Created Feb. 4, 2009.
This blog is about corruption in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. Some readers may be looking for employment in those areas - and you are a risk taker. So, as I get them, I will list such job sources here (not individual jobs)
The Primary Internet Job Board for Federal Positions is:
You would need to create an account on here to apply for jobs, but you can search on jobs without creating an account. Unfortunately, you could create an online "profile" or resume here, but many agencies refuse to use that profile info, but make you connect to their own website where you have to start all over again. So much for an efficient government. Additionally, another trend is to require a candidate to fill out a VERY lengthy job requirements form where you comment on your experience related to a job requirement. This can take an hour or more, but they never tell you what the results are. AND, most hiring managers will not accept phone calls to clarify any item. Again, they don't make it easy to apply for a job. I personally stopped using this system after 5 or 6 attempts because it took so long to fill out forms and then you never heard anything unless the job was filled.
Primary Lead Agencies with Civilian Jobs Overseas
State Dept., Dept. of Defense, USAID.
Dept of Defense Civilian Jobs in Conflict Areas - for existing civilian employees in DoD
http://www.cpms.osd.mil/expeditionary/
Detailees from US Federal Agencies
If you are an existing Federal employee, including military, it is common for some overseas groups to request or hire "detailees" from other Federal departments. For instance, in Iraq, the US Embassy used a mix of State Dept., military detailees, civilians, and Federal Agency detailees. The Federal Agency detailees might be specialists from Health, Energy and other Federal Agencies. Now, in 2009, the primary agencies controlling jobs in conflict areas like Iraq and Afghanistan have systems set up to take applications from detailees. So, you would have to research that process and get permission from your current agency, and they loan you to the overseas agency group. Caveats are that you might not get some expenses paid on trips overseas, and you might only get your normal pay and not the same as some civilians. On the other hand, you get to go back to your old agency while the civilians have a contract that is terminated and they don't have "competitive status" in finding new work in the Federal government. You need to research that and ask questions of any other earlier detailees to find out the details.
Overseas Oversight AGencies and IG's
The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction ( www.SIGIR.mil )and the
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction ( www.SIGAR.mil )
both have operations overseas, with most positions being in the audit or investigative field.
Additional oversight agencies with staff in conflict areas include DCAA, DoD IG, State Dept. IG, and USAID IG .
State Dept Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction & Stabilization governs State Dept. overseas reconstruction efforts. They also include the separate Civilian Response Corps, which is hiring existing Federal employees, and once funding is provided, will be hiring civilians to be "on reserve".
Contractors
According to SIGIR, there are about 180,000 civilian contractors in Iraq. Some work direct for Federal agencies, and others work through prime contractors and sub-contractors like Fluor-Daniel, Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel, etc.
Staffing Agencies
Many of the positions above are filled by staffing agencies like AEGIS, L3 and others. They might hire individuals, or be hiring to fill a project contract they have, such as assembling a team to install IT infrastructure in AFG. I will add names and sources here as I get them. You need to watch out that you aren't applying to a lowball agency that doesn't budget right, then runs short of funds and doesn't pay you. That problem is more prevalent for third country nationals from India, etc. who are promised jobs, are sent to Iraq and then find there is no job unless they take a rate cut. So always research the credibility of any agency. For instance when I was in Iraq, it was common to have a small firm (perhaps minority owned) get a translation contract, hire poor translators at low pay, send them to Iraq, and they were rejected and they lost the contract.
Security Clearance
Many overseas positions will require an existing security clearance, because the hiring agency doesn't want to pay for the expense and time to get you one. So, make sure you know whether one is needed and if the firm will fund the clearing process if you don't have one. You CANNOT apply and get one by yourself (which would be logical, but the Feds don't allow you to do that), thus the hiring firm must handle the process, or you should have one already.
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