Degree for certain federal LE agencies

[SemperFiVet]

I found two links.

This one is to the HUD OIG employment site:
OIG Special Agent Employment - HUD

This is to a job posting in Kansas City.
USAJOBS - Search Jobs

Neither have a requirement for the specific degree. I think someone may be BS'ing you. Who knows the motivation. Let us know what you find out.

Wow, this blows me away to say the least, thanks for the link. (I can't believe I didn't already find it myself!)

It's been three weeks now so maybe they've already forwarded the list to the hiring official, but I find it particularly interesting that the HUD SA link you gave specifically says "business education" in it, something the HR rep at the BPD specifically said it did not.

I think I'm going to give a phone call him tomorrow and ask them to explain.

However, if it's already too late, what would I have to gain at this point?

This is the argument given to me by the HR at the BPD - that my master of science in management is not applicable to an 1811. I have it verbatim in his email with his signature on it, and now come to learn that the HUD website specifically says to the contrary.

A related master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D. Attach a copy of transcripts or list of college courses designating semester or quarter hours earned to ensure proper credit.

SOME SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE IS PERMISSABLE.

Each year, the OIG hires Special Agents from a pool of diverse and highly qualified candidates. They may be recent college graduates or experienced criminal investigators from other law enforcement agencies. Degrees vary with majors from Criminology to Business Education.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/oig/careers/specialagent.cfm

[Switchback]

That is the most stupid thing I have heard! Your degree is more applicable than most degrees taht go into the system. Hell, mine is in molecular biology... yeah, REAL applicable for an 1811 job, but here I am.

[Piggy]

It's not too late, call asap. The last thing they want to do in the system is tick off a vet. Congress would get involved in a heartbeat. Even if they do nothing, you still tried. .

The best case is that they will cancel the current announcement and certification and re-announce.

[SemperFiVet]

Alright, so this is what it is. I called OPM and one way or another I ended up with the HR for the HUD in particular. What it is it appears, is that because my degree is not in CJ (because there really is no other masters degree that would fir the bill as the describe it - a degree giving some sort of investigative education,) you cannot use it to qualify for GS-9 alone.

Basically it goes like this - the OPM leaves the wording vague (probably intentionally) so that it says the degree has to be applicable to the job field. Well, they choose to interpret this as a CJ degree (there is no master's degree in law enforcement.) Why do they do this?

Because they already have more apps than they know what to do with and they have to find a way to thin out their pile somehow, so that is what they do. If the posting was for GS-7 I would have of course qualified.

They said they meet with the BPD every so often and that this will be a topic of discussion for their next meeting, so who knows. They did mention that they will also clarify their website better than it is now.

All I know is that I've always been of the opinion that if I need to file a lawsuit in order to get the job, I don't want to work there anyways - it's their loss.

I've got a ap out with OIG for the DOEd at GS-7/9 and am curious to see how they rate me, from the questions I answered I thought I should score at the top.

Would I recommend a CJ degree for a masters? Not unless you were already in the field, or if it was a secondary degree because on it's own, it can be very limiting into your prospects outside the CJ field and if for some reason you cannot pass a physical, your CJ degree could become really useless.

HR nowadays are so anal about discriminating against your degree and previous experience - too many figure if you haven't done it before than you're incapable of figuring out how to do it in the future. A far cry to when GI's came home from WWII and were given opportunities based on their overall merits, and not necessarily specific experience.

Too many college degrees in the workforce today as it is, and the cost/benefit ratio has seriously been challenged with the rise of tuition in the last 10-15 years.

Anyways, thanks all for your help.

[Jennifer]

Alright, so this is what it is. I called OPM and one way or another I ended up with the HR for the HUD in particular. What it is it appears, is that because my degree is not in CJ (because there really is no other masters degree that would fir the bill as the describe it - a degree giving some sort of investigative education,) you cannot use it to qualify for GS-9 alone.

Basically it goes like this - the OPM leaves the wording vague (probably intentionally) so that it says the degree has to be applicable to the job field. Well, they choose to interpret this as a CJ degree (there is no master's degree in law enforcement.) Why do they do this?

Because they already have more apps than they know what to do with and they have to find a way to thin out their pile somehow, so that is what they do. If the posting was for GS-7 I would have of course qualified.

So, I'm just trying to understand this: they still denied you??? That's BS.

[SemperFiVet]

So, I'm just trying to understand this: they still denied you??? That's BS.

For that particular vacancy, because it was only posted for GS-9, yes.

I said to them that they could have just said instead that I was qualified but not competitive, and thereby not referred, and they never would have heard a peep outta me, but instead they actually went through the effort to say that I wasn't even qualified. Pretty lazy on their part in my opinion, but that is what it is.

[Jennifer]

For that particular vacancy, because it was only posted for GS-9, yes.

I said to them that they could have just said instead that I was qualified but not competitive, and thereby not referred, and they never would have heard a peep outta me, but instead they actually went through the effort to say that I wasn't even qualified. Pretty lazy on their part in my opinion, but that is what it is.

Sorry to hear, but perhaps it just wasn't meant to be. Something else will open up.

[charlydevo]

It sounds to me like they are only hiring a few people who have already "been selected", if you know what I mean. They have to find ways to get rid of all the other qualified applicants.