Best part of employment at will is that you can quit anytime you feel you are being treated unfairly.
And feel free to question me anytime but you may not like my answers.
Happy Friday.
@fed-investigator wouldn’t hurt to be a little more sympathetic to contractors that do the same job as you and do it with higher volume, more scrutiny from QA, and much more pressure from management. I know you feel like you are being ganged up on and are defensive about this but the best way to gain a perspective of someone else’s circumstance is to walk a few miles in their shoes. Since that’s impossible unless you were a contractor for a vendor once before, then listen and try to understand what people are saying. It’s not easy to quit a job after working it and gaining the necessary experience. It’s a tough niche to leave this career field and reinvent oneself so your comments just to leave aren’t taken very well by me.
Stay safe out there everyone.
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Gold Badge,
You respond with NO evidence of your claim that telephone interviews have resulted in a “negative impact on both the military and national security”. Sounds like you are just making things up.
By the way, insulting me is not winning your argument. Typical that you would resort to name calling when you cannot win an argument.
Fortunately for all of us, DCSA has released guidance (and proved you wrong) and will allow telephone interviews on certain T4/T5 cases . For the Level C/D, the case can be done by video conference, which is basically the same thing.
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Question for investigators of all stripes: Do you have access to video teleconference (VTC) facilities? If so, where/how? Not specific locations, but what type of location?
I am a contract investigator and have never seen/used any kind of VTC facility. I know they exist. For example, at big company X they have VTC facilities where gold badge fed investigators can sit and interview an employee at another company site.
But for contractors, and for a large fraction of cases that are not at big globe-sprawling fortune 100 companies, I’m not sure how the VTC would work. I’d ask if we could just FaceTime with a subject (even though FaceTime is as secure as anything, and we’re not discussing any classified information, just a lot of PII and subjects explaining their DUI arrest from three years ago) but I know I’d get fired for even suggesting the idea.
And to follow up about big company X: Even if I had access to their authorized VTC setup, I’d still have to drive there, walk into the visitor center, get my badge, drive on property, go to the VTC building, badge in, make my way to the VTC rooms, interface with the VTC guy, push the VTC buttons, etc. It defeats 80 percent of the purpose of using VTC to distance ourselves from subjects. If I am local and my subject is local, it would be just as easy - and about as safe - to meet with him but only in the big conference room where we can be 10 feet apart. Or outside at the company pavilion.
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All I can add to this is: they are doing everything they can to keep us working safely by approving alternative methods to do so. We have the option to turn cases down if we are uncomfortable. The work doesnt stop coming, the wheels keep turning. I’ll keep working through it- very cautiously, with full preventative measures.
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@IntjM, I’d like to cosign your last post. There are ways to continue working - safely. I did a public trust ESI last year outside at a town park - subject was unemployed, older and I got the sense was afraid to drive into our downtown to meet at the library as would have been my SOP. She proposed a town park near her house. There was no harm in accommodating her wishes, so I did so.
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It also wouldn’t hurt for some contractors on this forum to express their concerns to their supervisors. I understand that doesn’t work in most cases - but it saves you from alienating others in here and gets the concern to someone that might actually help.
I have walked both sides – for a lot of years. I did not become a fed because I kissed rump - but because my last employer treated investigators horribly and I took the opportunity to jump over.
DCSA institutionally does not pick on their contractors.Fed review doesn’t review contractor cases more closely than Feds. DCSA doesn’t set up contractors to fail, be in danger, transmit cases in greater numbers than safe.That is on the contracting companies.
I can not speak for individual agents because I have experienced that prejudice as a fed/former contractor myself. I work on a daily basis with our local contractors (and some not so local) - many of whom are my friends. I am not the exception to the rule.
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I heard there was a big telecom last week with the all the feds. The in-person guidelines were laid out. By the end there so much kicking and screaming they had to withdraw in-person interview idea. I guess they are trying to set VTC for them. Feed feds first in person interviews.
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Does your first name start with and R?
No, it does not. Post must be at least 20 characters.
Thanks! About 6 months ago we lost a really good TL and nobody knows what happened to him. Guess is he was fed up too but nobody knows. Of course you already know the transparency to the field isn’t good.
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Here’s my thought today - DCSA has made a decision to put all but “Priority” cases on hold and pull everything back from the contract companies - and give the PRT ones to the Fed SAs that have access to VTCs and DOD SAFE. CACI management has a meeting on Monday and the field managers are supposed to pass on “new” info to the field after it. Now, I ain’t no Nostradamus and this could be considered a worst case scenario. CACI will then put everyone on LWOP and it is back to filing Unemployment claims.
Oh yes, I was proved so wrong. I feel so ashamed. Lol
Like I said before, it is all the same to you because you have already admitted to doing poor work. You are proud to be a box checker, got it. Good for you.
Oh well.
If you dont like the job, then quit. You dont like review? Quit. You work too many hours? Quit. You are underpaid? Quit. Company unfair? Quit. No other jobs in your area? Move.
It’s what I’ve done, many times. It’s not fun changing jobs, much less industries. It hard to uproot your family, been there done that.
Only action can change your circumstances, whining endlessly will do nothing.
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I must have missed that telecon - along with everyone else on my team.
Why spread a baseless rumor about federal agents kicking and screaming? It doesn’t just doesn’t happen.
Are these your thoughts or is this what is going to take place?
I worked with many and or had to deal with many GS/Fed employees while in the military. Most, were, to be honest, useless. They did nothing. They knew they were protected by unions and collected a paycheck till retirement. The ones that were actually useful were overworked beyond belief. Not saying all GS/Federal employees are useless, but I can see why the comments are being made.
Attack away!
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Just my morning thought during all of this turmoil.
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For those who are looking for a different job/career path, I would suggest checking out job openings for the FBI regarding Legal Instrument Examiners. They usually pop up once or twice a year. The job basically is performing background checks on individuals wanting to purchase a firearm, among some other functions. The job is based in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
If you want to stick to being a contractor, search for Junior Investigative Analyst or Junior Program Analyst positions in West Virginia on Indeed, Glassdoor, etc. You’ll have quite a few contractors that will populate. Any background investigator would have the skills to perform the job. They also have federal conversion opportunities every once in awhile. Clearance wise a secret or a TS will suffice.
Since this thread was initially about the coronavirus, I’ll tie it together by mentioning West Virginia was the last state to have a confirmed case.
Stay healthy everyone.
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