Joining The CIA
How can I join the CIA?
I joined the CIA in the days before the Internet, so I sent in a cover letter together with a resume. But nowadays the CIA has its own website and I think you can download the application and probably even apply online. From what I understand, the CIA receives thousands of applications every month particularly to be in the clandestine service.
What types of tests will I take before being accepted to the CIA?
Before being accepted into the agency, you usually take a battery of tests to include your standard math and verbal SAT-type tests, although not the SAT itself, and then some psychological tests. They give you a long psychological test. It's about 500 questions. And then, of course, you'll take the polygraph test. Nobody gets hired by the CIA without first passing the polygraph test.
What type of training should I have before I apply to the CIA?
There's no real training that you can have in order to apply to the CIA. During the whole testing and interview process, they're looking for a number of attributes, and they're looking to find out who you are as a person and where you might fit in at the CIA. Would you be a good case officer or spy? Would you be a good analyst? When you take the test and do the interviews, there's a lot of assessment of your personality that's going on, to determine if you're the kind of person that they want, and if so, where you would fit in there.
How do I make myself stand out when applying to the CIA?
One way you can make yourself stand out when applying to the CIA is to have language capabilities in some kind of obscure but really important languages that are relevant in today's fight on terrorism, like Urdu, Pashtu, and Arabic. Some of these difficult languages where the CIA really has trouble finding people who have those language capabilities. So that is one of the things that is most sought after. And also I think, being an upstanding citizen is one thing that the Agency looks for. They want people who are trustworthy. They want people who are patriotic. So, it's kind of a difficult balance because you have to be trustworthy but at the same time, you have to be, particularly if you want to be a spy, someone who is willing to lie, for the rest of your life, really, to lead a double life.
How old is too old to work at the CIA?
The CIA doesn't have any age limits to work at the organization itself. Within the Clandestine Service, you have to be below the age of 35 to start the Clandestine Service training to become a spy. They used to take people right out of college, and so the cadre of spy trainees was very young. But the CIA has realized that they'd like people to have a little more life experience, to have some spies who have maybe already lived overseas or have already worked elsewhere, and that those people are generally the more effective spies.
How do I know what positions are available at the CIA?
The CIA maintains a website, which has all kinds of unclassified information on it, to include descriptions of all the jobs that are available at the CIA, and a pretty detailed description of what it means to be a spy. Even though much of that realm of the agency is classified, it's not classified that the CIA recruits people to be spies, recruits Americans to be employed in its Clandestine Service, and so anything you need to know about what positions are available will be on the CIA website.
If I'm not a U.S. citizen, will I be able to work for the CIA?
No. The CIA will only hire U.S. citizens. That's not to say that if you were born in a foreign country, or at one time were a citizen of another country you cannot work at the CIA. You can but you must become a U.S. citizen first.
How much money could I make working for the CIA?
Can I tell my friends and family I work for the CIA?
The CIA doesn't expressly forbid you from telling your friends and family that you work there or that you're a covert employee. I should clarify that there are a lot of people who work for the CIA who are overt employees, meaning that they can tell their family that they work at the CIA, either as analysts, or they work in the library; something that's not a covert position. If you're a covert officer or a spy, it's expected that you will keep that information pretty much within your nuclear family. You should just tell your spouse or your parents, and you should not share that information with friends. A lot of people work in the clandestine service and even their children don't know where they're working, and sometimes even their spouses don't even know where they're really working.
