Just wondering if anyone knows of any sort of professional development courses that relate to investigative work/security/national security or intelligence stuff? I know the Center for Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) has courses and certifications but from what I understand the certifications are only available to government employees. I’m a BI with Perspecta (formerly KeyPoint) but they don’t really offer much to help pad the ol resume.
I have checked out CDSE too and have notice that it is only available to fed and military people. Too bad as they have some great certs.
How is working for Perspecta? I have an interview this week.
I like it a lot, it’s not bad at all especially if you’re going off of old KeyPoint reviews. The first few months can seem kind of rocky while you get into the swing of things but other then that I like the freedom and schedule flexibility, tomorrow my schedule is looking like I won’t even have to put pants on for the day. Good luck with your interview and let me know if you have any questions
That’s great news! It seems that the other areas of Perspecta seems to have happy employees, so I would assume that they would try and clean up the things that made Keypoint horrible…fingers crossed:)
How far do you typically drive? Do you find yourself driving for hours for an interview or reference often?
How long did it take for you to get a clearance?
Any tips for training?
I work in a non-metro area so my commute times can be anywhere from 5-10 miles in one day, all the way up to 100 miles or more. Some days I don’t even have to leave my little town, while others I will drive to the other end of my county and back. Last Thursday I did about 160 miles in one day, but that was mostly due to poor planning on my part (forgot to bring a release prior to getting a record and had to drive back home, rookie mistake lol). Some days I don’t even leave my house. If you drive a car that’s good on gas then the weekly expense checks more than help pay for gas/oil changes/brake pads, etc.
My whole “clearance” process didn’t take that long (the investigator who interviewed me said my case was expedited. My timeline is that I applied for Keypoint in May 2017, interviewed around June and was offered a position, filled out the sf86 somewhere around there, had my interview around July/August and then I didn’t hear anything until about October. Started training in November 2017.
Training isn’t that bad. It’s mostly death by PowerPoint™ and practicing the questions with others in your class. They do throw a lot of information at you but as long as you know how to to ctrl + f and search a document you’ll be able to find whatever answers you need on the final test.
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I live in one of the large California metro areas and seeing how a lot jumped ship form Keypoint, not sure what to expect for driving.
I went TDY to California for a couple weeks not too long ago and I had to drive well over an hour for some meetings. The distance wasn’t the problem though, it was the insane amount of traffic.
I went TDY to Silicon Valley area for three weeks. I was all over the place. Definately drove over an hour to some place but cali is so spread out. Had fun though. Got to go to Facebook and Google, and Youtube. Seems to be little or no BI’s in cali though. Maybe cost of living.