What is the likelihood of getting a job with a Government Agency without Military experience?

I'm interested in pursuing a job with a government agency. I am now 25 with 3 college credits, a family, and no prior military experience?



How likely is it that I can work my way into a job with NSA, FBI, CIA, ATF, DHS, ICE... anything related with just law enforcement experience and college education. I know that priority is given to prior military, and I know it's ';possible'; to get the jobs without it.



I am not a ';cut above the rest';. At first glance, I appear to be a complete loser... but I'm not. I was always the kid with all the potential and brains but never did anything more than what I ';had'; to do. Well, now I want to recover from those mistakes I made in my youth as best I can. I put everything into a career that hasn't panned out over the past 7 years. I have poor credit, no current college degree, and unstable work history (partially due to the career I chose which is a typically a project by project basis), but I'm trying to turn things around and find something worthwhile to do with the rest of my life and to support my family.



If I were to clear all of these things up (no more collections/excessive debt, good credit, steady work history, college education, etc) what are the realistic chances any of these government agencies will consider my qualifications given my background history?



Thanks,

J

What is the likelihood of getting a job with a Government Agency without Military experience?
Although some agency's prefer military experience, is isn't mandatory for them to hire people without. You seem to have some strong credentials without having been in the military.



If I had to guess, I believe any of these agency's will respond positively to your resume !What is the likelihood of getting a job with a Government Agency without Military experience?
FBI and ATF require a bachelors degree before you can even apply. NSA and CIA are hard for even former military to get into. ICE probably requires a degree because it's an investigative agency. You could probably be a clerk in DHS since that doesn't require a degree, you could do Border Patrol. Veterans get 5 point preference over everyone else.
Military experience is not the only requirement to get into those types of work...there are many community colleges that offer criminal justice courses that would qualify you
You ask a lot of questions. I think your best bet is to join the military and use that as a lever to get into a Law Enforcement job.



BTW - The easiest Federal Law Enforcement Agency to get hired into is the Border Patrol. The pay is low and the work sucks but you get your foot in the door and can transfer to another agency after a couple of years. How is your Spanish?
I'm sorry, but not very good. You will need to be able to get a security clearance for a government job and bad credit is one of the major things they deny security clearances for. When you fill out the security clearance paperwork you will have to detail your life for the past 7 years, and they will check you.



Again, sorry to bear bad news. Good luck with what you choose to do.
You could probably get into one of those agencies if you have some computer programming expertise. With only 3 college credits it may pay you to take night courses and learn some computing skills. Otherwise you may only be considered for very low paying GS5 and up jobs

in clerical positions. There are probably other positions but computer programming skills is the one I'm most familiar with. There are no ';name'; colleges for that. You can get a good education in most vocational schools or junior colleges.
Your biggest hurdle will be your GPA. It better be high. Also, if you aren't joining the military then you should plan on getting your masters.



The CIA gets military intelligence officers all the time. They dig the intelligence experience so just a college education isn't enough.



The FBI is looking for special skills, mainly computers and accountant related fields. Military is good, but not mandatory; however, a degree in networking with four years of experience where you get a top secret clearance looks way better then ';Look, I have a criminal justice degree!';



They are all looking for linguists so if you speak Farsi your in!



Really, with your situation, I would join ASAP. Your federal retirement and Thrift Savings Plan will transfer over anyway. You will have a stable job for four years, you will have time to get your credit back on track (needed for a security clearance***), and you will get the GI Bill which right now is ridiculous.



If you are looking for the FBI, or any other fed service really, I would join the Military. The current head is a former Marine himself. Also, if you look at the first link, you can join their HRT with just Marine Corps combat arms experience.



I don't know what your ';plan'; is, but I would figure out exactly what kind of job you want to do. The second link might help you with that.



Then, see where the Lord takes you.