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    US Customs and Border Protection Reviews

    Updated July 11, 2018
    131 reviews

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    Full-timePart-time
    3.5
    StarStarStarStarStar
    Rating TrendsRating Trends
    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske
    R. Gil Kerlikowske
    25 Ratings

    131 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • "Good pay with the overtime; good job security not particularly dangerous for a law enforcement job" (in 12 reviews)

    • "Good benefits, good fellow workers, you make a lot in overtime if you wish, not boring and not repetitive" (in 10 reviews)

    Cons

    • "Long hours, facilities can be rough in older airports/cargo offices, normal headaches that come along with managing union employees" (in 9 reviews)

    • "Start work here, than move to a professional law enforcement agency" (in 7 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "CBP"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at US Customs and Border Protection full-time

      Pros

      Great pay, great location and room for advansement.

      Cons

      very busy sometimes, but its a rewarding career.

    2. "IT Specialist"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - IT Specialist in Falls Church, VA
      Current Employee - IT Specialist in Falls Church, VA

      I have been working at US Customs and Border Protection full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      The flexibility and work life balance makes working here worthwhile.

      Cons

      There is no upward mobility or career growth.

      Advice to Management

      Should consider creating a structured career plan for ALL employees.

      3. Join the US Customs and Border Protection team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Any job within CBP"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - CBP Female Employee in Miami, FL
      Current Employee - CBP Female Employee in Miami, FL
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I have been working at US Customs and Border Protection full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Benefits: health + dental care insurance, training, uniform allowance, 401K your contributions (although Trump plans to change this for future feds & retirees to less). Good fare steady paycheck if that is all you want.

      Cons

      Your hard work won't count as a person or individual. You will just be a number like a robot if you can bear it after years of service, many employees wind up divorced stress or more serious health conditions. Large male environment not supportive of WOMEN, very difficult for women of any age and much more difficult job to balance if you have a family. Women have the highest calls for counseling needs to EAP and EEO's. Lots of schmoozing croonism copycat self entitlement attitudes and environment. Lots of demoralized coworkers and mismanagement caused issues. Agency is worst rated within Federal Viewpoint Survey and overall. HQ and DFO management does not have a clue to ask lower level grade employees how to improve agency and work environment and save jobs and monies. Very difficult to get promoted, management spends wastes budget Congress allocated monies on promoting management and creating management positions instead of lower grade employees. NTEU union takes your dues and local union (male) president plays politics with little legal representation when needed much less for women's issues. Union is "not" representative of women's issues at work. Cons rating is for all of Florida.

      Advice to Management

      Improve your HR and Admin. department hire & promote more women into upward mobility, don't have enough employees to do Admin. work, contract out too much in paying them instead of hiring and promoting withing. Stop multitasking overworked employees, with no priority clear line from management. Create yearly and midyear evaluation internal agency broad spectrum viewpoint surveys with open suggestion box for feedback on what employees want to see to improve agency work and suggestions for improvement. Survey should differ from employees ask us non management to survey from management. Create fair grade equal pay system across the country, no one can financially survive and support a family on a GS 5 or 7 salary. No salary should be lower than GS 9 after hiring across the US. Stop creating too many management positions everywhere, instead promote and hire more lower grade employees to non management to do the jobs needed from GS-9 through GS-13 no higher. For every manager that HQ or DFO hires two employees could been promoted or hired. Create a Women's interest committee within agency on how to improve hiring and fostering promotions not mentoring for retaining women since agency has serious issues with. Stop ridiculous in house propaganda that employees don't care for & delete. This here is outdated CEO Commissioner has changed!

    4. Helpful (1)

      "Working at C B P"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at US Customs and Border Protection full-time

      Pros

      The sense of doing something important for our country.

      Cons

      None that I can think of right now.

      Advice to Management

      Keep it up!

    5. "Safe"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Career Opportunities
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at US Customs and Border Protection full-time

      Pros

      Good pay, good hours, equipment

      Cons

      Varying shifts, nepotism, bad locations

    6. "cbp officer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - CBP Officer in Jf Kennedy Ap, NY
      Former Employee - CBP Officer in Jf Kennedy Ap, NY
      Doesn't Recommend
      Negative Outlook
      Disapproves of CEO

      I worked at US Customs and Border Protection full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Good pay with the overtime; good job security not particularly dangerous for a law enforcement job. Very hard to get fired unless you do something really egregious or illegal; or fail a drug test. Journeyman GS-12.

      Cons

      Mandatory overtime with no regard for your personal life or family life. You get up to 5 weeks vacation but they steal it from you anyway by forcing you to call in sick to get a day off - so after you burn up your sick leave you use up annual leave then take leave without pay. Frequent payroll errors never in your favor: You have to check your hours worked against your earning and leave statements. They mess them up constantly, making you chase your money.

      Advice to Management

      Fire all your managers: They are promoted by nepotism, croneyism. Supervisor's exam is a fraud' They never publish or give you your results and what the answers were. Total sham for promotions to supervisor. They are picked and anointed under the radar while the online application is taken down intermittently at odd hours to keep you from applying: It is by patronage only and totally corrupt.

    7. Helpful (1)

      "Border Patrol"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Supervisory Border Patrol Agent in Detroit, MI
      Former Employee - Supervisory Border Patrol Agent in Detroit, MI
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I worked at US Customs and Border Protection full-time

      Pros

      Great comraderie amongst the Agents.

      Cons

      We need to be a proactive organization

      Advice to Management

      Be independent when dealing with politicians.

    8. "CBP Supervisor (First-Line)"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - CBP SUpervisor (First-line) in Chicago, IL
      Current Employee - CBP SUpervisor (First-line) in Chicago, IL
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at US Customs and Border Protection (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Excellent pay, opportunity to earn up to $45000 in OT per year in addition to base salary and up to $2500 end of year performance award (if you are a good/excellent manager)

      Cons

      Long hours, facilities can be rough in older airports/cargo offices, normal headaches that come along with managing union employees.

      Advice to Management

      Eliminate grade compression (GS-13 first-line supervisors promote to same grade, GS-13 second-line) with little salary increase and less opportunity for OT work.
      More agency wide communication regarding policy changes/updates.

    9. Helpful (1)

      "International Import Specialist"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - International Trade Specialist in Washington, DC
      Former Employee - International Trade Specialist in Washington, DC
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at US Customs and Border Protection full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Great Benefits and great salary

      Cons

      none, it is a wonderful career

      Advice to Management

      You have to apply for another position, unless it is preset when hired, ie 12/13

    10. Helpful (4)

      "Not too bad"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Former Employee - Import Specialist in Newark, NJ
      Former Employee - Import Specialist in Newark, NJ
      Recommends
      Negative Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      Pros

      It is the federal government. The benefits are good the pay is definitely not bad, but each agency has its pros and cons. This agency has a 59 minute Liberty system so that they will let you out almost an hour early before holidays, sometimes. They also offer telework.

      Cons

      The agency uses Scare Tactics and focuses on publicly calling attention to the prosecution of officers that have broken the rules. There is a weirdly negative undertone to many of the guidelines they want staff to follow. The agency prioritises the issues and needs of their direct law enforcement staff above all other staff. They are still not treated too well. They refuse to allow several of the veterans here to use their GI bill education benefits while employed. The training for this position is very intense as well, if you fail any of the eight exams more then once...You lose your job .

      Advice to Management

      Treat people fairly and you'll reduce suicides and increase retention

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