New Federal Employee

So for me it’s been a month since eQip was submitted and none of my references have been contacted. Should I be concerned ??

At what point were you called for your drug screening/test? I submitted my e-QIP 10 days ago and it's been quiet on the home front.

You can start before the investigation is complete if you are granted a contingency. Basically you will start working as the investigation continues. obviously if you do not pass the investigation then you will be let go but the requirements to be granted a contingency are more strict so that would be a very rare situation. I'm sure the contingency is what HR was referring to as I have never heard of any type of clearance being complete in only a few days. As far as the previous years, mine was for 7 years for public trust but I do not know if confidential is different.

I am literally in the same boat lol, my epiq was submitted on 8/4 and the only thing I’ve noticed is my credit was pulled in August as well. None of my references have been contacted and as far as I know my current employer hasent either ( not sure if I would know or not) my EOD is September 30th so at this point I’m checking my email constantly waiting for a response or request for additional information lol

How did you know your credit was pulled?
I only knew my references were called because they told me so. I’m on the same boat, they seem confident that everything is going to be clear before the 30th but I’m leaning more towards a Oct 14th start date. I’ll see how this week goes lol good luck!

Hello all,

I will post my experience. I applied for an IT specialist InfoSec role with the Army. I am new to federal government employment. I have a master's degree in Cybersecurity, CISM, CISSP, CAP, SSCP, HCISPP, and enrolled in the PhD program in Information Assurance.

Applied: 11/18/18
Closed: 12/7/19
Referred: 12/8/18
Interviewed: 1/11/19
Informal interview with the hiring manager and team: 3/14/19
Tentative offer: 3/15/19, I completed some onboarding paperwork
Selected: 3/15/19
Fingerprints at Army location: 4/11/19
E-Qip: 4/17/19 - Completed SF-86
Received financial info request from G2 group: 7/10/19
BI interview: 8/15/19
BI follow up info request: 8/16/19-8/29/19
References checked: 4/24/19-9/2/19
Drug test: 8/22/19
Submitted check stubs: 8/22/19
Official offer: 9/9/19, Step 3. Slightly lower than what I earn in industry. However, it is higher than the max range for the role
Received options for start date: 9/10/19. I selected 9/30/19

Below is my timeline.

7/9/18 Applied for GS11 2210 job with VA (Open to public / Direct hiring authority)
7/??/18 Referral email received - must of deleted the email
8/15/18 Called to schedule a "not an interview" call while on vacation
8/16/18 Had "not an interview" call with some of the team
8/20/18 Received TO
8/20/18 Submitted signed OF-306
8/23/18 Requested to fill out SF85P
8/24/18 Submitted SF85P and fingerprinted at local VA
8/28/18 Background investigation initiated
8/31/18 Received FJO
8/31/18 Sent increased step/leave request
9/25/18 Received and accepted amended FJO approving step 6, but additional leave accrual denied
10/15/18 EOD
5/2/2019 Interview with background investigator
6/2019 Neighbor and old co-worker (management) interviewed

Guessing the background is all set as I haven't heard anything, but wouldn't expect to.


Next job:

3/7/19 Applied for GS12 2210 (Open to public / Direct hiring authority)
6/5/19 Referral email received
6/5/19 Received TO
6/6/19 Submitted signed OF-306 and SF-50
7/2/19 Received and accepted FJO (HR contact was on vacation for 10 days)
7/21/19 EOD

It's officially official. My final timeline:

04/11/2019 - Applied
04/15/2019 - Posting Closed
06/28/2019 - Referral
07/23/2019 - 1st interview
08/09/2019 - 2nd interview
08/16/2019 - References called
08/27/2019 - TO (email)
09/10/2019 - e-Qip submitted
09/11/2019 - Fingerprints
09/26/2019 - Physical
09/27/2019 - FO
10/15/2019 - EOD

Can contribute finally on Timeline to TO

JA closed July 5 applied July 5 2019
8/15 referral notice update on USAjobs (emailed notification)
8/16 Called for interview
8/27 Interviewed via Phone (25 mins, I timed it)panel of 3. I requested phone interview and explained travel costs. They were very accomodating.
8/28 Thank you note sent. NO response
10/1 TO received

That's it. There was NO contact after interview till TO. I did not contact HR for an update. I know this can be a rough wait and for me it was too
but I figured if I get the offer I get the offer. Still applying though. Found another great opp in Wash DC.

Agency: DHS
Hope this helps

Seeing all this gives me mixed feelings. There isn't much I can contribute on my end since I applied for one of the positions on July, was referred in August and interviewed in September. It's been about a month since my interview and I have no way of knowing whether I'm going to get the job or not. Trying to stay positive...