Questions to Ask an FBI Agent
For students meeting an agent at a career day or class visit, and for applicants talking to an FBI recruiter. The questions follow the conversation: the agent's own story first, then getting in, training at Quantico, the daily work, the career paths beside and beyond special agent, and what the job does to the rest of a life, from moves and pay to family. Each has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like or what to do with it, and where the answer rests on a rule that gets revised, the note says to check the Bureau's current one.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Their story
What made you want to become an FBI agent?
Why ask it
The best opener for a class visit, because nearly every agent has an answer ready and it shows you where to go next. Listen for whether it was a person, a case in the news or a job they held first, then ask what happened between that moment and the day they applied.
What did you do before you joined the FBI?
Why ask it
Agents often had another career first, and hearing it shows how wide the door is: teacher, accountant, soldier, police officer, lawyer. If their background is close to yours, ask what from it they still use. If it is far from yours, ask who in their office started out where you are.
What does your job involve right now?
Why ask it
Agent is one title over very different work, so get the current assignment before anything else. Their squad, their office and their years in tell you which of your other questions they can answer from experience and which they would be guessing at.
What are you not allowed to talk about, so I know not to ask?
Why ask it
Asking this near the start is polite and practical. Open cases, methods and anything classified are usually off the table, and an agent who has drawn the line tends to be more relaxed about everything on the near side of it. If they decline something later, that is the rule working and no reflection on you.
What do movies and TV shows get wrong about the FBI?
Why ask it
An easy question that nearly always gets a good story, so it suits a nervous asker or a young class. The useful part is what they put in its place: follow with 'so what does that part really look like?'
What surprised you most once you were actually doing the job?
Why ask it
Surprises mark the gap between the recruiting brochure and the work, and they are usually small: how much is done in teams, how slow an approval can be, how ordinary the office looks. If nothing surprised them, ask what surprises the new agents they have trained.
Getting in
What are the basic requirements to apply to be a special agent?
Why ask it
An agent can give you the outline, but the age limits, the degree and the work experience rules are set by the Bureau and have changed over the years. Take the answer as a starting list, then read the current posting on the FBI's own jobs site before you plan around any of it.
Does it matter what I study in college?
Why ask it
Students expect to hear criminal justice, and agents often say otherwise. Ask which backgrounds their own office is short of, since the skills being recruited shift with the cases being worked, and what was true for their class may not hold for yours.
What kind of work experience should I get before I apply?
Why ask it
A strong answer describes what the experience has to prove, such as carrying responsibility, dealing with the public or a technical skill, more than it names a job title. If they say 'anything', ask what the most prepared people in their training class had done before.
What were the steps of the application, from the first form to the offer?
Why ask it
Have them walk it in order and write the stages down. Their version dates from the year they applied, so keep the sequence and then ask a recruiter which steps have been added, dropped or moved since.
How long did the whole process take you?
Why ask it
The length tells you how to plan a life around applying: whether to keep your job, when to tell an employer, how long a silence between stages can last. Ask which stretch was the longest and what they did while they waited.
What does the background investigation look into, and who do they talk to?
Why ask it
Agents tend to say 'more people than you would think', and to mention former employers, neighbors and roommates as well as the references you chose. The practical lesson is to start a record now of every address, job and contact, because you may be asked for years of them. How far back it goes is one to check with a recruiter.
What knocks the most applicants out?
Why ask it
Recruiters hear this constantly and usually answer it straight. Sort what you hear into things you can still change, such as fitness or thin experience, and things already behind you. For anything in your own history you are unsure of, ask where the current written rules are published and go by those, not by a remembered answer.
Is there anything people worry about in their past that turns out not to be a problem?
Why ask it
The reverse of the question before it, and often the more useful one for a teenager who assumes one mistake has closed the door. Hear the reply as a reason to check, not as a ruling. What counts is the written policy and an application that leaves nothing out.
Was there a polygraph, and what was that part like?
Why ask it
They will not coach you and should not. What you can learn is how the day ran and the advice agents nearly all give, which is to be truthful on every form from the start so that nothing you say later has to be explained.
How fit do you have to be, and how did you train for the fitness test?
Why ask it
Get the events and the scoring from the official source, since the standard is published and gets revised. From the agent, get what is not written down: how many months they trained, what they underestimated, and whether the standard has to be kept up after hiring.
What should I be doing now, in high school or college, if I want this job one day?
Why ask it
This is the question a school visit exists for, and the answers are usually plain: stay out of trouble, think before you post, finish the degree, pick up a language or a technical skill. Ask which of those they wish someone had told them at your age, and start with that one.
Are there internships or student programs I could apply for?
Why ask it
Student programs open and close on fixed dates and their eligibility rules change, so ask for the program's name and where it is posted more than for the details. If the agent does not know, the recruiter or the community outreach contact at the nearest field office should.
Quantico
What was training at Quantico like?
Why ask it
Let them tell it as a story first: arriving, the schedule, the people in their class. Then ask how many weeks it ran, whether trainees live there throughout and whether anyone got home to see family. The length and the rules on leave are the parts most likely to have changed since their class.
Which part of training was hardest for you: the classroom, the firearms or the physical side?
Why ask it
Every agent has a different weak spot, which is why this is worth asking more than one of them. Someone who came from an office may name the running, and a former officer may name the law exams. Their answer points at what to start on early, given where you are coming from.
What happens to a trainee who fails a test or gets hurt?
Why ask it
A recruiter should be able to say whether there is a retest, a place in a later class or a route into a different role. It matters most to someone about to resign from a job to attend, so ask how it works at present and whether trainees get it in writing.
What did you practice at the academy that you use every week now?
Why ask it
This sorts the training that mattered from the training that makes good stories. Expect interviewing, report writing and legal basics to beat the dramatic exercises, and take note when the answer is something you could begin practicing already.
How did you find out where you would be sent first, and how much say did you have?
Why ask it
For anyone with a partner, a house or parents nearby, this may be the deciding answer on the page. Ask how a first office is decided for trainees today, how far preferences count and how long a first assignment tends to last. If the reply is vague, it is fair to ask who could tell you exactly.
The work
What does an ordinary week look like for you, and how much of it is at a desk?
Why ask it
A week is the better unit, because single days vary too much to be typical. A full answer has interviews, writing, meetings and long hours at a screen in it. If the week sounds like all action, ask how many hours of it went to writing things up.
What does the FBI handle that local police or the CIA do not?
Why ask it
Students mix the three up, and an agent can sort them out in a minute with examples from their own office. Listen for what decides who takes a case: which law was broken, where it happened and who asked for help. Then ask which of the three would suit someone with your interests, since the answer is not always the FBI.
What kinds of cases does your squad work?
Why ask it
Fraud, cyber, counterintelligence, violent crime and public corruption are close to being separate jobs. Put this before any request for a story, since it tells you what sort of story they are able to tell and what they will have to skip.
What has been the most rewarding moment of your career so far?
Why ask it
The answer is often a person and not an arrest: a victim who finally got an answer, a family told some good news, a newer agent they trained. If they name a headline case, ask what their own part in it was. It is also a kind place to go after a heavy answer, since it lets the agent land on something they are proud of.
How long does a case usually take, from the first lead to the end?
Why ask it
The time scale is where this work parts company with television. Agents often describe investigations that run for months or years, so ask how they stay interested through the long middle, when nothing visible is happening.
Can you tell us about a case you worked that is closed and public?
Why ask it
Worded like this, the question hands them a safe route to a real story, since a case that ended in open court can usually be discussed. Good follow-ups are 'what was your part in it?' and 'what was the piece that made it come together?'
How do you work with local police and prosecutors?
Why ask it
Much of the job turns out to be cooperation: task forces, shared cases, a prosecutor deciding what can be charged. Anyone drawn to law enforcement in general should ask how the local officers on a task force got their seats, since that is a second road into the same investigations.
How often is the job actually dangerous?
Why ask it
Ask it plainly and let them set the proportion. Many describe long stretches of planning around a few tense hours, and the planning is the interesting part: who decides an arrest is safe to make, and what gets called off.
What is the hardest part of the job that has nothing to do with danger?
Why ask it
This draws out the bureaucracy, the waiting, the cases that end without charges or the things that are hard to forget. How frankly they answer is a fair guide to how much of the recruiting pitch to take at face value.
What kind of person does well as an agent, and who struggles?
Why ask it
Agents who have trained newcomers answer this best, so ask whether they have. The traits they name, such as patience with slow cases, clear writing or being easy to work beside, are things you can test in yourself at school or in a first job. Pay as much attention to who struggles, since that half is rarely in the recruiting material.
Career paths
What jobs are there at the FBI besides special agent?
Why ask it
Analysts, linguists, forensic examiners, computer scientists, accountants and many support staff work beside the agents, on their own hiring tracks. If the agent route does not suit your age, your health or your interests, ask who in the office you could talk to about one of these, and how its requirements differ.
How do agents end up in a specialty such as cyber or counterintelligence?
Why ask it
Find out what is chosen and what is assigned. Some paths depend on what you bring with you, some on further selection, and some on what an office needs that year. If one specialty is your whole reason for applying, ask how likely a new agent is to get near it and how many years that takes.
How do intelligence analysts and agents work together on a case?
Why ask it
Worth asking if you like research more than interviews and arrests. A good answer gives the analyst a real part in steering the case. One that makes the analyst sound like a help desk says something about that squad, so put the same question to an analyst if you meet one.
Have you changed squads or kinds of work, and how did that happen?
Why ask it
Their own moves show how much room there is to steer a career from inside. Note whether each change came from asking, from being asked or from being told, and how long they had to stay put before the first one.
What extra duties can an agent take on alongside regular casework?
Why ask it
Offices have part-time teams and roles that agents try out for, in areas such as evidence collection, negotiation, tactical work or recruiting. Ask which ones this office has, what the tryout involves and how many hours it adds to a week that is already full.
What does moving up look like, and does it mean leaving casework?
Why ask it
Promotion in an investigative agency often trades investigating for managing, sometimes with a transfer attached. Ask which way they went and why. An agent who has turned down a supervisor's desk is telling you what they value most in the job.
What do people do after they leave or retire from the Bureau?
Why ask it
Ask whether agents have to retire by a set age and how many years it takes to earn a pension, since those two rules decide when most people go. Then ask where the last few people to leave their office went. It shows which parts of the experience other employers pay for.
Life and advice
How many times have you had to move for the job?
Why ask it
A number is better than a description. Follow it by asking which moves were their choice, and whether saying no was possible or would have cost them something. Their count comes from the years they served under, so treat it as a range and not a forecast.
How has the job affected your family?
Why ask it
Give them room, since this is personal and some will keep it short. The useful details are concrete ones: a partner's career restarted in a new city, missed holidays, children changing schools. Applicants with a family should ask what, if anything, the Bureau does to help when it relocates someone.
What can you tell your family and friends about your work?
Why ask it
The answer shows what living with a secret-keeping job is like in practice. Some agents share a great deal in general terms and others almost nothing, and how they describe the habit tells you whether it would sit easily with you.
What are the hours really like, and are you ever fully off duty?
Why ask it
Press gently past 'it depends' by asking about last month: how many evenings, how many weekends, any call in the night. A student can stop there. An applicant should also ask whether agents are expected to be reachable on their days off, and what that has done to plans they made.
How does pay work for a new agent, and does it depend on where you are posted?
Why ask it
Federal pay tables are published, so ask a recruiter which table and starting grade apply to new agents and look the figures up yourself. What the agent can add is how far the pay goes in an expensive city and how it grew over their first years. What they personally earn is a different question, and one to leave alone.
Are there limits on your private life, such as what you post, where you travel or a second job?
Why ask it
Students rarely think to ask this, and it can matter more to them than the fitness test. Get the kinds of limit from the agent and the current rules from the Bureau. If one of them would be hard for you, it is better to find that out before the application than after.
How do you handle the stress, and what support is there for agents?
Why ask it
Word it to fit the room. In a class, 'what do you do after a bad day?' is enough and tends to get a real answer about running, family or a dog. An applicant can go further and ask what the Bureau provides, and whether agents in this office use it without worrying how it looks.
Knowing what you know now, would you apply again?
Why ask it
Save it for near the end, when they have warmed up. A plain yes is what you would expect at a recruiting table, so the part to write down is the condition that follows it: 'but later', 'but not with small children', 'but on a different squad'. Each of those is advice.
Who else should I talk to, and may I contact you if I have more questions?
Why ask it
The right closer for an applicant, and fine for a student too. A recruiter's card, the name of an agent with your background or a pointer to the right page gives you a next step. Send a short thank-you the same week if you were offered a way to reach them.
How to get the most out of a conversation with an FBI agent
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you meet
Know who you are talking to
A recruiter knows the current application rules and dates. A working agent knows the job as it is lived, but may have been hired years ago under different rules. An analyst or other professional staff member knows a side of the Bureau that agents see from outside. Put the Getting in questions to the recruiter and the questions under The work and Life and advice to whoever does the job.
Read the official page first
The FBI publishes its requirements, the fitness test and the stages of hiring on its jobs site. Read them before the visit so your time goes on what is not written down: what the stages felt like, what people underestimate, what the agent would do differently. 'I read that there is a fitness test. How long did you train for it?' gets further than 'is there a fitness test?'
Pick five or six, one from each group
At a career day you may get two or three turns, and in a class visit perhaps one. Choose the question you most want answered from each group, rank them, and bring the rest as spares. If a whole class is preparing, share the groups out so thirty students do not all ask about television.
Decide what you are trying to find out
A student deciding whether the job is interesting needs Their story and The work. An applicant deciding whether to start the process needs Getting in, Quantico and the questions about moving, hours and pay. Knowing which of those you are keeps you from spending a rare conversation on things that will not change what you do next.
During the conversation
Ask about the limits early
Agents cannot discuss open investigations, sources, methods or classified work, and many are careful about their own details too. Asking near the start what is off limits saves you from the awkward moment later and tends to make them more open about the rest.
Ask for their own experience, then for the current rule
'How did it work for you?' and 'how does it work now?' are two questions, and both are worth asking. The first gets a story and the second gets something you can plan around. Where the agent is unsure of the second, write it down for a recruiter.
Use closed cases for stories
If you want to hear about real work, ask for a case that is finished and was reported publicly. It lets the agent tell a full story without weighing every sentence, and you can read about the same case afterwards to fill in what they left out.
Follow up once, then move on
One 'what did that look like?' usually turns a general answer into a specific one. If the second answer is still general, the subject is probably one they cannot or would rather not go into. Pushing a third time uses up goodwill you will want for a later question.
What to do with the answers
Treat one agent as one career
An agent on a fraud squad in a large city and one in a small office covering several counties will describe different jobs, and both are right. If you can, ask the same two or three questions of more than one person and pay attention to where the accounts agree.
Check anything you would plan around
Ages, degrees, experience, fitness standards, pay, transfers and retirement are all set by law or policy and all get revised. Use the conversation to learn what to look up, then confirm it with a recruiter or the Bureau's published material before you choose a major, leave a job or tell your family you will be moving.
Notice the costs they mention without being asked
When an agent brings up the moves, the hours or the secrecy before you get to those questions, that is the part of the job that weighs on them. Hold it up against your own life. Hearing a cost described and still wanting the job is a better sign than never having heard the cost at all.
Write it down the same day
Note the stages they listed, the names of any programs and the one piece of advice they repeated. Applicants should also note who they spoke to and when, since a long hiring process gives you plenty of time to forget where an answer came from.
Mistakes to avoid
Fishing for secrets
Questions about a current news story, a named suspect or how a surveillance method works will get a polite no and can cool the rest of the conversation. If you are curious about a famous case, ask what is publicly known about how cases of that kind are worked.
Asking for a ruling on your own history
An agent at a career table cannot tell you whether something in your past would disqualify you, and a guess from them is worse than no answer. Ask where the written policy is and who handles questions about it, and raise the details there.
Only asking about the exciting parts
By most agents' own accounts, raids and arrests are a small part of the job. A conversation that never reaches the reports, the waiting and the moves leaves you with the television version, which is the one you already had.
Taking a remembered rule as today's rule
Agents describe the process they went through, in good faith, and some of it will be out of date. It is a mistake to build a plan on it, and an easy one to avoid, because the current version is published.