Retired from the Air Force, landed a job with ISN in 2018 and thought life would be good. Then all this sh** happened and the life of a BI changed forever.
I tried to hang on but it was more like being “strung along”.
My sincere advice to you reading this is to hang it up and move on. They don’t care about you, really, they don’t.
There are other opportunities out there. Go grab one! Personnel Security Specialist comes to mind and you ALL would be great at it and love it way more than being a BI…
For most of those FSO type jobs, Competing with the veterans when you don’t have that equal footing is a huge roadblock. Some of those jobs won’t allow applicants without veterans preferences.
I completely agree that the contracting companies are less than desirable to work for, but until something changes, some of us have to continue hanging in there.
I tried going the personnel security or fso route but didn’t have any luck. Spent the last few months getting some IT certifications and started my first IT job two weeks ago at 75k, so i’m very, very happy. It’s a lot more money and a lot less stress than being an investigator ever was. If any of you have any interest in IT then at the very least get the CompTIA Security+ certification, along with your clearance it shouldn’t be difficult to get a decent paying job for a DoD contractor
It’s not that easy BUT it’s been a year since the bottom fell out so that’s a year that anyone could’ve been looking elsewhere while hanging on. 2021 isn’t going to bring a change. DCSA has no care about the existence of PERSPECTA, CACI, SCSI or any of the others Venders. It will continue to be a cut throat world and now that they have BI’s working as IC’s, zero hour or “no work no pay, that will be their model. Do yourself a favor and explore. You’ll be surprised at the jobs where your skill set is valuable.
So, has ISN dropped out of the BI business? I (retired Army CI) worked for them from early '18 to early '19. I was stunned by the lack of training, guidance and support from higher. When GDIT dropped ISN, ISN dropped all of their investigators while at the same time asking them to NOT accept positions with competitors! Just left them out there hanging yet expecting loyalty.
Agreed that it has been (over) a year since it became too clear that this gig is up. I have been applying and thought I was close on one position…no cigar. I do think that the pandemic has slowed hiring decisions (especially for those of us with no preference). No words of wisdom from me - I do appreciate the “support group” here!!
Gave notice a few weeks ago and counting down the hours.
Made it three years as a FI. That was enough. Got some great TDYs in met some amazing people and some not so amazing people.
This job isn’t about National Security, it’s about meeting the Metrics. The companies don’t care that you crack and develop issues and catch Subject’s lying and exposing possible security risks. They want easy clean reports to make the money.
If being a FI was about National Security the companies would reward FIs for developing issues not disclosed on the SQ. Not focused on cranking out high volume reports.
Went into this job three years ago with pride! I am leaving realizing it’s all about the Metrics… what a joke.
You are telling people to move on when you worked for ISN as a sub-contractor under GDIT who only had a piece of the NBIB contract for two years?
Now if you are advising people to move on from DCSA, you have a point. DCSA is a sinking ship for contractors. 100% telephone work, never leave the home again, and low inventory of work as the backlog has all but disappeared. Working for CACI or KGS is a nightmare as a F/T hourly as already described here countless times on this website with different threads. The old OPM, now DCSA contract is a cutthroat and awful contract to work as a federal contractor. The companies take and take and take and are like vampires.
However, there are avenues to remain in the BI industry even when not engaged with DCSA. It’s called independent and direct federal contracting. I should start a business and advise frustrated and lost BI’s how to create an investigative business and build up contracts with various vendors and agencies in the BI industry. I’ve already advised a couple of frustrated Investigators that were able to successfully build a BI business without the reliance upon DCSA for any work whatsoever. There are other agencies out there that don’t go through DCSA to conduct their investigations.
The “how” is not talked as openly because most of us are fearful when we share such knowledge that our local areas will be inundated with hungry Investigators trying to compete with our existing contracts and vendor relationships. With the ever decreasing workload due to COVID and other situations, I won’t provide all of these nuggets of information here on a public forum. I intend to provide consulting services to lesser experienced BI’s in the future to assist others in developing their careers and stay in the industry. I’ve put way too much effort into building my CI business to just share all of my contracts and relationships here. Sufficeth to say that you don’t have to be reliant upon DCSA if you get on enough contracts.
When you’re ready to launch the consulting program please let me know. I’m not a " new Investigator " but ram desperate to get offf the employee train because of reasons I’m sure you’re aware of. I don’t know how to exchange personal contact info on here but can probably figure it out.
I don’t disagree with your comment, (though I never served and personally never regretted my decision, a military environment simply isn’t for me), but based on a 2009 study that was referenced in this article from 2018, more people are disqualified on medical grounds than on fitness grounds.
It’s possible the ratio has changed in the past decade, I know that certain branches are now more lenient with waivers for various medical issues, but no matter how you slice it, the military is still out of reach for a ton of people.
Ain’t got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don’t worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don’t worry, be happy