Are You Fit for the FBI?

The bureau is a favorite place for business majors to work. But if you want to be a special agent, you have to pass a demanding fitness test

Government agency work is becoming a hot arena for business majors and, according to at least one study, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is one of the 10 most desired places of employment for undergraduate business majors this year (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/04/06, "They Love It Here, and Here, and Here"). Not only do B-school students want to be hired by the government agency but the FBI is actively seeking candidates with specific skills learned in business programs.

FBI hiring is divided into special agents and professional staff members. Agents are law enforcement and intelligence officers who carry guns, badges, and handcuffs. Staffers work mostly in counterterrorism efforts in the areas of budget analysis, accounting, and engineering, among other areas. Both areas have room for B-school grads, says recruiter Jim Knights.

This year, the agency is looking for 90% of special agents to have a specified critical skill, among them accounting, says Knights. A special agent who has been with the FBI for 23 years, Knights says strong people and communication skills are needed in addition to a designated skill. "I have interviewed everybody from street people to corporate presidents to astronauts and everybody in between—truck drivers, university professors, people who have witnessed crimes," he says. "You have to be able to relate to these people and get them to tell you what you want to know."

One of the biggest problems in recruiting special agents, Knights said, is that many qualified candidates can’t pass the physical fitness test that’s required of all hires.

Knights recently spoke to BusinessWeek.com reporter Julie Gordon about what the FBI looks for in business grads. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.

Why is accounting a critical skill for special agents?

I love to hire accountants because they are very easy to quantify. If you have a CPA, you're gold, as far as I am concerned.

Is it possible for a recent undergraduate student to apply for the special agent position, or does it depend on the area of expertise?

For instance, if graduates have the accounting experience and academic background required, they certainly can. We have found there is a direct correlation between how old the person is and how well they do in the application process. The applicant goes through a one-hour professional interview. During the interview, applicants are basically asked how they have dealt with the challenges in their lives—challenges to integrity, dealing with difficult people, dealing with great change. The older a person is, the more opportunity they've had to go through these challenges, and they have more to talk about.

Are most agents on the older end of the spectrum?

Late 20s, 30 years old for the agent position.

Can being a professional staffer help get your foot in the door to later become an agent?

Say you have a criminal justice degree. And you say "O.K., I got my degree, I want to be an agent now." We will say the focus isn't on that, it's on these other critical skills, but you can come into the FBI and qualify for the intelligence analyst position or the investigative specialist position. Once you've had those jobs for two years, you are then considered to have a critical skill in intelligence, and then you can apply to be an agent.

Besides having a critical skill, what types of experiences or characteristics should potential agents have?

I tend to look at the whole person. When someone passes interview Phase One—the written test—I bring them in and I sit them down for the Post-Phase One interview to make sure they understand everything about the agent position they are applying for, the good and the bad. I look at that person and I ask myself, "Would I want to work with this person in the future?" And it would depend on their drive, their curiosity, their ability to engage another person.