Hello!
I’m interested in becoming a BI and was curious about the training process. How difficult is the Federal Background Investigator Training Program? Is the training the same across the board, for all companies? Pretty much just curious on what to expect and the difficulty.
It depends on which “training” you are referring to. If it is DCSA (the way most folks enter the industry) it is pretty standard across the Primes. 2 days of observation, 4 weeks of training, and then 2 weeks of mentoring/on the job training where you ride with an experienced investigator while working your own cases. The 4 weeks of “classroom” training is now virtual, Monday through Friday, standard business hours. There is homework and a test you must pass with at least 80% in order to be credentialed.
It’s been 20 years since I went through training, but it was/is not easy. A lot of information to take in, and then apply in the field. One stat I heard (could be wrong) was that 30% of candidates don’t pass the final.
Hope that helps!
I felt like the training was easy, but I’ve always been a quick study. My advice for the test would be to focus more on HOW to find the info instead of memorizing facts. Crap in this field changes often and updated guidance and policies come out often. Don’t waste your time trying to remember all the nonsense, learn what information is found in what location; where do you do to look up the information. That is what will help you the most. The quicker you are at looking things up and remembering WHERE to look, the easier the job will be.
Yes it is open book. Even seasoned investigators do not have all the information memorized. For example they may ask what employment coverage is required for a T4 investigation. You will have to know what guidance that information is found in so you can look that up. Or what coverage is needed with $20000 delinquent debts. Or which case type requires social coverage. Different pieces of guidance provides information for different situations and you have to learn where to go to find what you need. If you know where to look then it’s easy, you just write down the information straight from the guidance. If you don’t know where to look then trying to remember all that information is unlikely. I was very organized when I went through training. I had a binder I made with tabs for all the case types so I could quickly flip to the area I needed and I also made different sections for subjects, sources, and records. Being an organized person helps A LOT. I spent more time devising my organizational method to put the information in a logical order where it was easily and quickly accessed than I did memorizing information. I don’t recall others in my class being quite as organized but I did finish my exam before others and passed with flying colors.