Consider Carefully - Background Investigator I Peraton Employee Review

Please err on the side of caution and carefully consider your options before accepting a Background Investigator position with this company. They sponsor your Top Secret clearance, but make you sign a contract stating that you will cover the remaining cost of your investigation if you stay less than a year. The total cost was over $8,000 and the amount you owe is prorated on a monthly basis. This made me feel like I was stuck in the position for a year. The 4 weeks of online class set up the basics but did not prepare me for real life cases. You do receive 2 weeks of On Job Training (OJT) with an experienced investigator, but after that you feel like you are on your own since you work fully remote. Source unit expectations are entirely unrealistic for a 40 hour work week. As many stated in other reviews, many people would work off the clock just to stay on top of their caseload. I would find myself working up to 9 to 12 hours a day to keep up, which led to poor work-life balance. At times I would have to take over entire cases due to other investigators leaving, but source units did not match the amount of work I had to take over. Due dates are often unattainable as your schedule is based entirely on when subjects and other sources are available for interviews. Management would not budge on moving assigned due dates for those situations. Often felt micromanaged on a day-to-day basis. You would often get cases sent back to you for correction on top of your current case load, which often feels like you are drowning and falling behind. The reviewers who look at your reports before submitting to customer are inconsistent and at times feel subjective. The pay and benefits were inconsistent with the amount of work on a daily basis.