Dea

[RAB1123]

Hi..i Was Wondering If Anyone Had Made It To The Written Assessment For Dea Special Agent And Did Not Pass It Or Do Good Enough To Continue To The Panel? That Happened To Me The Other Day And Im Feeling Very Disappointed, Along With Feeling Very Stupid...hopefully Someone Else Out There In My Shoes Can Relate!! Please Reply Someone!!

[cecilVA]

Don't beat yourself up over it. DEA is one of the most sought after special agent jobs out there, a whole lot of applicants for a handful of spots. Many very qualified people get denied at some point in the process. Just keep trying, do a good job at whatever is you do, get more experience, and don't get in trouble.

[RAB1123]

Thank You For Responding And Making Me Feel Better..thats The Way Im Trying To Think Of It...i Guess I Cant Reapply For Another Year Now I Think They Said...that Is Pretty Much My Plan Now..in The Meantime To Try And Get As Much Experience Possible,so I Can Be Considered Amongst "most Competitive" As Dea Puts It, Next Year. I Dont Have Really Much Law Enf Experience, So I Was Thinking A Possible Good Idea Might Be Joining Af Reserves And Get In Security Forces Maybe...not Sure If Itsa Good Idea Or Not..let Me Know If Get Some Time If You Think It Might Be A Good Step

[cecilVA]

First of all, can you stop using capital letters on every word? Its get of hard to read.

I'm in a similar boat as you, want to be in LE but don't have any LE experience. So I decided to become an Auxiliary police officer while in the military. Its a non paid, volunteer position, but I'll get some good experience along the way. As for you, DO NOT join the military solely to get LE experience. The military is a commitment that you must be ready for, especially if you were to do Security Forces, those units deploy ALL the time, sometimes for a year. So put some thought into that idea.

Since I have no idea what your background or situation is, you have lots of options. Get more education, try to be a reserve police, apply to be a full time police officer at the city/county level, or military. Or possible combos of those. Any of those will add to your resume if you want to try to go the federal route. There are also LOTS of federal LE jobs out there for the various alphabet soup agencies (USSS, IRS, DEA, ICE, FBI, ATF, DSS, OIGs, USCP, USPP, Pentagon Police, USMS, etc.). Just need to do some research.

It is VERY difficult to make a special agent job right out of the gate. The average age is usually around 30 for new agents. And before that they were lawyers, engineers, PhDs, military, cops, accountants, stock brokers, teachers, and so on.

[Group9]

Hi..i Was Wondering If Anyone Had Made It To The Written Assessment For Dea Special Agent And Did Not Pass It Or Do Good Enough To Continue To The Panel? That Happened To Me The Other Day And Im Feeling Very Disappointed, Along With Feeling Very Stupid...hopefully Someone Else Out There In My Shoes Can Relate!! Please Reply Someone!!

I wouldn't feel that way. DEA gets a lot of applicants and has the luxury of setting the bar very high. Just because you didn't make the best qualified list is not a reason to get down on your chances for another position with someone else. It's like applying to an Ivy league school and being turned down. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with you, you just have a lot of people applying for a relatively small number of openings.

DEA is only going to hire 300 to 400 agents this year. They receive around ten to twenty thousand applications a year. Keep trying if you really want to be in federal law enforcement. There are lots of federal LE jobs out there.

[Sides]

I would advise you to keep applying and show persistence with it.. Even those who get "Conditional offers", most of these individuals will not get a final offer of employment...

I am currently in the hiring process, and I agree with you that it can be very frustrating. Like another said before, the average age of a new hire is about 30-31 or so. I applied immediately after I graduated college and was fortunate enough to make it through some of the stages. If you fit the "most competitive" area, then you will be a step ahead of the game.. At my orientation probably about 1/2 of the 30 that were there did not receive applications because they were not "MC" for whatever reason.. The area that trips up the most candidates, according to my recruiter, is the physical fitness test.. Here in the midwest the winter can be pretty cold, and as a result people dont' train tha tmuch. According to the recruiter, 75% of applicants fail the pt test during the winter, and 50% of applicants fail it during the other seasons..

I am currently waiting for the polygraph and background check.. It is a very long process, and sometimes youw onder if anything will ever happen with it.. Even the background investigation will take 6-8 months I am told.. So, you really have to be in this for the long haul.. I decided to go to grad school while waiting this application out..

Most of all, just stay fit, keep your head up, and keep trying..

[FBI-Reject]

Don't get down. A lot of good and qualified applicants fail.

I failed the FBI's phase II and the USPIS's Assessment Center, and have yet to get an offer. I passed the Customs written and interview, but they deemed me non-competitive. However, after failing the FBI's phase II I took a college business writing course and joined Toastmasters. I ended up passing on my second (and last) attempt at the FBI’s phase II.

I’d suggest you consider taking a college business writing course. I took mine at nite and found it was really, really awesome. It even helped me speak better. I will almost guarantee you that taking a college business writing course will enable you to pass.

On a friendly constructive criticism note, there is a lot of writing in Agent positions. And I found the DEA’s test on the easier side, compared to USPIS’s and the FBI’s. But even if you may not be a very good writier, I think that a college business writing course will enable you to pass.