I have been having an interesting time trying to find out the “magic” needed to become a Level 2 investigator with CACI. My SL has not been able to specifically tell me the process or even how much money might be earned at a Level 2 - has anyone out there ever moved up? What was the process and was it worth it??? I would love to hear anyone’s experience.
Requirements always changed, so I couldn’t even say. The pay increase is negligible (in my opinion) so I wouldn’t bother busting your ass for a minimal increase unless you live in an area where a 5 WTPD avg. is actually easy to get.
Thank you for the information. I appreciate the honest feedback.
Yeah, I agree with datesnotrecalled. Use whatever extra time and energy you have to train or prepare yourself for a respectable career with respectable pay. There’s no future for this job at CACI or KGS. This private sector job is a train to nowhere at best. Though it looks like it’ll be heading off a cliff pretty soon.
Again I thank you for your honest opinion. I was hoping to find out that my instincts were wrong about the way this career was heading, but alas, you are helping to confirm my thoughts. I am glad this forum is out here to be able to chat with other investigators. It hasn’t been a horrible job, frustrating at times, but I was hoping that a nice pay increase and promotion might make it easier to tolerate. But I haven’t been able to find out an answer to the question of how much $$ can be made by moving up. The potential for bonuses which were mentioned when I first signed up have disappeared with no return in sight. Sigh… anyone looking to hire a dedicated, hard working professional??? oh, and are you willing to pay $$ to keep that dedicated hard working professional??
You’ve probably heard internally of a great migration…take a gander at why. Then decide what you’d like to do in the long term and plan accordingly.
You are better off moving on from CACI. They pay the lowest in the industry for investigators and are very untruthful when it comes to the SCA rate that they apply much differently than KGS. If I were you I’d try to get on with SCIS or CSRA/ISN. I hear they are paying $65,000/year for experienced investigators. But also be prepared to go nowhere in this industry. The honeymoon will eventually end with SCIS and CSRA/ISN and they’ll be demoting people or running them into the ground because of unattainable metrics of timeliness and quality. It’s a vicious cycle.
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Been with CACI for a little over a year now and have accepted the fact that I’ll never become a level 2 because I don’t want the stress. I’ve learned from other investigators that the pay bump is roughly 5k a year from level 1 to level 2. According to the investigators that have come over from KGS, it seems CACI is much more fair to its employees than KGS so at least we can be grateful for that. I’m pretty happy at CACI and I’d always planned on being loyal to CACI, but I’m starting to reconsider my loyalty after I’ve spoken to other companies who pitch “work life balance” and have offered more money for the same amount of work.
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Yeah, the choice between KGS and CACI is a no-brainer. KGS was a decent company at one time (when they gave bonuses and had a car program and treated employees decently).
As an aside, but related to the job, I always thought that companies should be required to have 3 to 5 satellite offices in certain regions. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Even a dingy little place with a few offices in a strip mall somewhere. Just a place investigators could go to after field work to type up reports of fax stuff or print out documents. Or to hang out with other investigators and swap war stories. Or to conduct ESIs. Sure beats a public library, especially when you can’t get a private study room.
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Ok…I have not even started working. I’m newer than you…just signed paperwork against my better judgment.
BUT the info I got was…there are six levels at KGS. There is an approximate $4,500 to $6,000 difference in each level. The first level is 36K ($17.34). Second Level is $40.5K ($19.48). and the level six is about $65K ($31.25 an hour).
I “interpolated” the intermediate levels, as 3) $46.5k 4) $53K and 5) $59k.
I was told by the recruiter…that no increases from level one are ever done in first year (or likely two)…but bonuses…are used to recognize meeting higher levels. It is only after sustained performance at a higher level that you will be moved up. I took that to mean like 9 months.
I too surmised the bonuses were bologna, a vague figment…and were easily evaporated on a whim.
I would like to provide some hope for people out there - I have been with CACI for almost 1.5 years, and I feel I have been treated fairly - although the described bonuses have disappeared (for everyone) at least for now. I worked diligently and produced quality work… along with having my share of the annoying and aggravating re opens… but here is the good news. Again I feel that I have been treated fairly and was just promoted to Level 2 with a VERY NICE pay increase. So for those of you out there who might be wondering, yes there is movement up and increases in pay. I will watch the blog and report if the fair treatment continues.
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Sad it took an overwhelming amount of staff leaving for them to give people fair raises. That’s truly great news for you but says a lot about CACI as a company. For the record, I was always treated fairly, but every time business interests were mentioned by higher, the culture turned me off more and more
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