Career after BI Life

Anyone have any suggestions for career paths after being an BI investigator?

I am currently employed with SCIS and work is scare, and I’ve never seen it this bad.

So I’m looking for opportunities just in case ish hits the fan!

TIA

Personnel security assistant
Anything in records
That’s what I’m doing right now was laid off by GDIT

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Unemployment is not a career but it is where a lot of us are currently at sadly.

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You might check into your state agencies for employment. Positions like Investigator for Department of Public Safety, Dept of Child Services etc. Depending on your state, your pay may not be too bad and may not require LEO training. Honestly, I’ve applied to the USPS for just delivering mail. Any income is better than no income.

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Personnel security(federal or state)
Data Analyst
Project Support

BI has plenty of transferable skills. Look up jobs and really read the description. Tailor your resume to the keywords in the description and you should be good. I’ve interviewed for positions in each one of the fields above and was offered a job for each one.

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I agree with this. There are way more skills that you pick up in this industry than most people think and there are numerous professional certifications that you can pick up with just a few months worth of self-paced study that will help open the door into really whatever you want.

Are there any particular professional certifications you would recommend that tie in well with this line of work?

I had a nice chat with a gentleman who was a BI (fed) and after moving/life changing events went to private sector and works as an FSO. A precursor for that position is an assistant FSO. (I was getting a security file from him :laughing:)

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If you live in Maryland or Virginia, look into taking a private investigations course (if you’re interested.) I got my initial registration while I was on active duty with the Navy back in 2015 and just took the renewal class so that I can renew it within the next couple of months. There’s one for Maryland, but it’s about $650. I’m currently trying to save up for that class with the Doordashing and this flex security officer job that I just got hired for (was laid off by GDIT almost four months ago.) About a month or two ago, I called a PI firm after seeing that they were looking for entry-level people and the owner wanted me to take the Maryland PI registration and course before he’d consider hiring me (even though I had the Virginia DCJS registration as a PI and my previous experience as a BI, which impressed him.) I’m pursuing the PI job because it was something I always wanted to do, even before I joined the Navy and did a completely different job, and I definitely want to give it a shot now that I have some certifications and have done some similar work.

As a Reservist with the Navy, my current job actually has a specialty for special security assistant (Navy Enlisted Classification code, which is known as an MOS in other branches), so maybe that will help with securing a job as a personnel security specialist on the civilian side…I’ve been interested in it for a while.