BOP Correctional Officer

[in625shooter]

Scenarios involving a person or group of people exhibiting behavior not necessarily right/legal/ethical/moral. For each scenario you get X number of potential ways you might intervene. You pick the most likely way and also the least likely way you would respond to each scenario based on your personal code of values, ethics, and morals. Specific knowledge of BOP policy is not needed nor expected.

If you’re invited to interview you take this written test first. I think the minimum score to pass is in the upper 60% range. If you don’t pass they say “thanks for your time, sorry, goodbye,” and you must wait one year before reapplying. If you pass the exam then you move straight to the panel interview.

See more, starting on page 5:
https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/3330.02.pdf

The jacked up thing is when they started the whole CVS thing a friend if mine was a AHRM and took it as did several others for Gee Whizzes and most of them failed . Silly BS if you ask me.

[Racecar_Johnny]

I got a conditional offer from Federal Pensacola (Florida) as a grade 6 and sent in my eQip a week ago.

Does anyone know when it is too late to apply to another fed camp up North/West, or advisable, and get a grade 7 slot? Pensacola was not hurting for people like N and W are, so I feel like I am shooting myself out of a recruitment bonus and higher grade.. any wisdom is appreciated.

[in625shooter]

Well once you are hired in you have to be off probationary status at the year mark. OR pull your app and apply at said location you want. You might have to wait a minute though BUT it would be sooner than a year.

As far as a higher rate Even if you BQd for the GL 6 just about eveyone the last 10 years have hired in as a 5. You will get your 7 automatically at the start of the 3rd year no matter where you hire n at.

GL 8 is the competitive promotion

[DOTfed20]

I got hired on as a GL6, but HR said if they pull a 7 and they determine I qualify they will bump me up to a 7. The things the key words are "if they determine" so I could very well appear on a certificate for a 7 and they decide otherwise, but as shooter said you will automatically hit the next level after your probationary.

The other thing to keep in mind is for a recruitment bonus you are going to be living in a high cost of living area: Cali, NY, etc.... and the extra $6000 to $7000 really isnt that big of a difference when your housing is either 1-2 hours away and your rent is 1500 - 2000 for a 1 bed. not to mention the relocation......

Florida is alot cheaper.

[Rmodel1965]

A lot of people try to get to Pensacola it's a minimum security camp near the beach

[KAYV]

Hello, hoping anyone here can assist! I recently recieved a interview invitation to MCC New York, the OF-5 Certification that I filled out showed grade 5 but I am BQ in all grades in the announcement. If I change my preference to another location (Texas) would I show in the list of eligibles for the other locations and recieve another OF-5 even as a grade 6 or 7, since MCC only pulled me as a 5.

Thanks in advance !

[in625shooter]

Again it doesn't matter what you are BQd for its what they are hiring in as far as getting in the door . Usually they will.pull a board for a single grade (in my area a 6 is now the first list they try then if they dont get the numbers they go to 5)

My HR and myself have never heard of anyone hiring in off the street as a 7 so not sure where that is coming from. If its that new or people are reading the Correctional Officer series is GL-007 so an announcement for an Officer would read GL-0007-5 (GL 5 officer) GL-0007-06 (GL 6 Officer) and so on

When they hired in a class of 20 10 years ago they brought everyone in as a 5. About 6 months in through the Union they offered to bump up the ones with experienve to 6. I dont remember all the specifics but almost none chose it because they would somehow loose and VA OJT benifits And they had to do a year at the 6 which you do anyway so not sure why they were mad about that

So do your reseach as in ask multiple folks. HR is horrible at slow walking or spinning folks (not all of them) And its always changing and there can always be something new. Glad I'm 11 days from retirement

[inmyseitz94]

when did you apply to MCC New York?

[Rmodel1965]

The regular posting for co's now have 5 6 and 7 listed to apply.

[Yungstar713]

in625shooter its new. My joint just hired a class of all 10 7-1s who had experience from private prisons. Its dumb because the class before that was all 6s and if you look at the application the qualifications to apply for a 7 are the same as a 6 so they might as well get rid of coming in as a 6 if they are now hiring 7s if qualifications are exactly the same.

[in625shooter]

Silly. When I hired at an old school stand alone USP you had to have 9-14 years in to even make the desk as an 8. Bow if a kid diesnt get it i 3 years they cry like a baby Now rhis BS will have them feeling more entitled a lot sooner. Just my experience

[Yungstar713]

Yea its dumb i mean i came in as a 6 but if you ask me its desperation of the agency to hire people especially at my complex our turnover rate is so high this 7 stunt they pulled was pure desperation. Your right its sad thats all i hear from people with 4-5 years in i hate it here because im still not an 8 they wont give me my 8.

[Florida_Man]

I started with BOP earlier this month and I gotta say that I’m happy I made the move from my last agency. Before covid, what was the average amount of times you were mandated?

[Yungstar713]

Depends on the joint honestly. Complexes with a usp are normally mando heavy stand alones are not to bad if fully staffed.

[DOTfed20]

I got my firm offer and EOD today, looking forward to starting. Thanks to everyone that answered questions and provided information about the position. It was very helpful.

[Florida_Man]

DOTfed20 congrats dude. Where you headed?

[DOTfed20]

Thanks, and I was hired at USP Atwater

[Racecar_Johnny]

How long for the federal background checks to go through? Last thing I’m waiting on before a firm and date..

[in625shooter]

You are given an interim in short order to start working. Your main clearance and face to face BGI interview wont happen until a few months in. Most cases you are cleared well within your firat year (6-9 months)

Seen a couple earlier and one or two that slightly exceed their first yeae.. And yes if its over your year and its negative you'll be asked to resign.

But those days of folks geting bad BG checks and walked out are not as bad as they use to be. They have done a better job of screening folks. And eased uo nk on some crwdit things after the 2008 recession So if your allowed to start you should be good.

[JZ71LT]

Mine didn't clear until about 4 months in, and I'm one of the few at my place that met with an investigator prior to EOD.

[Camelbak]

I was working for a year and a half before I was contacted by my BI. By then I was already going to another agency, so they just canceled it. lol

[DOTfed20]

To anyone that went through the orientation when you first EOD, any insight as what they are covering? program statements? do's ad don'ts? do you end up doing a full tour of the facility or is it discover as you go?

[in625shooter]

Its callwd Institution Familiarization or IF 2 weeks of boredom. First day sign a ton of papers. AW and exec staff give you their BS Code of Conduct commom sense. (don't get drunk and stupid so LE snatches you etc)

They will go over the BOP mission etc. Some IFs are better than others. I use to teach it and covered the Policy then covered the rest of the story. 3 prisons act etc.. Use of Force dos and don't etc. They will (or should) go over radio use, body alarms, response actions etc. Fit you for your vest and Certify you on OC and how to check out equipment.

While it can be boring enjoy it as you have no responsiblity other than a small test but its easy. It can also be entertaining as every class with more than 6 people has "That Guy" that one ups any story. A class of 10 to 15 probably has 2 of them. Don't be That Guy Nobody cares and will go the other way when they see him

Good luck

At some point you will get a tour

[DOTfed20]

Sounds like typical fed orientation. Thanks for the insight, that still sounds like they give you a good bit of info.
I wonder since I’m at a stand-alone USP with a camp if they put you with an OJI or mentor as opposed to seeing different people do different posts.

[in625shooter]

The issue with BOP is thwre are 122 institutions and 180 different ways and thats not because of sexuriry level. At any USP housin units have 2 staff per howevwr this wasnt standard until 2013. So you will have a paetnwr.

How we do it is the first week out of IF we assign eookies ro OJT and split the shifts so your 4 hours with a compound, 4 hours with a corridor Then next day in a unit for a few and another post for a few etc

Then at the wnd of that week you will be plughed into the roster. Usually a housing unit and we pull seasoned ataff to run corridor or conteol etc.

Youll be on the rookie roster changing shifts and hobs every month. for your first year. You'll either have a specific jon and days off thats a training post OR youll be sick and annual changing day to day.

[Racecar_Johnny]

Anyone know if FPC Pensacola is hiring, how down in staff they are, how often they review hire certificates, any general hiring information related to them at all, how easy it is to lateral transfer to them rather than direct hire, etc? If they've been hit with coronavirus? Just curious.

Also curious if anyone can tell me a bit about how Coleman runs? Especially with corona?

[Florida_Man]

I work at Coleman. When you apply to Coleman, they will place you wherever they need you. You don’t get to choose if you want to work at the women’s wcc, low, medium or either USP. Once you are placed in that institution, you are there for your career. Only way you can swap out is if you transfer to another prison or if you promote to an 8 within Coleman and at that point you may get the opportunity to go to another facility within if available. If you start at USP-1, you will have some leverage over other officers since what you experience in once month the low will experience in one year. It’s a great time to come in for training purposes since they are on lockdown most of the time.

[Yungstar713]

Hey florida man you guys dont run off a complex roster at coleman?

[in625shooter]

Racecar, At last count all Complexes that have more than 2 institutions do an inatiturion roster. They sort of have to as it gets way to far off the hook with scheduling. I'm at a 2 institution complex with a xomolex roatwr and was a big enough PITA when I was a LT to fill spots.

[Winter_Patriot]

Just applied. Lately, what's the application timeline looking like? Will the background investigation stuff go faster if I already have a top secret from the National Guard?

[crap shoot]

Still going to fill put an SF85P Tier 4 BI 7yrs back.
It all helps having prior BIs.

[DOTfed20]

it took me a month from interview to final offer, and another month to EOD. I've seen similar timelines on here in previous posts

[Signal108M]

I joined BOP with an active DoD Secret. Still had to do SF-85P as there is still no automatic reciprocity (despite Congress’s expressed desire for it). At least e-Qip had saved all my prior information and repopulated the form. I just had to update a few items. Took 15 months before I sat down with the background investigator to close it out.

[DOTfed20]

To go off of what Signal108M said, I have an active secret clearance and they want to do the whole thing over again as well, and its only 2 years old. the difference with me is I "sat down" (talked over the phone because this is COVID-19 times) with the investigator a day after my firm offer, so it appears experiences may vary.

[Racecar_Johnny]

Anyone know much about recruitment at Pensacola or transferring to them? How does transferring work anyway in the BOP?

[Signal108M]

“Generally,” you find a vacancy on USAJOBs.gov. Many BOP vacancies are open just to current employees, not to the general public. Let your Captain know and they can vouch for you to the prospective new supervisor. Transfers are simpler than joining up. Usually you need to serve at least one year at a given location before they’ll consider you for an internal transfer, although the generic Office of Personnel Management standard is 90 days.

[2ndXthecharm]

Is there a list of who is and who isn't hiring? I'm juggling my #1 priority because apparently that is the only one that really matters when they pull a list. Every place I'm interested I've called and they said they expect to pull a list before the end of the year, but I feel like I am missing them each time they come up.

Is there a trick to it?

[in625shooter]

Its been mentioned several timea here. About every FCC is running active recruitment. Below is the link off BOP.GOV

My advise pick one thats actively hiring and stick with it Do not keep changing locations as you might change from one thats getting ready to pull to one that just did. And nothing against HR but somtimes when you call you can get obsolete info as to where that institution is at on the hiring process

https://www.bop.gov/jobs/positions/i...%20Officer&t=2

[Winter_Patriot]

Really good advice here, appreciate people taking the time to offer it. Sounds like the places listed as having hiring incentives all have multiple positions.

I applied to a FDC near me as my first choice. Emailed HR this weekend to find out if there were openings. HR got back to me today, said there were openings and that I was on the best qualified list for GL-5 and GL-6, and that I'd probably be getting an OF-5 form soon. They aren't hiring at GL-7, which I hear is very rare anyway. They said could have a start date within a few weeks or a couple months of the interview/screening, which seems awfully fast.

Does anyone have tips on the best way to advance to an SIS or SIA position eventually? I understand that I'd not be eligible until GL-8 for those jobs, but was wondering how long I actually need in to be competitive. I have a law degree, have been a criminal prosecutor for a few years (mainly writing warrants and helping out with some investigations), but no prior LE or correctional experience.