My last day as an investigator

Good move Sideshow Bob. You will find out very quickly that there are no such things as reopens in a real job!

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Congratulations, sideshowbob! I too made the transition out a couple of months ago and haven’t looked back. BI work was a great experience (with it’s downsides like everything else). I do miss the autonomy and flexible schedule, but the pressure to produce both quality and quantity was too overwhelming, especially since metric rankings seemed to be a moving target and a bit far fetched. Enjoy your new adventure, and thank you for sharing your experiences over the years! I enjoyed reading your blogs.

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Good luck, I also left the program after 20 plus years. Start my new job on Tuesday. Same here not even a fax cover sheet scribbled with thanks on it.

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Good luck to you, sideshowbob. Honestly, after 5 months of waiting and doing the required training to have credentials to work on contracts with both ADC LTD and GDIT as a IC, I am considering leaving the industry and moving on to working as a PI. I’m already training with one of the local PIs here and my security guard job, which I’ve had for the past six months, wants to bump me up to full-time hours by doing temp screenings at the site I’m posted at once D.C. starts phase one of returning people back to work. I’m going to suck it up, even though it’s a half-baked idea by my supervisor to keep me there (even though I was only hired to be an on-call officer.) I need the money and I can’t stand the fact that there’s no way of expediting credentials at a time like this from either company. It would be ironic if I was two weeks into my new full-time shift and they ended up sending them in the mail…but I digress. I understand the impact that the pandemic has taken on everything, but as many people have said about the industry, it’s in a decline and it just feels like I’ve been duped.

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Honestly being a PI would be a good move. There is never a lack of work in that field, especially if you can be good at surveillance and produce quality footage.

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Yeah I definitely see a lot of the in person work being gone even after COVID-19 restrictions are fully lifted (if ever). Since March all of my work was done by phone and I didn’t have a single issue with anyone willing to be interviewed by phone without wanting to verify my credentials in person. There were maybe 2 - 3 people that were skeptical, but they still went through with the interviews after calling my companies security dept and verifying my identity. I’m sure all of the companies are happy to not be paying out countless amounts of mileage reimbursement as well

Yep. The man teaching my class said this, too. I’m looking forward to working in this field a lot!

Understood. Thanks much for contributing knowledge. Pop back up on the FSO side after you get in place. Offering Investigator perspective is huge.

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Good luck to you! I’ve been considering a job with the bureau in the security department in order to get my foot in the door there. I agree that an investigator perspective would be great on that side of things.

i can’t even count the number of times I come across a subject who was given ridiculously wrong instructions for the form by their security office. Drives me nuts! Hopefully knowledge of this side of things will lend well to a role in that side.

Good luck!!

Bob, can you answer a question for a newbie about past employment manager interviews?
In such a situation, or alternatively, in a situation where the supervisor information I provide, refers the investigator to HR as a matter of policy (this is common, for instance Walmart has such a policy), what is the investigator apt to do–ask for another contact at the company, get me to sign more release forms, or just move on to the next employment listing on sf86 tier five?

This is a very important question to me, as I am approaching the cut off age for the position and I have several problems with past supervisors like this

It’s pretty common for companies to have a policy prohibiting employees from being interviewed. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The investigator is required to make attempts either way. If they’re told no then there’s not much they can do. I wouldn’t worry too much about it impacting your investigation in a negative way since it’s a pretty common policy. I can’t speak for every investigator, but a diligent one will definitely try to exhaust all reasonable efforts before moving on.

Thank you, that is helpful. In such cases, would the investigator want a co-worker? I know that about four of my past employers in the last seven years (I changed jobs a lot in a competitive health profession) do not answer any questions on the INV forms, but I am not sure about phone calls or in person interviews.

Thank you for your reply. In the case of a tier five investigatoin that requires in person interviews with managers and others, would this change your response and in what ways? Thanks!

Why do you continue your MO of asking too many questions? Let the process play out as it will and as it should.

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Because he is desperately trying to figure out how he can control the investigation and keep the investigator from trying to find whatever he doesn’t want found.

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Life is pretty complex and has too many variables to roll the dice, particularly for a year-long process like this with massive opportunity costs. From your profile, Harpoon, it says you are an investigator, it is okay if I can get your expert opinion on this matter? That would be helpful and constructive. I respect any insight into this matter. If you are unwilling to convey advice on a clearance forum, please allow other posters to contribute. Thank you for your time.

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I don’t want to think about this stuff when Im getting paid, let alone going on and on during free time. I use the forum to find out company/agency business. Good luck though.

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What additional info do you seek that you haven’t already been told or have before you on the form?

The best answer to all of your borderline trolling questions is to go through the security process yourself. Then you’ll find some of your answers, but not all. As an applicant you need to know as little as possible.

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Any help is welcome, WildnCrazy, or any others. Like to forego unecessary costs to the federal government and myself :slight_smile: