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blar posted:General question about "ratings" from usajobs. I was forwarded to hiring committee on one posting where I received a 100 rating. A few other Notice of Results came out where my rating was 96-99. Is the cutoff for referral varied between different postings or is a 100 rating generally required? Varied between postings. For the Border Patrol it was as low as 70, for a DoS position I applied for it was 97 (and that was for Detroit, places people would actually want to live were 98-100 or above [veteran's preference only]).
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Feb 5, 2011 22:45
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Varied between postings. For the Border Patrol it was as low as 70, for a DoS position I applied for it was 97 (and that was for Detroit, places people would actually want to live were 98-100 or above [veteran's preference only]). Detroit has a high cost of living adjustment, though, interestingly (I assume it has expensive areas somewhere). It's higher than DC's, iirc. Though we're screwed over in DC because it factors in Baltimore in the COLA percentage, which is why we're artificially low compared to the actual sky-high cost of living here. sigh
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Feb 5, 2011 23:54
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Zoo posted:Detroit has a high cost of living adjustment, though, interestingly (I assume it has expensive areas somewhere). It's higher than DC's, iirc. Though we're screwed over in DC because it factors in Baltimore in the COLA percentage, which is why we're artificially low compared to the actual sky-high cost of living here. sigh Weird, maybe that covers a compound and PMC bodyguards to/from the office or something  So anyways it's Sunday night and my Feb 15-16 DIA recruiting event application status is still "Active". Nobody else heard anything from them yet? I found out I have another out of state interview later that same week, and am still waiting to buy plane tickets. May blow DIA off if it looks like I might run the risk of getting snow'd in and missing the flight to Atlanta for the other interview, and the physical abilities test I have back in Tampa the following morning. Government 
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Feb 7, 2011 01:06
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Weird, maybe that covers a compound and PMC bodyguards to/from the office or something I'm not sure specifically about the hiring event (though I did hear from a single source that there were "only a few" billets available -- grain of salt), but it's not unusual for your status to say "Active" for weeks or months after a billet has been filled or otherwise closed to you, unfortunately. The two people I referred to the hiring event haven't heard anything. But then, if you weren't invited you wouldn't hear anything; at least if it works the way it did a few years ago. Depending on your background, I'd lean toward blowing it off. The background caveat is significant, however; if you believe you have a uniquely high chance for some reason, that's different, considering this is probably the most reliable way to get hired by DIA.
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Feb 7, 2011 22:10
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Yea I'm positive I read on the application that you'd hear back by a certain date whether your were accepted or not by e-mail I believe. I forget the date and I'm not sure how close they adhere to that policy, but I'm 98% sure I read that.
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Feb 8, 2011 01:33
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Just had an interview for a research support position. Fingers crossed!
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Feb 8, 2011 21:19
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Crazyweasel posted:Yea I'm positive I read on the application that you'd hear back by a certain date whether your were accepted or not by e-mail I believe. I forget the date and I'm not sure how close they adhere to that policy, but I'm 98% sure I read that. You could be right; I just know that in 2008 they didn't bother telling you, or the notification just didn't make it through to the person I know who wasn't called. Also, for what it's worth, a friend received an appointment (interview) for the hiring event via e-mail today. So there's one sign of life for you.
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Feb 8, 2011 23:15
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So I applied for a handfull of positions with the FED and two of them has job status as "added to requisition" what does that mean?
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Feb 9, 2011 10:17
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OK so I go like a year with no bites and now all of a sudden I'm getting offers left and right. I just got an offer to become a Unit Administrator for an Army Reserve unit. I'm not 100% sure this is a good idea lol.
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Feb 11, 2011 17:43
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11b1p posted:OK so I go like a year with no bites and now all of a sudden I'm getting offers left and right. I just got an offer to become a Unit Administrator for an Army Reserve unit. I'm not 100% sure this is a good idea lol. You have to remain in the Army Reserve while you're a UA, since it's considered a technician position, so keep that in mind if you have hopes of being a full civilian.
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Feb 11, 2011 18:27
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psydude posted:You have to remain in the Army Reserve while you're a UA, since it's considered a technician position, so keep that in mind if you have hopes of being a full civilian. I love the Reserves, so that's no problem. I have to transfer into the unit though and they are a sister company and full of gently caress ups from what I know lol.
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Feb 11, 2011 18:56
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Zoo posted:You could be right; I just know that in 2008 they didn't bother telling you, or the notification just didn't make it through to the person I know who wasn't called. I got notified last night that I wasn't selected and I was disappointed since I thought I was very well qualified apart from relevant workplace experience. I normally would've chalked it up to me having a lovely cover letter or writing sample but there was nothing subjective like that on the app. Do you mind posting a vague description of your friend's qualifications? I'm pretty sure my lack of internships or job-related experience is what held me back here.
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Feb 11, 2011 19:36
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menpoop posted:I got notified last night that I wasn't selected and I was disappointed since I thought I was very well qualified apart from relevant workplace experience. I normally would've chalked it up to me having a lovely cover letter or writing sample but there was nothing subjective like that on the app. Do you mind posting a vague description of your friend's qualifications? I'm pretty sure my lack of internships or job-related experience is what held me back here. I got my rejection e-mail as well, even though I was selected for a previous hiring event. I am guessing that since this one was in DC the criteria was a bit higher because of the greater volume of federal employees and the like in the area.
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Feb 11, 2011 20:10
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Gravel Gravy posted:I got my rejection e-mail as well Same here. In the meantime, flights to Atlanta doubled in price, so I'm renting a car for the 7 hour drive now.
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Feb 11, 2011 20:19
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I got the research job! The listing had a salary range, but when I asked what the pay would be, they said it was set at GS7 step 1, which is the lowest of the range given on the job description. Is there any room for negotiation? It's a VA hospital if that matters.
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Feb 12, 2011 11:10
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amethystbliss posted:I got the research job! The listing had a salary range, but when I asked what the pay would be, they said it was set at GS7 step 1, which is the lowest of the range given on the job description. Is there any room for negotiation? It's a VA hospital if that matters. I've heard of some commands bringing people in at higher step levels, so I know it's possible, but pretty sure it's not common. Wouldn't hurt to ask your HR rep if the hiring official has that authority.
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Feb 12, 2011 14:31
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You are able to negotiate somewhat based on experience and education. What is the GS progression for that position? IE, GS 5/7/9 or 7/9/11? If the position is simply GS-7 you can negotiate as far as the steps are concerned. I work at a GS 7/9/11 job and I've had coworkers with postgraduate degrees and significant experience in the private sector come in as grade 11 step x. Granted, this was after they had already taken a 50% paycut to work for the Feds and had a written job offer from a private sector company for much higher than what the government was willing to pay. The big thing to know is that what grade you come in matters, because you will then be limited by that as far as promotions. I came in out of school and started as a GS7 due to having above a 3.0 GPA. Some people I got hired with were hired as 5s, some as 9s or 11s. I know when you apply you are supposed to apply for the highest grade which you would qualify for. After spending a year at GS7, I am automatically (as long as you don't gently caress up) promoted to GS9. After a year at GS9, ditto to GS11. After that the competitive promotions to 12/13 etc are required but you will still get step increases as Grover said. You will not get a grade increase and a step increase in the same year under any normal circumstances. It is really pretty complicated especially when you look at what the requirements are for each level. It is a big advantage to come in at a 9 versus a 7 or 5 simply due to the fact that you have to spend an extra year to progress in your career (not to mention the pay at those levels).
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Feb 12, 2011 15:52
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Cyrezar posted:You are able to negotiate somewhat based on experience and education. What is the GS progression for that position? IE, GS 5/7/9 or 7/9/11? If the position is simply GS-7 you can negotiate as far as the steps are concerned. I work at a GS 7/9/11 job and I've had coworkers with postgraduate degrees and significant experience in the private sector come in as grade 11 step x.
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Feb 12, 2011 16:00
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menpoop posted:I got notified last night that I wasn't selected and I was disappointed since I thought I was very well qualified apart from relevant workplace experience. I normally would've chalked it up to me having a lovely cover letter or writing sample but there was nothing subjective like that on the app. Do you mind posting a vague description of your friend's qualifications? I'm pretty sure my lack of internships or job-related experience is what held me back here. I wouldn't worry too much about not being invited. Like someone else said, this is a competitive market and it's possible there simply weren't many billets. As for my friend, she's trying to get back into DIA after working there before and is currently contracting in the IC. She turned down the invite because it was for a band 03, and when she was there before she was a band 04. A lot of people applying had IC experience or were in the IC, so it's a tough market. Although you could be competitive for band 02s -- just not sure how many were available (more might open up later, at that pay grade). If you're coming straight from college, lack of experience/internships probably did keep you out this time, but keep trying. It's still generally a good bet for newbies.
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Feb 12, 2011 17:22
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Is GS 8/10 just an intermediate pay band for people who have worked in the same position for a while?
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Feb 12, 2011 20:04
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psydude posted:Is GS 8/10 just an intermediate pay band for people who have worked in the same position for a while? Yes! No? My current job is an 8/9 position. This was a promotion for status candidates from a 5/7 position. Any promotion I'm likely to receive is probably going to a different pay scale, AI-####- 3/4. There are a few of GS-12 hanging around the agency. Why things are set up this way is anyone's guess. Part of it is that there are a lot of different jobs with increasing levels of training required. Part of it is to gently caress with the union, I'm sure.
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Feb 12, 2011 22:38
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Just what the hell exactly does "Eligible – Application Not Referred to Selecting Official" mean? I'm pretty fed up and disenfranchised with the whole applying for federal job. I've gotten about 30-40 of these. I don't even want an interview. I'm just curious why I'm eligible for jobs and not being referred. USAJOBS.gov is a big joke. Does anyone actually get hired from it outside of vets/ex-dod? I just don't understand how people keep at it.
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Feb 12, 2011 23:52
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problematique posted:Just what the hell exactly does "Eligible – Application Not Referred to Selecting Official" mean? I'm pretty fed up and disenfranchised with the whole applying for federal job. I've gotten about 30-40 of these. I don't even want an interview. I'm just curious why I'm eligible for jobs and not being referred. USAJOBS.gov is a big joke. Does anyone actually get hired from it outside of vets/ex-dod? "Candidate meets minimum qualification requirements, but is not determined to be among the best qualified and so is not referred for selection consideration." The jobs are still out there, it's just that someone else out there is getting the interviews. Maybe you need to bump up your resume a bit? Throw as many keywords on there as humanly possible.
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Feb 13, 2011 00:06
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It means you didn't score highly enough on the screening questionnaire.
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Feb 13, 2011 00:13
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psydude posted:It means you didn't score highly enough on the screening questionnaire. Answer "Yes" and your adventure continues. Answer "No" and you will wake up the next morning still unemployed.
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Feb 13, 2011 00:46
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problematique posted:Just what the hell exactly does "Eligible – Application Not Referred to Selecting Official" mean? I'm pretty fed up and disenfranchised with the whole applying for federal job. I've gotten about 30-40 of these. I don't even want an interview. I'm just curious why I'm eligible for jobs and not being referred. USAJOBS.gov is a big joke. Does anyone actually get hired from it outside of vets/ex-dod? Welcome to hell 
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Feb 13, 2011 00:58
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grover posted:\Maybe you need to bump up your resume a bit? Throw as many keywords on there as humanly possible. Any guides or resource you can recommend?
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Feb 13, 2011 01:39
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grover posted:General rule of thumb when asked if you're experienced/qualified for something: Yeah. This is how I got a 95 on the logistics manager questionnaire.
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Feb 13, 2011 01:41
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Wow, the CIA has the most benign descriptions for its NCS positions.
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Feb 13, 2011 01:52
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Do you guys use cover letters when applying through USAJOBS.gov?
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Feb 13, 2011 09:43
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problematique posted:Just what the hell exactly does "Eligible – Application Not Referred to Selecting Official" mean? I'm pretty fed up and disenfranchised with the whole applying for federal job. I've gotten about 30-40 of these. I don't even want an interview. I'm just curious why I'm eligible for jobs and not being referred. USAJOBS.gov is a big joke. Does anyone actually get hired from it outside of vets/ex-dod? It does work; it just has a lot of applicants. Just remember that you have to get hired only once (in the immediate future, anyway). And yeah, the more "E"s you select on the KSAs, the more likely you are to be referred to a human, though even if you "max out" the scores you won't necessarily be referred. Nobody is going to question you about your answers on the silly USAJobs form and people even know you might be fluffing up your resume to a certain extent (though they are far more likely to call you out on that, so never lie and always be able to make a valid but strong case for yourself). You don't want to get stuck wasting time interviewing for a position you know you're not remotely qualified for if/when you get called in to talk to the actual managers looking to fill their position(s), so don't take it too far. But it's easier to sell yourself too weakly than too strongly IMO. I have first-hand experience with doing both of those things, but more of the former than the latter, and doing the latter has still been more productive. It seems that most people peddle an obscene amount of bullshit to an extent probably worse than most do-gooder pseudo-autistic goons realize, which affects you because if they can talk the talk, then they might get the job instead of you. Poontang posted:Do you guys use cover letters when applying through USAJOBS.gov? I don't. Although read the application instructions description, since some jobs will have explicit requirements. Zoo fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Feb 13, 2011 |
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Feb 13, 2011 15:53
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problematique posted:Any guides or resource you can recommend? Read the job requirements and duties. A lot of the buzz words in the duties and position description sections are likely to be keywords. "Position description: Authors reports and conducts briefings for senior sewage decision-makers. Performs quality control of sewage engineer performance in accordance with Sewage Task Force (STF) standards. Leads team(s) of certified partner Toilet Cleaner Organization members and sewage engineers. Mentors junior staff and instructs new team members on how to apply critical Johnson Pubic Removal (JBR) enforcement concepts in accordance with the Americans Against Pubic Hair Act. Represents the agency at conferences and in private sewage industry. Performs other duties as assigned." Keywords to trip the USAJobs bot/script: toilet, sewage engineer, sewage task force, johnson, americans against pubic hair act ("yes, sir/ma'm, I have significant experience enforcing that law at Wendy's"), toilet cleaner organization.
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Feb 13, 2011 16:20
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Looks like USACE has figured out a way around the lack of FCIP by converting all of their positions to career conditional positions. I wonder if other agencies are doing this as well.
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Feb 13, 2011 19:48
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You people are reading way into why you aren't getting interviewed for X position, or invited to Y event. Right now hiring managers and human resources officers are getting flooded with resumes. There is not some special in-depth process where everyone is rated against each other, given a number corresponding to his merit, and then selected from there. Instead there is this massive sea of resumes that a manager will randomly pull a handful of resumes out of. I sat with my branch chief who had the authority to do 3x hires a year ago before this recent freeze - you would be amazed how many people with completely random-rear end job histories decide to apply for federal jobs. Former tennis coaches, personal trainers, etc. I think he had at least a hundred pages of resumes, possibly a few hundred total, to review and pick out a half dozen to interview. This is after the initial screening by human resources. I heard from another hiring manager that he simply scrolled through the big rear end .pdf of resumes, stopped someplace random, and started reading a handful of resumes until he got to someone who 1) had a graduate degree, 2) was a veteran. Did this a few more times until he had enough to start interviewing. So from this it's pretty easy to see why word of mouth and personal referals make a huge difference. Plus there is a massive amount of lucked involved. I think a CIA HR person once said at a public event that it is not uncommon for them to have 30,000+ resumes on file. Do you honestly think that they go through these resumes get looked at in any depth? This is why I tell every college student that I meet to develop identifiable skillsets. It is not enough to just do a random liberal arts degree and be quantitatively better than someone else. You need skills that are CTRL-F'able, like hard science major/minor, foreign language, math skills, substantive overseas living experience, etc. If it's too late for that, just keep applying and do so at the start of every month. Yeah, they say they'll keep your resume on file for 6 months, whatever. You might have been the best applicant out of hundreds one month, but maybe the HR screener was hungry and about to go to lunch when he finally caught up with yours. Moral of the story - there is way too much randomness in federal hiring decisions to take things personally or second guess yourself (assuming you do have a solid resume put together). The flip side of that is that all of these 22/23 year old who think they are high and mighty because they got hired out of college need to get off their high horse and realize just how much luck had to do with it. Happydayz fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Feb 14, 2011 |
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Feb 14, 2011 04:29
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What exactly do you mean by referrals? Have someone email HR telling them to look out for X resume?
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Feb 14, 2011 05:42
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Can anyone tell me about the GSA? I have an interview with them and I was wondering if they were a good place to be.
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Feb 14, 2011 12:50
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HappyDayz post is very spot on, when I interned at the State Department they showed me their resume piles, they had something like 300 resumes for every unpaid internship job, much less an actual real job. They had numerous career professionals with Masters/PHDs actually just applying for internships because the job market out there is so rough. I stayed at a hostel for the time I spent in Washington D.C. and there were 3 other State interns there. One female has a degree from London, a degree from California and studied Arabic in Egypt. Another female had previously interned twice for Congress and the Defense Department and speaks fantastic Spanish. The male I lived with was Bilingual English/Spanish, was born in Mexico, went into the army for citizenship, is finishing his master's in Anti-Terrorism. Meanwhile, I went to a small State school for Public Policy/Political Science and speak no additional languages and only left the country once in my life. I am still amazed I got picked to intern at State but my supervisor said he picked me because my internship essay was just better and more honest than everyone else. As for the job situation, I feel like I have no chance of getting a federal job at the moment, even though I at least have some Federal experience. Out of the 3 interns listed above, only the Spanish speaking female has landed a federal job within the past year.
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Feb 14, 2011 14:47
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Greed posted:HappyDayz post is very spot on, when I interned at the State Department they showed me their resume piles, they had something like 300 resumes for every unpaid internship job, much less an actual real job. They had numerous career professionals with Masters/PHDs actually just applying for internships because the job market out there is so rough. I stayed at a hostel for the time I spent in Washington D.C. and there were 3 other State interns there. One female has a degree from London, a degree from California and studied Arabic in Egypt. Another female had previously interned twice for Congress and the Defense Department and speaks fantastic Spanish. The male I lived with was Bilingual English/Spanish, was born in Mexico, went into the army for citizenship, is finishing his master's in Anti-Terrorism. Meanwhile, I went to a small State school for Public Policy/Political Science and speak no additional languages and only left the country once in my life. I am still amazed I got picked to intern at State but my supervisor said he picked me because my internship essay was just better and more honest than everyone else.
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Feb 14, 2011 16:05
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Happydayz posted:resume pulling stuff I have absolutely no doubt about any of this, but I've sat with the people pulling resumes in my shop too. We've been hiring extensively for months on end and still have more to do. We get thousands of applicants as well, as we're listed both on USAJobs and the agency's site, and we do get the weird random resumes somehow sometimes, but what you're saying depends on the hiring managers--mine seem to have a different methodology. We also have a hard time finding qualified people on paper (to say nothing of actual qualifications once they're on board) and often have to settle. After pulling the resumes for the people we want to hire (all those "star" contractors going federal), we're looking to fill cold. At that point we have four people who look through resumes and one of them in particular is extremely anal about it. I assure you that he wastes hours and hours looking for the "best" fit, whatever he thinks that happens to be, and doesn't leave any resumes behind. And those resumes don't get to him if you don't make it past HR, obviously, so there's some reasonable cause for sperging out about keywords IMO if you're going in cold. But if you don't get pulled, yeah, definitely agree that you shouldn't sweat it, because you're first competing with silly scripts and HR monkeys, then you're rolling the dice on your selecting official, none of which is in your control besides maybe, to a certain extent, the first stage with keywords. You don't know the hiring managers' individual criteria for selection. In my shop's case, probably nobody does, since the main person pulling is an introvert and doesn't share his thought processes. The other hiring managers mostly stay out of it and let him handle the workload until interview time. You could end up with Happydayz's div chief, who apparently pulls poo poo randomly, or you could end up with mine, who will, a) first look for people we want to hire and already think are qualified, and then b) apply his personally developed methodology for narrowing down who to interview. Oh, and after that point you still have to have HR sign off on you. If you're already inside, then the shop will fight for you if HR kicks it back, but otherwise you're in the dark with what's going on. The people in my shop have been trying to bring on a golden-boy type contractor they want as a -14 equivalent branch chief for months, rewriting his HR package each time HR says he's unqualified. I'm sure could be agency-dependent, though. And it's also worth noting that all these positions are band 4 (GG-13/14 equivalent). I don't think our hiring managers will put as much scrutiny into it when we get band 2 and 3 vacancies flooding in, which are the positions most of you are gunning for, so yeah, it's still absolutely true that you shouldn't sweat anything; especially hiring events in DC where thousands of people with extensive relevant job experience apply. Happydayz, et al are saying that it's the best bet for a reason--in my case, it's because anecdotally most people hired into band 2/3 I've run into were hired at a hiring event-- but it just gives you better odds than applying on the site blindly with 98,000 other applicants for a single billet probably already identified beforehand, that's all. Zoo fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Feb 14, 2011 |
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Feb 14, 2011 16:19
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What Happydayz/Zoo are saying also extends to the private contractor business as well... I have referred a few goons myself (no hits to date) but senior execs often have a gigantic pile of resumes on their desks and just ask people for input which to look at, then go from there whether they are qualified or not. It really is random and luck.grover posted:Despite it all, we're still having trouble finding qualified applicants for our positions. My department has had two billets open for a year and is still having trouble filling them. They're senior positions so we can't just take people off the street. Well, as this is the thread and it's word of mouth - Mind sharing the billets? Who knows, maybe you will find a fit. Zoo, its funny you mention contractors - it definitely seems to be hit or miss on this end. Alternatively, I can't seem to get into the job I really want
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Feb 14, 2011 18:23
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