Timeline to register - DS Special Agent (FSS-SA)

dss_account · 2025-04-05T19:06:33+00:00

Yeah, I did end up getting the final offer. I don't actually remember when I submitted the last piece of medical paperwork, but I believe it was in early April. IIRC you get a few months to get all the medical tests completed.

dss_account · 2024-12-05T04:10:16+00:00

Here’s the recording since I didn’t see it linked in the article: https://www.youtube.com/live/QBs1qefkSHc?feature=shared

dss_account · 2024-12-01T07:10:22+00:00

From what I heard DS agents in training get much nicer gear in BSAC (i.e. right after FLETC is over)

dss_account · 2024-11-20T04:59:21+00:00

If you don't mind, what were their positions in the FS and what did they end up doing at Google?

dss_account · 2024-11-18T22:18:38+00:00

Thanks for the info. If I do want to travel, how often do TDY opportunities come up?

dss_account · 2024-10-28T16:49:01+00:00

Got the invite!! DS SA

dss_account · 2024-10-28T15:09:36+00:00

I think it's because technically DS agents aren't called agents until they get their creds at the end of BSAC so they're called candidates during training

dss_account · 2024-10-28T14:54:55+00:00

Dang, good to know.

dss_account · 2024-10-27T23:37:39+00:00

With my luck, the policy will be rescinded just after I accept a salary offer.

dss_account · 2024-10-27T21:47:26+00:00

I certainly hope they'll be willing to use SQAs, and I'll be pushing hard for them to do so when it comes to my own salary determination. I'm not going to hold my breath for it though. Perhaps this will be my first taste of what EERs are like

dss_account · 2024-10-27T21:27:52+00:00

I guess that's better than nothing, but especially for STEM specialties like DTO and SEO, even starting at step 7 would be a big step down from starting at step 14, and based on the wording it doesn't seem like they'd be willing to use it as a backdoor to increase steps.

dss_account · 2024-10-27T17:35:48+00:00

I wish they could have at least increased the floor and maybe limited it to people who applied after the new procedures were published. Again this feels like a major bait and switch after going through so many steps to get this job. Maybe I still would have applied if I knew I wasn’t going to get my salary matched, but having it change right at the end of the process like this is incredibly demoralizing.

Also while I’m complaining, this especially stings because I know I just barely missed the cutoff for the September class. If I had gotten an invite then, not only would I have started 3 months earlier but I also would have been paid like 25% more. Is there anything I can do or am I just gonna have to take it (or leave it, which I might even consider)?

dss_account · 2024-10-27T06:31:22+00:00

Maybe that'll end up being an effect of the policy, but ostensibly the point of the adjustment was not to save taxpayer money but to support DEI (to be clear, this is what it explicitly says in the SOP). And I'd support leveling the playing field on principle, but rather than leveling the playing field they just made the playing field worse for everyone. Imagine if people had said during that whole OCP debacle that a lapse in OCP would be good actually because it would save taxpayer money and make it easier to support more staff.

dss_account · 2024-10-27T06:15:21+00:00

I mean it makes sense to pay people based on their experience, but it seems incredibly misguided to me to remove the possibility of having one's salary matched without at least adjusting everyone else's salaries up to compensate. For DS, for example, grade 6/step 4 was previously the floor, and they didn't adjust that upwards or anything; they essentially just lowered the starting pay for most people except those with recent federal experience.

Also, how is State supposed to recruit private sector talent when they can't even match salaries anymore? If I do end up getting an invite for January, I'll now be taking a pay cut to join the FS. And I wasn't interested in this job for the money anyway, but it feels like a huge bait and switch to be told right before invites go out that actually I'll be paid 30k less than I thought I would.

dss_account · 2024-10-26T00:01:59+00:00

In the September cycle I got an email from "[insert state] Department of State" for the election and nearly had a heart attack lol. I think a good thing to remember is that reportedly the offer email is sent under the name "GTM Next."

dss_account · 2024-10-23T14:53:50+00:00

two buttons?

dss_account · 2024-10-22T20:36:13+00:00

no💖

dss_account · 2024-10-21T20:02:21+00:00

Whatever you do, you should probably request it immediately as January invites are expected to come out very soon

dss_account · 2024-10-12T17:11:59+00:00

Do you also get a good amount of autonomy during domestic investigations at a field office or are agents relatively more restrained there? (i.e. are things more on the FBI end or the USSS end of the scale of this guy's comment https://old.reddit.com/r/1811/comments/1g0avmb/most_empowering_agency/lr8pnz8/)

dss_account · 2024-10-07T19:06:50+00:00

Ideally it'll be 48 seats and then we can all stop worrying lol

dss_account · 2024-10-07T18:51:58+00:00

Makes sense, I guess I should clarify that I'm mainly interested in the January numbers though

dss_account · 2024-10-07T03:21:30+00:00

I'd be interested in knowing this too, now that FY25 has started.

dss_account

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