College Seniors: The FBI’s Hiring for 1,700 Jobs and Internships for 2017
If you want to work for the FBI, your chances just got better.
College seniors can now apply for positions with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation before graduation. In the past, you were required to have your degree before applying, but that rule deterred a lot of applicants.
Special agent William Woods with the St. Louis division explained to Missourinet that applicants go through a year-long background check. So recent grads had to wait a year after college before starting the job — if they were even accepted.
“We were losing good applicants,” Woods said. “So the FBI decided, you know what, let’s take a chance and let’s start this application process earlier.”
Applicants will still have to get a degree to get the job, but the opportunity to submit an application earlier means they can start working right after graduation.
How to Work for the FBI
Careers with the FBI range from human resources to STEM positions — and just about anything in between. It’s hiring for nearly 1,000 positions nationwide through its Collegiate Hiring Initiative.
You can’t go straight into being a special agent, as you might imagine, but these support positions are a good way in.
“There are a large number of jobs that exist to support the investigations that are done here at the FBI,” Woods told Missourinet. “Of course, once somebody gets their foot in the door, they can work towards obtaining a job, if their ultimate goal were to be a special agent or intelligence analyst, those are positions that people generally work their way up to.”
The deadline to apply is this Friday, October 14 — and you must meet these requirements:
- Be a U.S. citizen
- Attend or have attended college full time
- Plan to graduate or have graduated between December 2014 and September 2017
- Maintain at least a 2.95 cumulative GPA
- Pass FBI employment background investigation requirements
If you’re interested, apply here.
Internships With the FBI
College juniors and seniors can also apply for one of 700 full-time paid internships for summer 2017. About half of the interns move into full-time FBI jobs after graduation, Woods said.
Through the FBI’s Honors Internship Program, students will work alongside FBI employees in Washington, D.C. or in field offices around the country in a 10-week paid internship.
If you don’t think your major is a fit, think again. The FBI seems to have a place for any discipline.
Internships are open to students from a ton of academic backgrounds, including, but not limited to:
- Accounting
- Business
- STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)
- English
- Film
- Finance
- Foreign languages
- Human resources
- Information technology
- Journalism
- Law
- Marketing
- Public relations
- Visual arts (that’s right, Mom!)
If selected, you’ll receive a conditional job offer in December and be subject to a background check before beginning the internship next summer.
You can learn more about FBI employment eligibility here.
Your Turn: Do you know someone who would want one of these FBI jobs?
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
