Big full-color help wanted ad in the Chronicle this week for the National Clandestine Service. I was unfamiliar with this entity, a part of the CIA. They seek applicants from various academic backgrounds, and offer jobs with "fast paced and [uh oh] high-impact challenges." http://tinyurl.com/37dcuq It all just seems so, well, non-clandestine. John Bear, who really wants a National Clandestine Service jacket or sweatshirt
It seems the CIA is pretty desperate for people. The CIA had a recruiter at the UF career fair and I went to speak to him. I figure with an MBA and a Masters in Economics, as well as having over 6 years of experience living and working all over the world, I might be of some use to the agency. He pretty much told me to get lost unless I spoke Arabic or Chinese.<br /> <br /> Then I read Legacy of Ashes, and totally lost all interest in the CIA.
As part of the exit process for me from the Army, I had to listen to a pitch from a "government agency" that offered "highly specialized training" and "exciting opportunities". Gee, I wonder what that agency might have been?
I am surprised the CIA has not requested a special waiver to the H1-B visa to bring Arabic and Chinese nationals into the organization directly from their homeland. Recruiting at US schools seems counterproductive especially if language is their most critical pre-selection criteria.
How many US schools actually offer programs in Arabic or Chinese? Gosh... my undergraduate school barely offered Latin... -Matt
My first one offered Cherokee I-III (which I stupidly did not take). I think anything involving translation is going to be really fickle. Plus, my feeling is that the unspoken "qualification" is that you have the right skin-color to go along with the ability to speak the language fluently. That, plus being a citizen makes it kind of a catch-22. They are in a real bind with a lot of this and I can't imagine how tough it's been for them to find people who are fluent in, say, farsi. I'm friends with a native farsi speaker, but she's canadian. She's also fluent in german and english, but even if she wanted to work there Yeah, I wrote to the CIA maybe ten years ago and asked about opportunities for psychology majors (internships etc). They kind of gave me the bum's rush too. The CIA still doesn't want psyc students, but they do want PhD/PsyD-level practitioners for 'exciting international opportunities.' Yeah, I bet. https://www.cia.gov/careers/jobs/view-all-jobs/psychological-psychiatric-analyst.html
Their website looks awesome and it's extremely impressive. It seems to make it easy for people to apply and it's user-friendly. Kudos to whoever in the CIA developed the employment website!
