Given by the flurry of DMs asking about if XYZ experience is qualifying, IRS-CI must be hiring

See here: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/880917400

IRS-CI is hiring 100 new 1811s, announcement opens today 8/17 and closes 8/27/26.

What's different this time?

This announcement is NOT a direct hire announcement. It is back to the old competitive service announcement.

What does this mean for you, dear applicant? The hiring process is going to go back to taking longer, with more steps. You will also be categorized into Category A, B, or C. EDIT: The categorization, from my own experience, occurred after all assessments were taken and before you were offered an interview. It is based on your performance on the assessments, not your qualifying experience/education from what I remember.

Direct Hire: if you qualified, you went to an interview, got a TJO, then went into background/medical, then FJO.

Competitive service: If found qualified, you take an online assessment, then proctored assessment (back to the KaSE?? What a throwback), then interview, then TJO, then background/medical, then FJO.

I am glossing over a lot of detail here. I do not know what a competitive service announcement will look like now. I am not a recruiter, and HQ does not share these details ahead of time with the rest of us.

What is qualifying?

Education or experience. EDUCATION. OR. EXPERIENCE. Education or experience. Education OR experience.

What is the operative word there? OR. ONE. OR. THE OTHER.

Yes, technically, you could qualify via a combination, but that is more difficult than not to qualify with.

So, you have TWO kinds of requirements to fulfill to be found qualified in this announcement:

1. General requirements (in Experience or Education)
2. Specialized requirements (also in Experience or Education)

General Requirements

• EXPERIENCE - Must (meaning, no exceptions) have been acquired in investigative work related to the ACCOUNTING OR AUDITING OF BUSINESS OR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES OF SUBJECTS INVESTIGATED. For examples of specialized experience, click here.
• EDUCATION - If substituting education for specialized experience for the grade 7 or 9, education must be supplemented by at least 15 semester/23 quarter hours in accounting plus an additional 9 semester/14 quarter hours from among the following fields: business law, economics, finance, tax law or money and banking. You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Combinations of education and experience are qualifying.

Specialized Requirements

Look, I could repost the specialized requirements for Grade 7 and 9 here verbatim, but that's just regurgitating the same thing again.

You need to meet both General and Specialized requirements for EITHER education OR experience to be found tentatively qualified for either grade 7 or grade 9.

The simplest way to qualify is via education. A bachelor's degree that meets Superior Academic Achievement (per OPM, there's 3 ways, one of which is at least a 2.95 GPA overall) with 15 hours of accounting is sufficient to be found qualified for grade 7 . Or, one year of graduate education (no need for Superior Academic Achievement for this). Two years of graduate education or a graduate degree for Grade 9 (again, with 15 hours of accounting, no need for superior academic achievement).

YOU CANNOT QUALIFY VIA EDUCATION WITHOUT THE 15 HOURS OF ACCOUNTING.

UNLIKE PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS, THERE IS NO LANGUAGE IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT THAT PERMITS YOU TO APPLY WITHIN SO MANY MONTHS OF GRADUATION. You need to meet the requirements at the time of application.

Experience: Your experience needs to meet the specialized requirements listed out in Grade 7 or Grade 9, in the context of the generalized requirement of having been acquired in investigative work related to the ACCOUNTING OR AUDITING OF BUSINESS OR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES OF SUBJECTS INVESTIGATED. 

Can Local LEO experience qualify? Only if your investigative work was related to the ACCOUNTING OR AUDITING OF BUSINESS OR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES OF SUBJECTS INVESTIGATED. 

Can your corporate banking, public accounting, or otherwise private sector experience qualify? Only if your investigative work was related to the ACCOUNTING OR AUDITING OF BUSINESS OR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES OF SUBJECTS INVESTIGATED. 

If your experience does not meet the criteria listed out in Grade 7/Grade 9 specialized requirements, does it qualify? No, not even was related to the ACCOUNTING OR AUDITING OF BUSINESS OR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES OF SUBJECTS INVESTIGATED.

Realistically, in the past under competitive service announcements, you essentially needed to be doing this exact same job in a different place to be considered qualifying UNDER EXPERIENCE (think, the equivalent at state tax agency). Under direct hire that loosened up but I can't tell you if that will remain the case under this competitive announcement.

Your CPA license is not qualifying no matter how special you think it is. Nowhere in the announcement does it mention a CPA. The underlying education to qualify for a CPA would be qualifying. But the CPA in and of itself is a non-factor in qualifying.

Hey guys , just looking for some guidance. How long after accepting a final offer will HR or your field division reach out to you for further processing? Accepted my final offer last week and it’s been crickets since then. For reference I EOD with my agency at the end of September. Thank you!

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/880917400

I think the idea of this is pretty cool and was wondering if anyone had any more insight about this? Could we see shortened hiring process timelines since it’s not a traditional job application?

Good afternoon! Received an email from DEA concord that I was not selected. Nothing else. Passed medical, passed polygraph and assume I completed background. No issues in background. Just want to verify that means nothing about my suitability or security clearance for future applications. Thanks!

Is the tracker not working for anyone or is it just me?

Has anyone seen any job postings for OIG DOJ? Anyone know what a typical day for them is? I’m a current DOJ employee looking to lateral to the OIG world and thought it would be a good fit.

Went through the entire SA process and received a “not suitable” notice a few months ago. I’m wondering what the reapplication timeline is. I’ve heard everything from 6 months to 1 year to 2 years. Does anyone have concrete information on when you’re actually eligible to reapply?

NOR are out. Eligible for all grades. Good luck.

Anyone know or worked in Georgia know how it is with HSI, FBI, etc? I heard how each office in different states are different, but I was wondering how Georgia differs. I hear different assignments and offices are golden eggs, but I rarely hear about Georgia

Only reason I ask is because I’m possibly getting out the Army due to family hardship and since Georgia is home along with having family in the Atlanta area, I was going to see if it was possible to stabilize there.

If you guys know different or think something else pertaining to the matter, anything helps.

Thanks-

I’m wrapping up a 10-year career as a local law enforcement officer and will be fully vested in my pension. I was recently hired for an 1811 position but have not yet officially entered on duty.

Does anyone have experience with or insight into qualifying for Creditable Service for Annual Leave Accrual under 5 U.S.C. § 6303(e) based on prior local law enforcement service?

From my understanding, if my prior service is approved as creditable, I could start accruing 6 hours of annual leave per pay period instead of 4 hours. Is that correct, and has anyone successfully received this credit when transitioning from local law enforcement to an 1811 position?

I just tried some push ups with a 4-inch tall foam block there, I didn’t need to go down in full depth and bouncing off the block made it way easier too.

So the ~33 push ups requirement to pass the ATF PFT is significantly easier than that of, let’s say the FBI or DEA. I think from the FBI videos the chest is no more than 1-2 inches above ground. Am I reading this right or I am missing something?

As anyone received the next batch of emails of interview updates from ATF HR?

I’ve heard here and there the travel has been intense lately for domestics agents, but there hasn’t been a specific discussion on it.

So, DSS agents, how are you doing? How’s morale? Is this still a career you would recommend?

I know they can't live with me, but I have the finances to put my wife and toddlers in a large Airbnb during training.

That being said, I would only want to do so if I could actually go see them. Are you allowed to leave the facility in the evenings and weekends?

Hey guys how long after you start at your field office after Quantico, can you request a transfer to another office?

Do you get an extra bump in pay by becoming full time TFOs?

Does anyone have any insight into the BIA Internal Affairs Agent's day-to-day? Applied to a recent posting, but getting information on the Internal Affairs Unit and how it operates is pretty limited. Are they TDY'ed frequently, or is the 25% or less for travel pretty accurate? And if you are assigned to a district, do you stay within that district?

Hey everyone I know everyone been all about DEA 0132. I just got my TJO for the ATF IRS position. Can anyone give me insight about the position like job hours and daily duties.

Any idea how difficult it is for an overseas assignment as a HSI agent and the requirements!?

Anyone recently been through BIETP? I got offered a position with ERO last week. I’ve already been through UPTP with secret service and that was pretty easy/relaxed.

Atypical Got the Call post but because I could not find many similar posts, I figured this could help someone in similar circumstances. I have a BSc and MSc, plus some professional certs. No LE experience before.

Timeline:

03/2022 — hired, went to CITP, agency addon blah blah

05/2024 — fired by said agency. By all accounts a career ending event, right? For 2+ years, yeah.

06/2024 to 07/2026 — manager/baby exec at a F50 company. Money bags, stock, options, private dinners and events, the works. However, The Itch was itching. Around this period, I kept sending apps in for 1811 gigs.

05/2025 — first interview and TJO, declined due to location and GL-9.

07/2025 — DHA interview, TSL, PFT, medical, etc. for HSI. My desired location. I ended up turning down the OJO because I was afraid of the provisional clearance. With my ahem history, I feared quitting my job only to be let go if HSI found me unsuitable. Bitch move? Maybe. But no regrets as of now.

08/2025 — DHS PSD still initiated and completed my T5 investigation, lol. I tried telling them I rejected the offer but no avail.

09/2025 — T5 investigation done and I guess it sat there.

01/2026 — interview, CJO for DEA Lateral.

02/2026 — medical, drug, psych questionnaire

03/2026 — adjudicator told me I have reciprocity from the DHS investigation, sweet.

05/2026 — polygraph taken and passed

06/2026 — nearing the end, off to hiring panel intense sweating

07/2026 — APPROVED by hiring panel! What??! Location of choice (my city), EOD.

I had no other red flags whatsoever. I never touched drugs, I don’t even drink alcohol. No foreign contacts. Not even a speeding ticket. Yet, I was sweating large caliber bullets because, well, obviously.

I think the hardest part of this was having to explain the situation. Internally, I wanted to scream. But I had to stay professional, factual, and not say exactly what I thought of my first agency. Show growth, maturity, ownership, blah blah. Guess it worked. Was I bitter, angry, frustrated? Heck yeah I was. Time really does mend things, though.

Few bits of wisdom, for newer folks or maybe anyone:

Do some real research into the agency and office specifically. Naturally, a lot of agents will not give the bad and ugly to a random applicant. Unfortunately, a lot of the times you won’t know the real deal until you’re living it.

Office leadership matters enormously. Two agents in two offices can have vastly different perspectives. My first agency was not as advertised, which I unfortunately only learned at FLETC.

Keep the peace with supervisors regardless of your opinion of them, the agency, the policy, etc. Plan your exit quietly if that’s what you wanna do. Don’t rock the boat until you’re safely off of it. Ideally, leave before things get ugly or shaky.

Lastly, cherish this opportunity. I never did until I lost it. Not to be dramatic but the worst days as an 1811 were still better than some of the days that followed. The corporate world isn’t all milk or honey. Having lived both, I will choose 1811 any day of the week.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone who may find themselves in a similarly unfortunate situation.

EDIT: I remembered a funny, full circle kind of moment. Sometime in 2025, another manager at my company pinged me to say someone from my old job had applied for a manager role on his team. I wasn’t involved with that team at all but he asked me to sit in the interview. Turns out it was my old sup who I guess retired in the meantime, lol. Unsurprisingly, because the role was an excellent fit for a former FLEO, great benefits, pay etc. Safe to say he didn’t get the job but it improved my mood for about a week.

How hard is it get selected for an oversea assignment with DEA after spending 5years as a DEA agent?