Like I said, I think they realize how much a hold up the poly is and they're working to change it. Given the direct-hire option, it looks like they're finally fed up with OPM and just going around it.
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I want to be a professional (non-airline) pilot when I grow up
- Thread starter Gatordev
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Like I said, I think they realize how much a hold up the poly is and they're working to change it. Given the direct-hire option, it looks like they're finally fed up with OPM and just going around it.
The poly is legislated by Congress. Direct-hire doesn't bypass that. The last Defense Authorization Act authorized poly waivers for current SSBIs, but you're not going to get 5000 new bodies out of that.
CBP and DHS in general do recognize the problem, but so far getting Congress to authorize changes hasn't accomplished much. The poly waiver is the only traction they've managed. Plus, a lot of their asspain is self-generated; it's not due to USAJobs' shittyness.
Two separate ideas from my post... They are working on getting legislation through to do away with the poly for SECRET clearance holders, via whatever method they're trying, independent of how likely it may actually happen. Full stop.
New subject: They also have a method for veterans to direct hire and get around USAJobs. Period. Stop.
I wasn't saying the two were related, but that they're at least trying to work within the various constraints and both actions are indications of how they're trying to engage the 500 (or whatever) new hires they need.
Relevant indeed! Reading that does stir up a couple of nightmares from my time in Customs and CBP.
I understand that the job has gotten worse over the last few years, but pilots bitched almost constantly when I was in and very, very few ever left. Pilots hate supervisors. JO's hate hinges. Teenagers hate parents. And the beat goes on.
One friend of mine (former OV-10 and AV-8 jockey) once said of Customs/CBP Air, "I entered this program as a quarter horse but I'm retiring as a pack mule." Another said "Show me a pilot that doesn't complain and I'll show you a pilot who doesn't care." We are collectively a bunch of type A, adventure-seeking, perfectionists.
There is something to be said for a flying job from which you will almost never be fired or furloughed, unless you do something that involves handcuffs being put on you (and I saw that happen). After your one year probation, you can buy that house and build that pool and sleep soundly, knowing that the eagle will always shit every two weeks. For the "glass is half-empty" crowd, it might be seen as a trade-off between job satisfaction and job stability. For others, the grass is greener where you fertilize. Lots of new CBP pilots initially stay in the reserves (which many say only serves to remind them of why they got out in the first place), and a few pilots ride it all the way to O-6.
Fair enough. "One man's trash is another man's treasure". The job security and benefits are really nice if you can swing the location and work.
I'll say as a RW/FW background with a clearance, I'd be an ideal candidate for them, but have little to no interest after what I've read and the one reservist I talked to. I am interested in some other agencies, but information on anything beyond CBP is sparse.
Firefighting is always fun.
http://fireaviation.com/ The Chinooks are carrying a 2,800 gallon tank which they can fill in 60 seconds.
http://fireaviation.com/ The Chinooks are carrying a 2,800 gallon tank which they can fill in 60 seconds.
Gotcha. I'm just saying that, speaking from my experience of trying to get hired by CBP and having a few friends go through the same process (successfully and not), their problems with getting dudes in the door go wayyy beyond USAJobs. It was astonishingly disorganized. The branch direct-hires, yes, but then it's up to DHS HR to actually get you aboard, which can take six months to a year. During that time neither the candidate nor the branch know what the hell is going on. So you're asking someone to sit around on hot standby for that long, and then drop everything and move, and for middling pay (the AIAs do okay pretty quickly, but the same isn't true about any other entry-level agents anywhere in CBP). If they just authorized CBP to accept DoD security clearances as a valid background check, then they could at least bring their direct hires onboard immediately, swear them in, and do all the paperwork while they're in the office. You know...like every other employer anywhere.
If the administration is serious about expanding CBP, the entire recruiting and hiring process needs a major overhaul. Just to replace attrition, it needs a major overhaul. It's one of those bureaucracy puzzle games where everyone agrees on the problem, but no one has any authority to fix it.
What you describe sounds like standard Govt HR issues. For whatever reason, it can take a long time for HR/OPM to do their thing (whatever that may be). I imagine that adding in additional requirements like a poly only makes it more onerous.
Not really, it is very often agency or department dependent and some are much better at it than others. From what little I know it seems like CBP is on the not so good end of the scale. It took me only 7 weeks from an offer to starting, it takes a little longer now but it is normally much less than 6 months and that isn't too far from the norm for several other government agencies I am familiar with. Even for some of the ones that do take longer the path and how long it takes is often well known from the beginning so there aren't a lot of surprises for the applicants.
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The poly is the problem. They can bring guys aboard as provisional hires pending security clearance and physical, but given the absurd failure rate of the polygraph, who's going to quit their current job and move their family based on that? DHS knows the poly is the problem, but given the recent misbehavior of some guys down on the border, it's politically a difficult sell to Congress to do anything about it. Recent efforts just to scale back the scope of the poly, so that fewer people fail and an examiner can do more than one applicant per day, didn't get anywhere. Hopefully GEN Kelly can get it done, because as I've said, they're not going to get 5,000 new agents or anywhere near it the way things are now.
Some agencies are taking 2+ years to get candidates through the application process (including the Poly), but are flushing applicants who don't have availability dates inside of 6 months. Govt HR can be pretty difficult to suffer through sometimes.
Yup, I definitely hear you. If you believe the rhetoric, this will be fixed real soon to help everyone be great again. Personally, I think the bureaucratic ship is too large to believe the rhetoric anytime soon.
Add the Navy (or at parts of it) to the not so good list. I'm going on 9 months since notification for a rehire (not a new billet) and I only just received resumes this week. I have another one disappearing on me in 7 days and no signs of a job listing yet.
I think a lot of it has to do with size and control, the smaller the agency or component and the more control they have over their hiring it seems like they are usually better at it shocking as that may seem. I know several DoD components/agencies that have a decent hiring process but they are also more autonomous when it comes to their hiring ability than big Navy or other huge entity, other agencies to include ones with longer hiring processes that have a lot of autonomous control of their hiring process also seem to do a decent job at it.