2nd Annual Report On Entry-level Analyst Hiring In Law Enforcement Is Out!

If our recent report on national security hiring for entry level intel analysts was bleak and the similar report for intelligence in business was positively rosy, then the annual report for law enforcement (LE) falls somewhere in the middle.


The major reason for the lack of clarity in this particular market is the lack of corroboration of our sources.  One the one hand, almost 66% of those surveyed, all of who had direct or significant indirect information of hiring intentions within their organizations and within LE more generally, indicated that they thought hiring would increase.  The same crowd, when asked about hiring within their own agencies or organizations, however, were much more conservative - only about 28% expected hiring to increase. 

We saw the same effect last year and we are still at a loss to explain it.  At first blush, it looks like a simple grass-is-greener effect:  "Everything looks great -- except for right here..."  We think it may be more complex than that for a number of reasons the first of which is that hiring, particularly in small to medium sized LE agencies, does appear to be picking up.  It is something we intend to keep an eye on for next year.

What is more clear is the functions that are in demand:  Crime analysis and cyber remain hot.  What is more interesting, however, is the amount of push-back we received with respect to compartmentalizing functions at all.  As one respondent stated, "While there may be a need for specializations in Federal Government agencies, I think most small to mid-sized agencies will continue to need analysts [with] a combination of skills..."

Written by Greg Marchwinski (the author of this year's other two reports), the entire document is well worth the read!

2nd Annual Mercyhurst Report On Hiring Prospects For Entry Level Intelligence Analysts In The National Security Community Is Out! (And It Is Not Pretty...)

http://www.iismu.org/white-papers

Sequester, draw-down, RIF, early retirement - these are the buzzwords that are dominating the hiring discussions in the US government these days.  While last year was marginal, the next 12 months are shaping up to be very tough ones for entry-level intelligence analysts trying to break into the US national security intelligence community. 

Greg Marchwinski, one of our current crop of graduate student all-stars, prepared this year's report which, like last year's report, is based on collected survey data, interviews and emails from knowledgeable individuals, and relevant secondary sources. 

Here is what Greg has to say about the prospects for the next 12 months (from the executive summary):

"Due to uncertainty over federal government deficit reduction initiatives and a decreasing military presence globally, it is highly likely that overall hiring of entry-level intelligence analysts within the US Intelligence Community (IC) will decrease significantly from recent levels until the next budget cycle begins in October, 2013. The only exception to this general trend is cyber-related positions which are likely to see a moderate increase despite budget cuts. Additionally, it is highly likely that sequestration throughout the IC will significantly limit hiring entry-level intelligence analysts in all analytic functions until defense funding negotiations are resolved."

Click on this link to download the full report.

Look for our reports on entry-level intel analyst hiring in law enforcement and in business next month.

How Many Entry-level Analysts Will The US IC Need In 2013? (Survey)

Good question, right? 

 

If you have direct knowledge of information that might help answer the question in the title or you have indirect knowledge that is relevant to the answer to the question in the title, please take 2 minutes to complete this survey. 

 

What do I mean by direct and indirect knowledge?

Direct knowledge means that you know personally or have good information concerning the hiring plans of your agency or organization (or at least your section or division).  You might work in HR or be a manager with hiring responsibilities. 

Indirect knowledge is information that is relevant to the question that is not due to your direct responsibilities.  You might have spoken with an HR manager or have been involved in meetings where this issue was discussed. 

We are NOT looking for opinion based on purely circumstantial information.  If you are not involved in the hiring process either directly or indirectly, please DO NOT take this survey.

Why are we interested?

Every year, other disciplines announce hiring projections for the year:  "This year's hot jobs are for engineers and chimney sweeps."  That sort of thing.  Entry level intelligence analysts who are searching for a job, on the other hand, receive no such guidance.

We hope to change that.  Working with one of our hot-shot grad students, Greg Marchwinski, we put together this survey to get a better feel for the the job market for entry level analysts for the year ahead.

Once we get enough survey data, Greg will compile it and combine it with the macro-level, mostly qualitative data that we already have and put together a "jobs report" for the year ahead.  I will publish it here once we are done.

We understand that there are some legitimate security concerns here so we have tried to frame the questions such that they are focused on broad developments and general trends.  We are not interested in the kind of deep details that might compromise security.

Finally, we intend to follow this study up with similar surveys of the law enforcement and business job markets for entry-level intelligence analysts as well.

By the way, this is the same question we asked last year and here is the answer we got...

Thanks for your participation!

Entry-Level Intel Analysts In Law Enforcement Jobs Report Now Available For Download!

Last fall, we began a quest to capture the hiring prospects over the next 12 months for entry-level intelligence analysts (the kind we produce) in each of the three major sub-disciplines of intel:  National security, law enforcement and business.

Today we are putting out the 2012 Entry-Level  Hiring Projections for Law Enforcement Intelligence report (click on the link to download).

The report was compiled by the same analyst who produced the national security report to rave reviews, Whitney Bergendahl.

This report contains, in addition to Whitney's analysis, the collected wisdom of all the hiring managers and intelligence professionals who took our survey on job prospects.  I would particularly like to thank the International Association of Crime Analysts and the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts for circulating our survey among their members.

Of course, we welcome your feedback (send it directly to me or leave a comment below).   For those of you interested, in December, 2011, we put out the national security report and you can still find the details here.  We look forward to publishing the last installment on the business market for jobs next week some time.

How Many Entry-level Intelligence Analysts Do The Business And Law Enforcement Communities Need This Year? (Survey)

Good questions, right?

 

If you have direct knowledge of information that might help answer the question in the title for business or for LE or you have indirect knowledge that is relevant to the answer to the question in the title, please take 2 minutes to complete

 

the business survey or

the law enforcement survey.

What do I mean by direct and indirect knowledge?

Direct knowledge means that you know personally or have good information concerning the hiring plans of your agency or organization (or at least your section or division).  You might work in HR or be a manager with hiring responsibilities.

Indirect knowledge is information that is relevant to the question that is not due to your direct responsibilities.  You might have spoken with an HR manager or have been involved in meetings where this issue was discussed.

We are NOT looking for opinion based on purely circumstantial information.  If you are not involved in the hiring process either directly or indirectly, please DO NOT take this survey.  

If, however, you know someone who does fit the descriptions above, please forward this post or the survey links to them.

Why are we interested?

 

Every year, other disciplines announce hiring projections for the year:  "This year's hot jobs are for engineers and chimney sweeps."  That sort of thing.  Entry level intelligence analysts who are searching for a job, on the other hand, receive no such guidance. 

 

We hope to change that.  Working with one of our hot-shot grad students, Whitney Bergendahl, and my colleague and marketing expert, Shelly Freyn, we put together these surveys to get a better feel for the the job market for entry level analysts for the year ahead. 

One of the questions you might have regards our definition of "intelligence analyst".  This means something that is more or less clear in the national security community but, in both the business and law enforcement communities, it is a bit more muddied.  In fact, very few jobs in either community are actually labelled "intelligence analyst".  I leave it up to you to decide if the jobs you are likely to have fit a broad definition of "intelligence analyst".  What I would ask is, if you think you might be employing intelligence analysts (no matter what the job position is actually called), please, at least take a look at the survey -- and then fill it out if it seems appropriate.

Once we get enough survey data, Whitney will compile it and combine it with the macro-level, mostly qualitative data that we already have and put together a "jobs report" for the year ahead for both communities.  I will publish them here once we are done.

 

Regular readers of this blog know that we have already published our report on job prospects for the US national security intelligence community.  These two new surveys will allow us to cover all three of the major "intelligence communities".

 

Thanks for your participation!

1st Annual Entry-level Intel Analyst Jobs Report Out Now!

How good is the job market for entry-level intelligence analysts over the next 12 months? 

Good question, right?  If you are a recent graduate from college or you are graduating in 2012, and you are interested in working as an analyst in the US national security intelligence community, it is probably one of the questions you are asking yourself.

The answer is contained in this document.

We tasked one of our outstanding grad students, Whitney Bergendahl, with examining this question back in the early fall.  He put together a survey (which some of you may remember) and conducted some fairly extensive secondary research to put together this report.  It is obviously a tough nut to crack but Whitney has done yeoman's work on this first ever, job market report for entry-level intel analysts.

Whitney and I are both interested in your feedback, of course.  After you have had a chance to read the report, please leave a comment!

But wait, there's more!

(I know that sounds cheesy but there is, in fact, more...)

This report only covers the job market for entry-level analysts in the national security intelligence community.  Between now and the end of February, we hope to publish two other reports on the job markets for entry-level law enforcement intellience analysts and for entry level intelligence analysts in the business community. 

But wait!  There's even more!

(Had to do it...)

Benjamin Wittorf, who publishes occasionally on the blog, Netzwerk-Organisatorische Formen, but is probably best followed via Twitter and makes a living as a researcher for eVenture Capital Partners, has turned my series of blog posts, How To Get A Job In Intelligence, into an epub for easy (and free!) download. (Note:  I am sure there is something clever I could say here about "the kindness of strangers" but I can't think of it so I will just say, Thanks, Ben!)

While this series is a little old, I think much of the general guidance ought to still be good.  If you want to read it, you will, of course, need to have an epub reader to access it.  If you don't, there is also a pdf version or, of course, you can still access the original series on this blog.

Mark Your Calendars! US Intelligence Community's Virtual Career Fair 16 March! (ICVIRTUALFAIR.com)

The US National Security Intelligence Community (IC) is about to hold a virtual career fair on 16 March, 2010. Nine of the largest agencies within the US IC will be represented and registration is free and open to anyone (though only US citizens can get jobs in the US IC).

Career opportunities in the following fields will be available:

• Cybersecurity/Information Assurance
• Engineering and Physical Science
• Foreign Languages (Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Mandarin, Pashto, Somali, or Urdu are the top choices)

• Information Technology
• Intelligence Analysis
• Law Enforcement
• Many others (though not specified on the Virtual Career Fair website).

Registration is easy. Just go to the registration page and fill in the blanks (Note: When it asks for "Event Login ID" and "Event Password" those are things that you make up, not things you need to get from the event organizers):

There are some browser and plug-in issues so be sure to click on the Computer Requirements link to check out your system. Also don't rely on the text alone. Make sure you click on the System Check link. For example, the text says Firefox 1.5 and above is supported but when I clicked on the Check System link it told me my Firefox 3.5 system was no good.

According to some of the press releases about the Fair, if you can't make it on the 16th, the site will still be up for 90 days after the event but there won't be any recruiters there to chat with.

How To Get A Job In Intelligence (Final Version With Abstract)

Abstract:

I wrote this series of posts to help entry-level job seekers understand the broader market for intelligence professionals and, particularly, intelligence analysts. I start by taking a look at not only national security but also business and law enforcement employment prospects for intelligence professionals and continue with detailed advice along with a number of places to look for employment. The series contains multiple links for job hunters as well as a substantial amount of background information on everything from resumes to interview skills to appropriate dress. Of particular interest to most job hunters should be the extensive and often lengthy comments to many of these posts.

HTML Version:

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own
Part 9 -- The 5 Things You Must Have
Part 10 -- Advice From The Trenches
Special Report: Where The Jobs Are, 2009
Part 11 -- Advice From Intelligence Veterans
Part 12 -- Intelligence Job Links
Annex 1 -- "Plan B" Careers

Annex 1: "Plan B" Careers (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own
Part 9 -- The 5 Things You Must Have
Part 10 -- Advice From The Trenches
Special Report: Where The Jobs Are, 2009
Part 11 -- Advice From Intelligence Veterans
Part 12 -- Intelligence Job Links

I thought I was done with this series...until I received a very interesting email from the Federal Citizen Information Center pointing me to an article on Bankrate.com about "Fallback careers" -- careers that you can fall back on if something goes wrong in your main profession.

All of the careers on the list had evidence of growing demand and required less than a year of schooling to get certified according to the Bankrate article.

As I looked at the list, I immediately thought of a use beyond the one intended by the authors. These careers could also be a useful way of filling in the time between graduation and getting a clearance.

Many entry-level analysts get stuck waiting to start work because of a clearance. Predicting when a clearance will be complete is one of the hardest things to do (we had one student whose clearance took three years -- by which time she had married, moved, had a child and changed jobs!). Having a useful Plan B in this situation might allow one to avoid a "challenging career in the food service industry".

Obviously, in order to pursue one of these fallback careers, the job seeker would have to have the certification before graduation (which would likely necessitate summer or night school) and might, therefore, not be an option for everyone. If this is the case, then maybe seeking such a certification makes sense while waiting for a clearance (time and financing permitting). Likewise, if job offers are not as forthcoming as one would hope and grad school isn't an option, then pursuing certification in one of these fields might also turn out to be a good option.

What are the eleven "Plan B" careers?

1. Emergency medical technician
2. Police officer
3. Phlebotomist
4. HVAC technician
5. Drafter/CADD operator
6. Medical assistant
7. Truck driver
8. Dental assistant
9. Massage therapist
10. Medical records and health information technician
11. Nuclear medicine technologist

Some of these careers look particularly promising. With the number of analysts currently deployed in war zones, I can imagine that training as an EMT would be an excellent secondary skill to have.

I also have some concerns about this list, though. Police officer seems overly optimistic, for example. While the facts in the article may be true, the number of people already seeking jobs in this field make it seem overly competitive for a fallback career. Maybe if you included all security professionals (including bank guards and mall cops for example), it might make some sense. Otherwise, I would not advise anyone to go this route strictly as a fallback career.

I was also surprised that more information technology positions weren't on the list. Certified computer repair guys and website administrators always seem to be in demand. Getting some sort of technical certification in these fields will benefit an analyst in the lean times and when they are working as an analyst as well.

Part 12 -- Intelligence Job Links (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own
Part 9 -- The 5 Things You Must Have
Part 10 -- Advice From The Trenches
Special Report: Where The Jobs Are, 2009
Part 11 -- Advice From Intelligence Veterans

(Note: This is the last part of this 12 part marathon (not what I had in mind when I started, I assure you...) on jobs in intelligence. I would like to thank all those who contributed comments or even whole sections to the series. Your efforts made this series much more valuable to those trying to break into intelligence. I would also like to thank all of you job hunters who took the time to send me notes telling me how useful this series was to you. I wish you all the best of luck in your job searches!)

In this final post in this series, I intend to include all of those links for which I have not found a spot for in any of the previous posts. This list is by no means all-inclusive. Please do not hesitate to add your own good link in the comments...

The best single link I know:

Intelligence Jobs And Internships On Squidoo -- I set up this "lens" on Squidoo a couple of years ago to provide a "one-stop shop" for Mercyhurst students looking for a job in intel. I had one of our super work studies update it last year and will probably see if I can get another one to update it later this fall but the site covers may of the basic job sites and even has some dynamic content where new jobs appear as they become available in all three disciplines.

Other Links of Interest:

(Note: I apologize for not linking all of the hyperlinks to the appropriate text below. I simply did not have the time to make all of the links. To get to the sites you may have to copy and paste the URLs into your browser's address bar. In addition, much of this part of the list comes from LTC Rich Holden's amazing list of intel job sites first published on the US Army's INTELST. I genuinely appreciate him allowing me to republish it here.)

General Job Help:

Washington State Library's Employment and Job Seeking Site (some good info even if you are not a resident of Washington State)
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/hardtimes/employment.aspx

The HR Data Revolution: Your CV Should Be A DB
http://www.frontiereconomy.com/2009/08/the-hr-data-revolution-your-cv-should-be-a-db/

How To Write A Resume
http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-write-a-resume-12-steps-to-your-next-job

12 Top Tips To A Successful Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvuZY3DWtIY

Women's Fashion Tips: How To Dress For An Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMt2aJWRyE0

Professional Wardrobe For Men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFaXXNkdr74

10 Boilerplate Phrases That Kill Resumes
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-10_boilerplate_phrases_that_kill_resumes-97

How To Prepare A Plain Text Resume
http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-prepare-a-plain-text-resume

Quintessential Careers - Guide to College, Careers, & Jobs
http://www.quintcareers.com/

Salaries and Wages
http://www.opm.gov/oca/payrates/index.htm

U.S. Department of Labor
http://www.dol.gov/dol/welcome.htm

Best Places to Launch A Career, 2009 (Thanks, Shannon!)
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/career_launch_2009/

Best Companies to Work For, 2009
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/full_list/

Price Waterhouse Coopers Career Advice
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/pwctv/career-advice.jhtml

VetJobs
http://www.vetjobs.com

Veterans Business Network
http://www.veteransbusinessnetwork.com/

Headhunter.net - job listings and resumes
http://www.headhunter.net/

thingamajob
http://www.thingamajob.com/

Defense Contractor Company sites:

Accenture
http://www.accenture.com

BAE Systems
http://careers.na.baesystems.com/

Battelle Science & Technology International
http://www.battelle.org/

BearingPoint
http://www.bearingpoint.com

Booz Allen Hamilton
http://www.boozallen.com/

Caliber, an ICF Consulting Company
http://www.calib.com/

Covenant Security / Covenant Special Projects
www.covenantsecurity.com

Cubic Applications, Inc.
http://jobs.cubic.com/opportunities/

DESE Research Inc.
http://www.dese.com/

Electronic Warfare Associates
http://www.ewa.com/

Imagery and Intelligence Solutions Inc.
http://www.iisolutions.com/careers.html

J.L. White & Associates
http://jl-white.com/jlwa/opportunities.do

Lockheed Martin Corporation
http://www.lockheedmartin.com

MPRI - Taking Expertise Around the World
http://www.mpri.com/current/personnel.htm

Northrop Grumman
http://www.ngc.com

Raytheon
http://www.rayjobs.com/

SAIC Job Opportunities Career Find Your Job
http://www.saic.com/career/find.html

Tapestry Solutions
http://www.tapestrysolutions.com/index.php

TEK systems
http://www.teksystems.com/

Titan - L-3 Communications
http://www.titan.com/home.html

Thanks again to everyone who read, commented or contributed to this series! Good luck and good hunting!

Part 11 -- Advice From Veterans (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own
Part 9 -- The 5 Things You Must Have
Part 10 -- Advice From The Trenches
Special Report: Where The Jobs Are, 2009

As I was doing research for this series, I reached out to a number of my colleagues for advice. I received some very good answers back. There was a surprising amount of agreement among these public and private sector veterans of intelligence work. Generally, their comments broke down along three lines, however: Specific areas to look for jobs or specific skills needed to get a job, the importance of internships and, finally, general advice to the job hunter.

(Note: All of the people quoted in today's post are intel veterans. They are trying to be helpful by providing the benefits of that experience to young analysts looking for their first job. These comments should not be construed, however, as the "official position" of their respective agencies, companies or organizations.)

Specifics

Deborah Osborne, who writes the popular crime analysis blog, Analyst's Corner and has a consulting business with the same name, provided some very specific guidance for entry-level analysts interested in pursuing careers in law enforcement intelligence.

"Certain parts of the country," she said, "have many more local level crime intelligence analysts jobs. The most concentrated areas for local level law enforcement analyst positions in the United States include the following states: Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Kansas, California, Arizona, Washington, and Colorado. This doesn't mean that other states don't have such positions - just that the concept of crime intelligence analysis is well-established in the listed states."

Drew Perez, of the Lockheed Martin Center For Security Analysis and the author of the also popular national security focused blog, JIOX, took a slightly different but no less useful perspective when he outlined the "hot" areas for analysts seeking employment today: "Competitive Intelligence, Information Operations, Perception Management, Prediction Markets."

Drew goes on to say, "Another area identified in the market research I conducted 2-years ago for Lockheed Martin showed that significant opportunities exist outside the traditional intelligence community (IC). Secretary Napolitano's recent speech at the Council on Foreign Relations addresses these opportunities outside the IC. Here are some excerpts: 'And so we're constantly looking for ways to better share information up and down the response ladder I just described, from individuals and communities to local law enforcement, to the federal level and then at the international level. In other words, as we build the fusion centers, we need to move analytic capacity from the Beltway to the country. In addition to the 70 current fusion center sites, the department will be collaborating with the Department of Justice and the FBI in more than 100 joint terrorism task forces across the country as well. So you see how we're creating the network—individuals, private sector, now among fusion centers and the law enforcement community.' "

What Drew is highlighting seems to be confirmed in the recent report on where the jobs are going to be in government over the next 3 years. That report indicated considerable growth in intel analyst positions within federal law enforcement.

Finally, another intel veteran, Cecilia Anastos, highlighted some particular skill sets that she thought would be useful, including mastery of analytic software (such as Analyst's Notebook), mastery of white hat hacking skills, and language skills (specifically, according to Cecilia, "Arabic, Farsi, Pashtu, Chinese and Spanish….I would include also Portuguese and Italian").

Internships

Virtually all of the intel veterans indicated that an internship was important. Drew was emphatic: "Get an internship with ODNI, CIA, DIA, NSA. The point is someone (an agency) has to sponsor your security clearance to get in the door. "

Deborah offered some good advice to those more interested in law enforcement careers: "Internships can be arranged by your universities and colleges. You may also approach police agencies yourself. Do research on the web to see if they have an analytical unit. Contact the unit staff and ask about opportunities. Some agencies use volunteers to help analysts. Look into these options because developing relationships with analysts and agencies is your number one best bet to getting a job."

Howard Clarke, of Toddington International, a commercial OSINT firm, in outlining some of the problems with intelligence as theory and intelligence as practice, also provided what turns out to be a pretty good checklist for interns when examining a company, agency or organization as a place for potential employment. Specifically, Howard recommends that young analysts, "do their homework on the agencies to which they are applying: as regards organizational culture, use of analysts, relevance and quality of training, etc. To make my concerns a little more concrete, I would point to issues such as:

• Problems with analyst tasking (does this function work well in the prospective hiring organization?)
• Is there coherence between the training provided and the actual work in which analysts are engaged?
• Is the organization analyst-friendly? Are there clear roles and reasonable expectations and a supportive or hostile organizational environment?
• Are systems in place to support the analysts or are the analysts in place to serve the data processing functions?"

Howard's list is a good one in my estimation, even if, in this economy, entry level analysts may not be able to be very picky. At least, they will be able to go into a job with their eyes open.

General Advice

There was quite a bit of just general good advice from all respondents for entry level analysts. Much of it has already been outlined in other parts of this series but some of it, at least, bears repeating and some of it is brand new.

For example, I thought Mats Bjore, the Director of Silobreaker made some excellent points when he stated, "Intelligence analysts need to be able to learn and unlearn at high speed. They also need to have a deep cultural and social understanding for the area or subject they analyze. Furthermore, they need to be able to do their own collection of data and information embedded in the analytical process. I have seen to many examples of "academic" and "IC" methods that give the individual a sense of a proven and accepted workflow, but, for the consumers of intelligence, just produce an overflow of words that they get too late."

Deborah adds that young analysts should make a point of attending "the International Association of Crime Analysts and International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts conferences if you are able. Besides the quality training you will receive there, networking opportunities abound. Make an effort to meet people who head analytical units and don't be afraid to market yourself." I would say the same holds true for the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professional's annual conference as well.

Cecilia recommends picking a specific topic or region of interest as soon as possible, studying as much as one can about it/them and actively writing papers or other documents to help develop your expertise but also to use in a portfolio. Another of her recommendations that made sense (either from an internship or a job perspective) was to "apply to organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations, think tanks, etc. This will brand your name with a region and an expertise, which you can use later to get a job at government agencies."

Next: The Ultimate Intel Job Search Link List

Special Report: Where The Jobs Are, 2009 (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own
Part 9 -- The 5 Things You Must Have
Part 10 -- Advice From The Trenches

Just when I was about to wrap this series up, all of a sudden a new report comes out that contains a number of juicy details about where jobs will be in the Federal Government over the next three years -- including amazingly, specifically, jobs in intel analysis!

The site with all the cool info is called Where The Jobs Are, 2009 and many thanks to my colleague Prof. Dave Grabelski for pointing it out to me. The specific section of interest to intelligence professionals is the Security and Protection section.

The Partnership For Public Service, a well-funded and well-connected non-profit with the stated mission to "revitalize our federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve" put the report together based on information provided by the 35 government agencies that participated.

The level of participation by the intel agencies is unclear. The CIA, for example, did not participate. The Department of Defense (DOD) and all of the services did participate, however, and this is important because nearly all (80% or more) of the intel budget falls under DOD.

Maddeningly, it is unclear what the numbers provided by the services actually represent. For example, I am pretty sure that the numbers on the site are for DOD civilian jobs and do not include military positions but I am not positive. Likewise, I am pretty sure that the DOD numbers include subordinate agencies like DIA and NSA but I cannot be sure since the CIA clearly opted out and these other agencies may have done the same.

Beyond the services, I have other questions about what the numbers actually mean. For example, the line item in the report labels the "Professional Field" as Intelligence Analysis. Does this include anyone associated with the intelligence analysis function? Or just analysts?

One article from the Washington Post does shed some additional light on the hiring picture, however. In its article announcing the publication of this report, the Post states:

• "Intelligence agencies expect to hire 5,500 people in the next year and "in the same order of magnitude" over the following two years, according to Ronald P. Sanders, chief human capital officer for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Such agencies include the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. "It's a combination of how much turnover we expect and how much growth we expect in our budget," Sanders said."

With the data provided by the report and the Post's article, it is possible to go back to the back of the envelope again and do some more analysis.

• Any way you add up the numbers you get a reasonably consistent answer to the question of how many intel analysts the federal government needs each year:
  

• If you add up the numbers for the agencies listed needing professionals in the Intelligence Analysis field in this new report, you get 3676 over the next three years (or about 1200 a year).
• Previous info suggested that about 17% of the intel workforce are analysts. Using Sanders' 5500 total number, this translates to 935 new-hire analysts (17% of 5500) across the entire national security IC each year for the next three years.
  
• Both these numbers triangulate pretty well with my own, earlier, estimate of about 1000 total (as the median. The range was between 400-2000).

• The Department of Justice (DOJ) is undeniably the place to look for jobs as an analyst. More than a third of the total 3676 projected hires in intel analysis over the next three years are coming from DOJ according to the report.

• The factors mentioned by Sanders in the Post article were turnover and budget. Intel budgets are likely to remain flat so my guess is that this is mainly due to turnover and that much of this is driven by retirement. There is some support for this in the new report (see the Turnover Tab on the Security And Protection page).

• The factor not mentioned was a shift away from contract hires in intel (i.e. closing down contracts and making those workers move to the government side). Contractors currently add another 30+% to the total intel workforce. It is hard to imagine much widespread growth in the contract sector but there is no recent evidence to suggest that there will be a decline next year either (For more info on estimates with regard to contract hires see this post).

• Previous info suggests the US national security intelligence community has about 100,000 government employees. 5500 new employees each year based mostly on voluntary turnover translates to roughly a 5.5% turnover rate. If accurate, this places the US national security intelligence community in the same general category as other low turnover rate industries such as biotechnology and other high-tech industries.

Next: More Advice From The Trenches

Part 9 -- The Five Things You MUST Have (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders
Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: India, Europe And South Africa
Part 8 -- Going It On Your Own

So far, this series has been about perspective and opportunity and a little short on tactical advice for job seekers. I hope to rectify that in (what I think will be) the last three posts in this series.

Specifically, I want to lay out in this post the five key things I think a job seeker needs to have in order to get a job in intelligence. These five things assume that the job seeker has at least the minimum qualifications for the job to which they are applying. In short, I am trying to identify those things that set some job seekers apart, that give certain job seekers an edge. These observations are based primarily on watching 500 or so seniors and second year graduate students go through the process over the last 6 years here at Mercyhurst.

I recognize that the Mercyhurst experience may not be typical for all job seekers. Because of the nature of our program, lots of employers come to us to find entry-level analysts. For example, our Career Services Department logged over 400 intel interviews on campus last year before Christmas. Not all of these were for jobs, of course; some were for internships but it gives a sense of the level of opportunity the college provides.

Likewise, the faculty here maintains good contacts with a number of agencies, businesses and professional organizations focused on intel. As a result, we get a lot of "Hey, we are looking for someone who can..." kind of job openings.

Finally, our alumni are increasingly becoming our best asset when it comes to finding jobs, internships and new students. I don't think a week goes by that I don't get a note from an alum about a job or internship somewhere that one of our students might be able to fill.

The point of all this is that the Mercyhurst experience is something of a special case and I recognize that. I realize that what I have noticed in terms of jobs may be a result of that unique experience and that my observations may not apply more generally.

That said, I am going to try to generalize here. What I have listed below are the five things that, from my observations, when they are done well tend to result in a greater chance of getting a job and when they are not done well or not present at all, tend to reduce the chances for getting a job. I think that they will apply to anyone seeking an entry-level job (and, particularly, an entry-level analyst job) in the intel communities outlined in the previous posts in this series.

Enough caveats and disclaimers! Here is the list:

The Right Attitude

This job search is not going to be "typical" and it may be difficult. The job seeker needs to take responsibility for the search and do so early in the process. This means two things: First, no one is exactly like you. No one has exactly your skills and abilities. No matter how difficult it gets, you have to remain positive about your search and your opportunities. You don't care if everyone wants you -- you only need one person, agency or organization to appreciate what you bring to the table.

Second, and as important (maybe more so), is that no matter how "special" you are, no one owes you a job. If you think jobs will fall on you because you are so brilliant or educated or experienced -- think again. The sooner you take charge of your job search and start working all the angles, the faster and easier you will find a job.

Finally, and also related to attitude, is to not bother looking for the "perfect" job. I hear students say stuff like "I was offered a job in counter-proliferation but I really want to work counter-terrorism" and it drives me crazy. Where an entry-level person in intel actually winds up is something that is virtually certain to evolve over the early years of that person's career. The one thing I know about jobs in intel is that they change and sometimes very rapidly (I am certain, for example, that about a year ago there were a whole lot of analysts who suddenly became Georgia-Russia analysts who were working other jobs just a few weeks previously...). No matter what you think you are qualified to do and no matter what you employer thinks they are hiring you to do, it will likely change (sometimes before you even walk in the door).

A Portfolio Of Resumes

A one-size-fits-all approach to resumes will not work in intel (and may not work anywhere). At the first level, I have had a number of recruiters tell me that students should have both a polished, finished resume and a text-only version. The text-only version is for use on job boards (such as Monster or Indeed). A text-only resume that contains an exhaustive list of a person's capabilities and credentials but little in the way of formatting is one that is most likely to show up in a keyword search (the way most job boards operate) but is least likely to choke that same system due to a format conflict (like a system that can't interpret all the fancy fonts you used...).

Having two resumes (polished and text-only) is the minimum you should do, however. Different jobs require different skill sets. While you should never lie about your skills, if a particular job needs a particular skill that you do have, why not put it up front? I have seen a student who was fluent in Arabic apply for a job that required fluency in Arabic but bury that piece of information at the bottom of his resume because "that's where I thought languages went." AUUUUUGGGHHH!

If you are serious about applying for a job, then you should take the time to carefully look at the requirements for that position. You should do some background research on the company or agency to fill in any gaps that the position description does not address. Finally, you should organize your skills, experiences, education and abilities on your resume in such a way that you match what they want to what you have (again, without lying or exaggerating). Blasting generic resumes at every position you can find may work, but is generally not very effective.

If you start customizing your resume for each position and saving each version, you will soon find yourself with a portfolio of resumes so that when you do see a job that looks good, you will be able to pull out a resume that is close, tweak it a bit, and send it in.

Two more thoughts about resumes: First, just because you did something doesn't mean you have to put it in your resume. In other words, unless you are looking for a job as a fry cook at Wendy's, why would you take up valuable resume real estate with that particular nugget? I am not saying that these types of jobs should never be included in a resume but, if you do include them, you ought to have a reason (For example: The job calls for leadership experience and you were the day manager for Wendy's with X number of employees, Y amount of equipment and inventory and Z dollars in sales. It still might not be what they are looking for, but at least you have made it relevant).

Second, recruiters see lots of resumes. Many of these resumes are very well done; not just neat and clean but snappy looking, too. Appearances matter. If you would not wear a suit that was too tight to an interview, why would you hand over anything but a good-looking resume to a recruiter? Resume styles come and go and you want to come across as professional and competent, not cluttered, unorganized or dated. In my last post in this series, I will highlight some of the resume sites I have found but you should do your own research.

A Portfolio Of Your Work

If you are looking for a job as an analyst in any of the intelligence communities, having a portfolio of your work is particularly important. To begin with, you should scour your academic or internship work products (assuming they are unclassified) for good examples of analytic writing. Specifically, you should find a short piece (1-2 pages -- that's an SFAR if you are a Mercyhurst Student) and a longer, more detailed piece (an LFAR for you Mercyhurst types...). If you don't have such a writing sample (or you don't like any that you do have), you should create some.

Likewise, if you have ever had a chance to publish anything -- from an academic paper to an article in a newspaper -- be sure to include it in your portfolio. Actually having something published (particularly if you were paid for it) is like a gold star in your portfolio. It really gives the interviewer/employer confidence that you can write.

Being able to communicate in writing is still the most important skill for analysts but, increasingly, it is not the only skill employers are looking for. Your ability to brief or to design effective presentations is incredibly important and having some good examples of your work in your portfolio may well set you apart from other candidates.

Other communication skills are also becoming increasingly important. I recently had a former student tell me about the importance of our Wikipedia project to her career. Intellipedia uses the same basic technology as Wikipedia and the skills she learned in class have already helped her. Likewise, virtually any quality visualization of intelligence -- from an ARCGIS or Google Map product to an Analyst's Notebook chart -- should be part of the serious job seeker's portfolio. Concrete examples of other skills (a facility with pivot tables or an ability to make podcasts or short movies, for example) ought to make it into a portfolio as well. Depending on the situation, you may not use all (or any) of these, but you want to have them compiled and in one place.

Interview Skills

All job seekers should work on their interview skills. I have seen many students set themselves apart from the crowd by being good in an interview. I have also seen a number of otherwise highly qualified students falter at the finish line because their interview skills were sub-par.

The first thing to examine is your wardrobe. Anyone who has ever seen me in person knows that I am the last person to listen to for fashion advice. That said, it doesn't take a genius to know that wearing an ill fitting, wrinkled suit with filthy shoes is not the way to walk into an interview. Furthermore, the intelligence community typically is not looking for people who visually stand out (intellectually, yes; visually, not so much...). In short, I would save the nose ring for later and stick with something that was professional and comfortable.

The second thing to examine is the way you speak. You are not usually speaking with a peer when in an interview so your speech should be professional, not casual. Avoid slang and colloquialisms (no "you guys" or "y'all").

The single best thing you can do to prepare for interviews is to practice. Ideally, you want to have as realistic a situation as possible. You should be dressed and you should be facing off against someone who has done or does interviews in real life and who will brutally critique your performance afterward. If at all possible, you should record your interview so that you can look at yourself and hear how you speak. If you can't find someone experienced to practice with, then find a fellow job searcher to work with. As painful as this is (and as much of a hassle as it sounds...), nothing else you do will prepare you as well for an interview.

A Network

Just because I mention the "network" last does not mean that it is the least important. Frankly, many people get jobs because they have good networks and they know how to use them.

Friends and family are the obvious first places to ask. They may not be terribly helpful in getting a job in one of the intel communities (unless they are in one of the communities themselves) but it is an easy, low cost way to get things started.

Another relatively easy avenue may be to approach alumni from your institution that are already in one of the intel communities. Sometimes you can do this through your college career service department and sometimes (particularly with classmates) you can do this directly. Another possibility related to your college or university are the faculty.

One note of caution: As you move away from family and friends, you want to make sure that whatever relationship you have with these other networks is a positive one. It really doesn't make much sense to approach a faculty member, for example, when you did very poorly in their class. Likewise, alumni that you know personally and think well of you are probably going to help you more than alums that have never met you. The obvious corollary to this note of caution is that it is in your interest to get to know some students in the year groups ahead of yours and to get to know the faculty in your field and the career services people handling your discipline before starting your job search.

If you see intel as your profession then you should also get involved with the various intelligence-oriented professional organizations. If you are into business, then you probably want to join SCIP, if law enforcement is your thing, then IACA or IALEIA. If you are more interested in national security then there are a good number of options ranging from the military associations to organizations focused on very narrow areas (such as nuclear materials management) to academic organizations focused on intel.

The key piece of advice here is to actually get involved. Merely becoming a member does not really count. You want to plan events, go to conferences and conventions -- meet people. Obviously, getting involved with these organizations early is better than trying to make up for lost time but getting involved at any time is better than not being involved at all.

Students today should also not overlook their strong online social networking skills (years of fiddling with Facebook has to be worth something, right?). The competitive intelligence community seems to be out in front right now on this with active social networks on Ning and within LinkedIn. There are even a number of CI specialists who are worth following on Twitter.

A Final Comment On Grades

One of the things I have not mentioned is grades. In general, all things being equal, grades are important. I rarely see someone get a job in intelligence with less than a 3.0 and I try to tell students who have a 3.5 or better to keep it above a 3.5 because, in my experience, there is a cognitive leap from a 3.49 to a 3.51 that is sharper, perhaps, than it should be among recruiters.

The real point, however, is that all things are never equal. I can pretty much guarantee that a fluent Dari speaker with a 3.0 in intelligence studies and a US passport is going to have an easier time getting a job than an otherwise average 3.7 political science major and that a student with an active Top Secret clearance is going to beat them both regardless of grades. The intelligence communities are pretty much looking for a wide variety of people all of the time. Grades are the lowest common denominator -- focusing on those skills that are in demand yields a much higher payoff.

Next: Advice From The Trenches