FBI St. Louis Recruiting Coordinator Siobhan Johnson is seeking diversify the FBI by encouraging women, minorities and scholars of many different educational backgrounds to apply.
“One of the things we investigate is civil rights,” Johnson said. “We want to make sure that everyone out there is being treated fairly regardless of who they are or what background they have, and there is no better way to ensure that is happening then to include people of all different backgrounds out there when we’re going out to do our investigations.”
Johnson earned her BA at Washington University in St. Louis, studying East Asian Studies and Ballet before moving to Japan to work for the Japanese government.
“When I went to Japan, I came back and I thought, ‘I’m really committed to securing’ and, lo and behold, when I looked at the FBI website, I was surprised to see that they wanted people who had Japanese skills,” Johnson said.
After earning a Masters of Public and International Studies in Security and Intelligence Studies from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, she joined the FBI as a special agent in 2007.
“I think I really wanted to be a lawyer or a judge initially,” Johnson said. “When I was six, like a lot of six-year-olds, I thought that being an FBI agent would be just the coolest job out there, but I never really thought that would happen.”
Johnson has spent her years in the bureau investigating cyber and local terrorism cases across four continents.
“My favorite part is knowing that every day what I’m doing is moving the ball a little bit forward for justice,” Johnson said. “Not every day is going to be the best that you’ve ever had of any job, but I know that what I’m doing actually does make a difference in a meaningful way that I’m able to see.”
Now, as a recruiting coordinator, it is Johnson’s job to go out into the St. Louis community to meet people, see what kind of career their looking for, and find a good match for them at the FBI.
“One of the things that I regularly enjoy is going out into the community and finding other people that might not think that the FBI is for them and talking to them,” Johnson said.
“We are really heavily recruiting females and minorities right now. That’s really our number one push this year. We want to diversify the FBI and make sure that our agents are representative of the general population. A lot of women don’t see themselves as FBI agents, and I love that look in a girl’s eyes when I tell her, ‘I didn’t think it would happen for me, but they wanted me. I can do it, and you can do it too.’ That really is meaningful for me.”
The FBI hosted an invitation-only Diversity Agent Recruitment event at Harris-Stowe State University on July 11, where women and minorities could feel welcome to attend and learn more about how they might fit into the FBI.
“We’ll talk about them and their specific situation and whether there’s a job for them, because there is something for everyone,” Johnson said. “People don’t realize we’re actually like a major corporation. We need not just agents, but we need computer specialists, we need people to do our analyses. We’ve got something for any skills.”
Johnson said she has worked a couple of Diversity Agent Recruitment events before in select cities, but not everywhere because they are more of a recent initiative.
“I want people to know that if they have ever considered being a special agent, we want to talk to them. It is not out of line for them to just give us a call,” Johnson said.
“People might think that we’re only looking for those with law-enforcement backgrounds or military backgrounds, maybe criminal justice majors, but that’s not actually the case. While we absolutely love all of those things, we are really looking for people who just have great critical thinking skills.”
According to Johnson, diversifying the FBI is crucial to public safety.
“The more comfortable you are with the people you’re speaking with in the community,” Johnson said, “the better you’re going to be able to communicate with people and the easier it’s going to be to keep people safe.”
For more information, visit Apply.FBIJobs.gov or call 314-589-2500 and ask to speak to a recruiter.
