get Paris or London than it does Lahore, or Kabul. If you're not picky about where you get sent, it is possible to go overseas with only three or four years on.

[rix031]

osi is a good choice along with dss. both of them will honor your request for overseas assignment. however, it is very difficult to get into these agencies. one option is joining the military and get into the intel side. or, if you have military experience, try osi reserves. it is not full-time, but they will send you overseas for 6-12 month tours.

[zxcvbnm]

Depends on where you want to go. It takes a lot longer to get Paris or London than it does Lahore, or Kabul. If you're not picky about where you get sent, it is possible to go overseas with only three or four years on.

Thanks for the input. I'm not very picky, but I would definitely have to think hard about some of those positions...

[zxcvbnm]

osi is a good choice along with dss. both of them will honor your request for overseas assignment. however, it is very difficult to get into these agencies. one option is joining the military and get into the intel side. or, if you have military experience, try osi reserves. it is not full-time, but they will send you overseas for 6-12 month tours.

Someone was saying NCIS and AFOSI were easier to get into than DSS and that you would also get abroad sooner. Not sure how much truth there is in that though.

I don't have any interest in joining the military, thanks for the input though.

[ignignokt373]

Someone was saying NCIS and AFOSI were easier to get into than DSS and that you would also get abroad sooner. Not sure how much truth there is in that though.

I don't have any interest in joining the military, thanks for the input though.

NCIS and AFOSI have Civilian Agents. And whoever told you that getting hired by them was easier than DSS is lying.

All three agencies are very, very competitive to get on with. ;)

[Doc_STA]

When you say DSS, are you talking about Defense Security Service (DSS) or Diplomatic Security Service (DS) (which is related to foreign service very closely)?

Regarding DS, if you wanted to persue that tack, first of all, yes, your request for an overseas assignment will be honored - in fact, it's tougher to get some of the DS assignments that are domestic and stateside; the human smuggling task forces, and homeland security related task forces. You'll probably be shoved off rather quickly to some place in the ME, Balkans, or South America. All of which, contrary to popular media perception, are pretty fun places to work.

Beyond the advice I doled in the Interpol Topic, what is your education level? College grad? What's your degree, if so?

[zxcvbnm]

NCIS and AFOSI have Civilian Agents. And whoever told you that getting hired by them was easier than DSS is lying.

All three agencies are very, very competitive to get on with. ;)

Appreciate the input, I figure that they are all definitely a challenge. Do you have any other recommendations to look at?

[zxcvbnm]

When you say DSS, are you talking about Defense Security Service (DSS) or Diplomatic Security Service (DS) (which is related to foreign service very closely)?

Regarding DS, if you wanted to persue that tack, first of all, yes, your request for an overseas assignment will be honored - in fact, it's tougher to get some of the DS assignments that are domestic and stateside; the human smuggling task forces, and homeland security related task forces. You'll probably be shoved off rather quickly to some place in the ME, Balkans, or South America. All of which, contrary to popular media perception, are pretty fun places to work.

Beyond the advice I doled in the Interpol Topic, what is your education level? College grad? What's your degree, if so?

That would be Diplomatic Security Service. I'm not familiar with Defense Security Service, I'll take a look though.

DS is very intriguing to me but I do understand it is extremely hard to get into so I wanted to look around at every opportunity. Maybe something that would help build my resume up for DS. I would be willing to work almost anywhere too. Most places in the ME and South America sound great to me.

As far as education, I have a BA in International Relations.

Thanks again.

[Doc_STA]

Our recruitment page: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/career/c8853.htm

Click around, read it up, ask some questions. I'd also recommend you look at the Diplomatic Courier area.

Edit: An international relations degree is a perfect start. DS is a really rewarding area to work in, but we don't take just anyone - do yourself a favor and do some traveling before you apply. Get ingrained with the idea of being in a foreign area and maybe do some volunteer work. Military service is always great, but it sounds like you want to jump right into this. That's fine - be ready for some competition. And, feel free to ask me any specific questions about DS, or the foreign service and CIA for that matter.

[Group 29]

DS is very intriguing to me but I do understand it is extremely hard to get into so I wanted to look around at every opportunity.

I don't know if we made the point well enough, but pretty much all 1811 jobs are hard to get into, and usually have thousands of applicants for a very small number of positions.

[DSS-SA]

I don't know if we made the point well enough, but pretty much all 1811 jobs are hard to get into, and usually have thousands of applicants for a very small number of positions.

Very Good Point, G29.

zxcvbnm:
I believe you posted several times on a DSS-related thread with much of the same questions about international opportunities, and wanting to get on in an 1811 position right away. Not to be judgemental, but it appears to me that you don't think that you are highly competitive (i.e. currently have the requisite experience or background) but yet you are looking for a way to get hired right away. As others have said above, there really isn't a back-door into any 1811 jobs. I am sure some of the smaller, lesser known agencies don't have the number of applicants as the Three Letter Acronyms, but they have the same minimum requirements and there will be significant competition. I am pasting below a portion of a reply that I sent to an 18 year old LE aspirant about a week ago. You are huge steps ahead of him in that you have a degree and your first federal job, but I think that some of the "career" advice that I gave him might apply to you. As I wrote to you on another thread, I think that the job that you are starting now is a good place to get some work experience and federal "time" and that you are definitely on the right track.

-------text pasted from another thread-------

I am now a Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). I went to college knowing that I wanted to be in law enforcement, and I quickly narrowed my goal to being a federal agent. When I graduated, I applied to several federal agencies trying to jump right in without any experience. Needless to say, I was not the valedictorian, nor did I have any specific skills that would make me competitive in the job market, so I didn't get hired. I worked for about a year as a loss-prevention detective in a department store, and I spent a summer as a "seasonal" police officer, but I really did not want to be a uniformed police officer. I enlisted in the Army (not as an MP) as an E-4, then let the gov't pay back almost $30,000 in student loans for me. I got out of the Army with several advanced schools under my belt and starting working as a security consultant while I endured the federal application process. I was hired by DSS a couple years later and came in at the upper middle level of the entry salary range, and was in the same age range as most of my classmates (between 28-32). Out of my 24-person class, three were college grads with no work experience, 15 or so were former military or LE (or both), and about six had work experience in various other fields (a couple of lawyers, a teacher, etc). My point in telling my story is to show that it takes time (for most of us) to work into our career position. To use a sports analogy, there are still very few pro athletes in any of the major sports that go straight from high school. Even if they know what they want, have the necessary fundementals, and have demonstrated some potential, they still must gain experience in the minors, in college, or on the "amateur" circuit. I commend you for knowing what you want to do with your career, but remember, getting to a "career" position is usually more of a marathon than a sprint.

Best of luck.

P.S. Anyone who reads this and wants more information on the agency that I work for see the thread titiled "bureau of diplomatic security-opening"

[zxcvbnm]

Our recruitment page: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/career/c8853.htm

Click around, read it up, ask some questions. I'd also recommend you look at the Diplomatic Courier area.

Edit: An international relations degree is a perfect start. DS is a really rewarding area to work in, but we don't take just anyone - do yourself a favor and do some traveling before you apply. Get ingrained with the idea of being in a foreign area and maybe do some volunteer work. Military service is always great, but it sounds like you want to jump right into this. That's fine - be ready for some competition. And, feel free to ask me any specific questions about DS, or the foreign service and CIA for that matter.


Thanks.
Ive looked at the site and been waiting for the next DS opening. I was very interested in the Diplomatic Courier position as well, but unfortunately missed the announcement by a few months. I inquired via e-mail but was told that it would probably be a while before the next announcement went out.

I've done a little bit of traveling but I would love to do more. The catch is finding a job that would let me. I would go almost anywhere but I can't fund it all by myself and many volunteer programs even charge. (I already went through the Peace Corps process and that didn't end up working for some unrelated reasons).

So it's not that I really want to jump right into anything, the point of this post was to look for other opportunities which would give support to an international career, I just wanted to point out what I am striving towards. I also don't have much interest in joining the military.

Thanks again for the input.

[zxcvbnm]

I don't know if we made the point well enough, but pretty much all 1811 jobs are hard to get into, and usually have thousands of applicants for a very small number of positions.


Oh I definitely understand. I'm trying to use this post to learn about more opportunities or anything related for that very reason.

[zxcvbnm]

Very Good Point, G29.

zxcvbnm:
I believe you posted several times on a DSS-related thread with much of the same questions about international opportunities, and wanting to get on in an 1811 position right away. Not to be judgemental, but it appears to me that you don't think that you are highly competitive (i.e. currently have the requisite experience or background) but yet you are looking for a way to get hired right away. As others have said above, there really isn't a back-door into any 1811 jobs. I am sure some of the smaller, lesser known agencies don't have the number of applicants as the Three Letter Acronyms, but they have the same minimum requirements and there will be significant competition. I am pasting below a portion of a reply that I sent to an 18 year old LE aspirant about a week ago. You are huge steps ahead of him in that you have a degree and your first federal job, but I think that some of the "career" advice that I gave him might apply to you. As I wrote to you on another thread, I think that the job that you are starting now is a good place to get some work experience and federal "time" and that you are definitely on the right track.

-------text pasted from another thread-------

I am now a Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). I went to college knowing that I wanted to be in law enforcement, and I quickly narrowed my goal to being a federal agent. When I graduated, I applied to several federal agencies trying to jump right in without any experience. Needless to say, I was not the valedictorian, nor did I have any specific skills that would make me competitive in the job market, so I didn't get hired. I worked for about a year as a loss-prevention detective in a department store, and I spent a summer as a "seasonal" police officer, but I really did not want to be a uniformed police officer. I enlisted in the Army (not as an MP) as an E-4, then let the gov't pay back almost $30,000 in student loans for me. I got out of the Army with several advanced schools under my belt and starting working as a security consultant while I endured the federal application process. I was hired by DSS a couple years later and came in at the upper middle level of the entry salary range, and was in the same age range as most of my classmates (between 28-32). Out of my 24-person class, three were college grads with no work experience, 15 or so were former military or LE (or both), and about six had work experience in various other fields (a couple of lawyers, a teacher, etc). My point in telling my story is to show that it takes time (for most of us) to work into our career position. To use a sports analogy, there are still very few pro athletes in any of the major sports that go straight from high school. Even if they know what they want, have the necessary fundementals, and have demonstrated some potential, they still must gain experience in the minors, in college, or on the "amateur" circuit. I commend you for knowing what you want to do with your career, but remember, getting to a "career" position is usually more of a marathon than a sprint.

Best of luck.

P.S. Anyone who reads this and wants more information on the agency that I work for see the thread titiled "bureau of diplomatic security-opening"



Again, thanks for the response, I always appreciate the information you provide. I understand that I am most likely one of the least experience people looking at DS and other agencies. I figure it's worth a try at least and was hoping to use this post to gain more ideas about ways to build on my experience...

I'm not trying to look for any shortcut, just being ambitious and want to stay on track. You stated that you went with the military out of college. I have no doubts that it provided you with a lot, but I don't think it's the choice for me, so I am continually for new opportunities to get good experience (especially international experience).

Thanks again.

[Doc_STA]

If you are sorely in need of a job that will let you travel, you could check with a news service like Reuters, or with any huge number of contracters in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Oil industry jobs are also great for travel.

Look into some NGOs as well - Red Cross, Transitions Abroad (I did this for a few months, you go out to some place like tibet and work on an organic farm - you can learn alot about sustainable ecology and get some travel and culture under your belt.) Médecins Sans Frontières, UNESCO, etc.

You could also look into a cruise line, I don't know anything about them but with a little creativity on your resume, you could probably secure a position as some sort of liason on board a meditarranian cruise or something.

Do everything you can, UTILIZE that degree, maybe do an work-study with the Council on Foreign Affairs or a CIA internship (good start to a graduate degree)

[zxcvbnm]

If you are sorely in need of a job that will let you travel, you could check with a news service like Reuters, or with any huge number of contracters in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Oil industry jobs are also great for travel.

Look into some NGOs as well - Red Cross, Transitions Abroad (I did this for a few months, you go out to some place like tibet and work on an organic farm - you can learn alot about sustainable ecology and get some travel and culture under your belt.) Médecins Sans Frontières, UNESCO, etc.

You could also look into a cruise line, I don't know anything about them but with a little creativity on your resume, you could probably secure a position as some sort of liason on board a meditarranian cruise or something.

Do everything you can, UTILIZE that degree, maybe do an work-study with the Council on Foreign Affairs or a CIA internship (good start to a graduate degree)



Thanks for the input, I will do some research into the names that you mentioned. And if you have any more, please don't hesitate. I'm going to have to do some serious debating with myself about the advantages of an LE job or going to grad school for the moment.

Thanks again.