If you are seeing the acronym EQIP, chances are you just got your tentative job offer with the federal government. To this I say congratulations! EQIP is part of one of the first pre-employment requirements you must complete on your way to receiving the firm offer and start date for your government job. But what is EQIP?
EQIP is just one part of the background investigation process for the federal government. You’ll complete EQIP for all federal civilian jobs and also military. EQIP is basically an online questionnaire where you fill out your residence and employment history, to include references, and answer some suitability type questions. Before we get too deep into EQIP and the rest of the background investigation process, let’s first discuss how someone gets to this step.
As mentioned before, EQIP is one of the pre-employment requirements for federal employment. In order to get to the pre-employment stage of recruitment you would have first been given a tentative job offer. For an explanation of what a tentative job offer is this video will help.
Prior to the tentative offer there is an entire hiring process, from resume building to job applications to interviews and finally selection. Each step has its own challenges and has the potential for applicants to get stuck at certain points.
Now that you have some tools help get to the EQIP stage, I’ll further explain the entire background investigation process. If you prefer, I also have a video on the process.
The very first thing you will do following the tentative offer is complete the form OF-306. This form is a kind of pre-screen for the background investigation. The form has your personal information, some questions related to suitability, and a box on the second page to explain any issues you had to check yes on. If there are major red flags on the OF-306, it could stop the process before it even begins.
With that being said, you want to be completely honest throughout the entire background investigation process. Having some issues such as debt being in collections or arrest history may not be automatically disqualifying but lying about it and getting caught will definitely get you disqualified.
Another step in the background investigation process is the fingerprints. Once you’ve completed your OF-306, you’ll be scheduled to have your fingerprints captured. This is usually done at the nearest federal facility. The federal government uses an electronic system and transmits your fingerprints once captured. The results are then sent to where they are needed for review by using two codes, the SOI and SON. If it’s at the facility you’re going to be hired, they will know the SOI and SON already. If you are having your fingerprints captured at a different location, you will need to get those numbers from HR and provide them to the courtesy facility.
The other step in the investigation process for you to complete is the EQIP. The steps are not always in a step-by-step order. The OF-306 is always first but the fingerprints and EQIP can be completed in any order.
The EQIP, again, is an online questionnaire. You will be filling in your employment and residence histories back to the length of time specified in EQIP. The time period could vary based on the level of investigation you are required to complete. You will also be required to provide references who can verify your employment and residence for the items you enter. There is a lot of information in EQIP that will be duplicated from the OF-306 and your resume. This is why it is important to be completely honest when completing each step.
Your resume and OF-306 will be uploaded with your EQIP when submitted to OPM. Your fingerprints must also be completed prior to submission. All items are used together in order to determine whether you will clear the background investigation.
Your resume is used to validate the employment history listed in EQIP, and they must match. If you left of any information in your resume, you will need to update it before EQIP is submitted. If they do not match, OPM will return the investigation back for updates.
The same goes for the OF-306. There are some of the same questions in EQIP that are on the OF-306. If they do not match, OPM will return the investigation for corrections. If your OF-306 and EQIP do not match it could raise some red flags. It’s tempting to not disclose everything on your OF-306 because you are trying to rush or don’t think it’s important. This will ultimately be seen as dishonest and could cost you the position.
It is best to disclose something whether you think it is a big deal or not. Especially if it is part of your credit report or an arrest. These items will be discovered through the fingerprinting process anyway. If your fingerprint results show items that were omitted from your OF-306 and/or EQIP, it would be a red flag and could be cause for denial of clearance.
Once you’ve completed your part then it is time for everything to process behind the scenes. Everything is transmitted to OPM and then assigned to an investigator. For the lower level investigations, they will usually mail out bubble sheets to the references you provided. The forms will include the information you entered and will ask the reference to confirm and mail back. Then all results are sent for review to adjudicate.
For higher level investigations, you could have to meet with an investigator in person to go through your entire EQIP. This is to confirm what was entered and to answer any questions about entries the investigator needs to clarify.
For the highest level investigations, not only will you meet with an investigator in person, but they will likely contact your references personally as well. This could be over the phone or for an in person meeting.
On of the most common questions I get about background investigations is, how long do they take to clear? This is a tough question because it depends on the level of investigation and the backlog at OPM. Generally, once everything is turned in, the lower level investigations could only take a couple months. The higher level investigations can take much longer.
Good news is that some agencies let applicants start before everything is cleared. The catch is, if you don’t pass the investigation, then you will be terminated from the position. This sounds scary, but before given the option to start prior to completion of the investigation, everything must at least be submitted to OPM. That means the agency will have had the chance to see your OF-306 and fingerprint results before allowing you to start. Any red flags would still prevent someone from starting early to limit the chance of a person needing to be terminated for not passing.
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