The Career Center hosted a FBI Special Agent Seminar to discuss an internship program and a Collegiate Hiring initiative in community rooms two and three on Wednesday from 12 to 1 p.m.
Special Agent of 25 years, Steve Dupre, said that the FBI is in the “heat of recruiting season.” They are looking to hire the next generation of employees.
The goal of this event was to inform students of this paid internship program and a Collegiate Hiring initiative that the FBI is offering.
Dupre said that they “take all majors,” and that they are especially looking for people with a tech background.
Breanne Holland, American River College Student Services Supervisor said that the FBI does this event once a year, and “they (FBI) always reach out to us because they like the college interns.
She said that this is a very beneficial event for students because it allows them to explore new opportunities they may or may have not been interested in.
According to the FBI’s website, interns can expect to “work side-by-side with FBI employees at our Washington, D.C. area headquarters locations, or in field offices around the country. Open to a wide range of academic areas, this internship offers experiences students can’t find anywhere else.”
Some of the requirements of this internship include being a U.S citizen, a full time undergraduate, or a graduate from an accredited college or University, a GPA greater than 2.95, no hard drug use in the last ten years, no marijuana drug use in the last three years, and you must pass all FBI employment background investigation requirements, and receive top secret security clearance.
This background investigation lasts four months, includes a polygraph, otherwise known as a lie-detector test, and the FBI asks people in your life about you. They also look at your social media accounts.
“Once you lie, you can’t work for us,” said Dupre.
He also said that once you work for the FBI you must take a polygraph test every ten years. This is to make sure that the workers are still the same person that the FBI hired.
The FBI says that they “don’t hire perfect people but we hire honest people.” Some of the disqualifiers for the internship include excessive illegal downloading of media, failure to register with selective service, a felony charge, defaulting on student loans, falsifying information on the application, failure to file tax returns, state or local, and failure to pay court ordered child support.
Only the top 20 applicants will be interviewed for the internship. The FBI is looking to have about ten interns in the sacramento area. Last year, they only got three.The average pay for the internship is $17 an hour.
The Collegiate Hiring initiative is different from the internship. It’s offering five different career opportunities. It has most of the same requirements as the internship except, it requires you to have already graduated, or are in line to graduate, from an accredited college or university between Dec. 2014, and Sept. 2017.
Applications for both the graduate program and the internship end Oct. 14. For more information about these career opportunities you can visit www.fbijobs.gov.
The Career Center often hosts events like this for students where they can learn about new career opportunities, and discover new interests. They will also be hosting the Career Fair, which is on Oct. 6, from 10 a.m to 1 p.m, in Community Rooms one through four.
