FY15 IDC DCO Boards

[Crippy011]

Greetings all, this will hopefully be my third application to the IDC community.
Any tips or pointers as to how to make myself more competitive. The only two biggest changes to my candidacy is that I am now a cyber security consultant for a big 4 firm and will hopefully have the security + certification by March 2015.
I can provide more information as needed.

 

[CaesarFromNOLA]

I have found AirWarriors to be hugely helpful so I thought I'd share my experience for anyone else out there. I have a Navy Intel DCO application going in for the March boards. Who knows what will come of it but I wanted to pass on what I've learned, and after the boards I'll post results to the extent its helpful for other applications.
About me:

• Wall Street professional (live in NYC), formerly worked in the defense industry but no military experience
• BA and MA from top 50 schools
• 35 years old
• Formerly lived/worked abroad (Asia, Middle East and Europe) with some language skills (Arabic, Japanese)

Some things I've learned during the process that others might find helpful:

• Having an advanced degree appears to be a big discriminator, according to my recruiter and Navy Intel interviews
• Highlight any foreign language experience, not matter how small (I was conversant in Japanese and could barely direct a taxi in Arabic)
• Leadership is huge - I rewrote my resume and Motivational Statement after my first round of interviews to really highlight concrete experiences (eg I was class president of my university, managed some projects in Kuwait, etc., etc.)
• Showing your motivation is NOT to use the DCO program as a stepping stone is a good thing. They want people interested in the job for what it is, not a way to get into the intel community and then go FBI, CIA, etc. I love my job so this would just be something extra with my time, and that motivation appeared to resonate well during interviews.
• Be patient - I started my application in August and I'm still ticking some paperwork boxes (I recently had to get transcripts from a school in Japan where I spent a semester in 2000)
• Stay on your recruiter - mine has been super helpful but I'm clearly just 1 of his many action items to deal with
• Be ready for a long uncomfortable day at MEPS

Good luck everyone!

 

[bryanteagle6]

Is the process applying for IDC Reserves that same as Active Duty?
I am an Active Duty enlisted currently submitting for Intel OCS.

no - very different. talk to your recruiter.

 

[Manzo]

A bit confused on this statement:

"d. Candidates should clearly explain any adverse areas in their application. In such an incredibly competitive review process, any unexplained or ambiguous issues were generally not favorably considered for "best fit" within the "whole person" concept."

Where would this explanation go per say within the application?

 

[bryanteagle6]

A bit confused on this statement:

"d. Candidates should clearly explain any adverse areas in their application. In such an incredibly competitive review process, any unexplained or ambiguous issues were generally not favorably considered for "best fit" within the "whole person" concept."

Where would this explanation go per say within the application?

where did you read this?!

 

[Manzo]

where did you read this?!

Hard to sense the sarcasm in that statement but if not... It's on the first page of this thread haha

 

[bryanteagle6]

Hard to sense the sarcasm in that statement but if not... It's on the first page of this thread haha

sry - no sarcasm at all! Just laziness on my part by not rereading the entire thread. I wanted to know where you read it so i had some context to the question. If you haven't applied before, I would say the APSR is the only place that you can explain your application. There is an area where you can make remarks about your application if you feel you need to explain anything. You can also us your motivational statement as a time to "sell" your whole person concept to the board. I wouldn't use it as a place to remark or explain any weak areas, but to point out the areas of "whole person concept" that make you a viable option for the NAVRES and the DCO program.
If you have applied before, you can also use an additional Letter of Reference and/or a letter of reconsideration that better explains your qualities of the whole person concept they may be looking for this board.

 

[das]

You can do it on the application itself, as there is a rather large remarks area for explaining adverse information, or if it's an incident that deserves more attention/explanation, there is absolutely nothing wrong with submitting a letter to the board. Though, my advice on adverse information is just to explain it, explain what you learned, and explain why it won't happen again.

 

[Manzo]

You can do it on the application itself, as there is a rather large remarks area for explaining adverse information, or if it's an incident that deserves more attention/explanation, there is absolutely nothing wrong with submitting a letter to the board. Though, my advice on adverse information is just to explain it, explain what you learned, and explain why it won't happen again.

Is that on page 8 of the 1420.1b?

"3. Address any waiver requests, for example age, education, Time in Service, Time in Grade, requirements, etc. (If applicable)"

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Hard to sense the sarcasm in that statement but if not... It's on the first page of this thread haha

active duty process =/= DCO process, they are different and this is a DCO thread not a AD thread

 

[Crippy011]

Greetings all,
Had a question regarding local board interviews. Unfortunately, my recruiter wasn't able to schedule my local boards in time for the national board so he is in the process of recycling my interviews from my last board.
First question: Is this even possible to do
Second question: Could this hurt my application profile in any way?

I also did confirm that these old interviews were 9's and 10's.

Appreciate any help with this.
Thanks in advance.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Greetings all,
Had a question regarding local board interviews. Unfortunately, my recruiter wasn't able to schedule my local boards in time for the national board so he is in the process of recycling my interviews from my last board.
First question: Is this even possible to do
Second question: Could this hurt my application profile in any way?

I also did confirm that these old interviews were 9's and 10's.

Appreciate any help with this.
Thanks in advance.

Old dates may look odd, generally all signatures need to be within 6 months, I am kind of getting the feeling your recruiter might be doing something unethical on his end.

 

[Crippy011]

Old dates may look odd, generally all signatures need to be within 6 months, I am kind of getting the feeling your recruiter might be doing something unethical on his end.

Could you provide any recommendations of what I can do to ensure that my recruiter is doing everything by the book?

 

[bryanteagle6]

panel interviews are good for a year. I did my interviews last May 2014 and I used the results for the september 2014 board and this march 2015 board. I will assume, if not selected, I will have to redo the panel interviews for the september 2015 board.
Also, atleast one of the officers that did my panel interview last year is retiring this year. It would be good to have scores from current unit members.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

panel interviews are good for a year. I did my interviews last May 2014 and I used the results for the september 2014 board and this march 2015 board. I will assume, if not selected, I will have to redo the panel interviews for the september 2015 board.
Also, atleast one of the officers that did my panel interview last year is retiring this year. It would be good to have scores from current unit members.

They may allow the panel interviews to go to a year, I had appraisals shot down before that were over 6 months though.