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Xandu posted:Depends, what do you want to do after college? Hopefully something in local, state, or federal government. I'm toying with the idea of going into something like the Foreign Service. Anything similar would probably work fine for me though. In the past I've looked at positions in state offices that worked to improve the conditions of lower income neighborhoods, and other similar jobs. Something in politics and government to apply my eventual political science degree to without running for office. Edit: If you goons have any suggestions as to where I could start looking, that would be fantastic as well. I'd be fine with anything, really, whether interning at EPA or Department of Labor as the OP says. Artificer fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Dec 9, 2013 |
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Dec 9, 2013 04:32
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Artificer posted:Hopefully something in local, state, or federal government. I'm toying with the idea of going into something like the Foreign Service. Anything similar would probably work fine for me though. In the past I've looked at positions in state offices that worked to improve the conditions of lower income neighborhoods, and other similar jobs. Something in politics and government to apply my eventual political science degree to without running for office. http://careers.state.gov/students/ Might want to check that out.
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Dec 9, 2013 16:11
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Out of the blue I get a call from the USPTO this morning asking if I was still interested in a customer service position I applied for back in August. I have an interview set up for tomorrow morning!
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Dec 16, 2013 17:14
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A coworker of mine was telling me about this TSP predictor called Sector Surfer, which "uses algorithms" to determine which TSP plan to put your moneys into. Is it a huge crock of poo poo? Because it seems like one. I only made one change to my TSP this year - I switched from L2040 to L2050 and my PIP hit 23.41%. I understand that kind of growth is unsustainable long term, but in my opinion, it seems like an easy way for a service to weasel its way into my pocketbook. Is there a definite argument I can make to my coworker as to why he shouldn't try out this service?
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Dec 18, 2013 01:56
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Drewski posted:A coworker of mine was telling me about this TSP predictor called Sector Surfer, which "uses algorithms" to determine which TSP plan to put your moneys into. Is it a huge crock of poo poo? Because it seems like one. I only made one change to my TSP this year - I switched from L2040 to L2050 and my PIP hit 23.41%. I understand that kind of growth is unsustainable long term, but in my opinion, it seems like an easy way for a service to weasel its way into my pocketbook. TSP C fund has maintained an average of 10% growth since the life of the fund, which is pretty phenomenal considering it just tracks the S&P500. S & I funds have done even better. I'll be happily retired at 55 if it continues like that!
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Dec 18, 2013 03:56
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quote:For most participants in the Federal Employees Retirement System, the contribution rate is 0.8 percent of salary; for workers hired after this month, their share will be 4.4 percent. For someone with an annual salary of $50,000, that means paying $2,200 per year under the new rate, versus $400 under the one in effect before this year Something to consider for new applicants.
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Dec 20, 2013 11:00
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TCD posted:http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20131219/MGMT04/312190012/Budget-bill-mixed-bag-feds Any idea if this just applies to new FERS folks or are other systems like FSPS affected? From what I've seen it sounds like just FERS.
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Dec 20, 2013 18:37
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problematique posted:Any idea if this just applies to new FERS folks or are other systems like FSPS affected? From what I've seen it sounds like just FERS. I don't think this impacts any existing federal employees. I wonder if it impacts federal employees that take promotions or switch jobs? That would be a kick in the face to take a promotion and end up with a pay cut because of FERS contributions.
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Dec 20, 2013 18:43
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I recall seeing something about this affecting people who take a new position and have fewer than 5 years under their belt, but I was trying to read the bill itself so who the hell knows if I interpreted it correctly.
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Dec 20, 2013 20:20
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Oh, good. I assume this means that, since I was hired on as Term, when I get hired on as a permanent employee in the exact same position, I will effectively take pay cut.
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Dec 21, 2013 16:06
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Late update! My interview with the Patent Office on Tuesday went so well that I got a call from their HR on Friday with a tentative offer to start on January 21! New job for the new year! 
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Dec 22, 2013 00:57
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I'm restarting my federal job search. I ordered a copy of my transcripts, I should scan those and upload them to USAJobs, yeah? Also, are there any other tips you guys might have?
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Dec 22, 2013 14:57
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Declan MacManus posted:Also, are there any other tips you guys might have? Try and figure out the keywords that'll score your application higher. They'll be the words that stand out in the job description and OPM.gov's description of the job series. Make sure these appear somewhere in your application package. On a cover letter and/or in the descriptions in your job history or special skills.
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Dec 22, 2013 16:16
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Justus posted:Try and figure out the keywords that'll score your application higher. They'll be the words that stand out in the job description and OPM.gov's description of the job series. Make sure these appear somewhere in your application package. On a cover letter and/or in the descriptions in your job history or special skills. I'm testing out this idea right now. I've got a lot of friends/colleagues who work for the feds and I've always known that USAJobs picks out keywords from your resume. I found 2 jobs that I'm really interested in (and possibly overqualified for too, 1-year term positions that require a bachelor's degree and I'm 2 months away from a Masters) and basically just re-worded my resume to exactly mirror what was said in the job announcement. Here's an example. I'm a biologist and work on the prairie and we use fire a lot to manage prairies. But "prairie burning" or "pasture burning" isn't what they're looking for. The keyword is "prescribed fire". So maybe I've burned a lot of pastures but if I don't write it as "prescribed fire" it apparently doesn't count. So instead of saying that I collected field data and wrote technical reports for my graduate research, I wrote "Computed, compiled, summarized and assessed field data in tabular, graphic, and narrative form" which is exactly how it is written on the announcement. "Surveyed grassland birds" became "Performed biological surveys" and "Collected and compiled biological data on grassland birds". The fact that I can identify most grassland plant species in the great plains now includes the phrase "vegetation identification" which I wouldn't have used before. I do tons of resource management type stuff and use GPS units and GIS programs which apparently means they want me to say I have "Experience conducting resource management activities such as GIS/GPS mapping, marking, and surveying", all things which I have done a thousand times, I just wouldn't have worded it exactly like that. Hopefully this will at least ensure that a real human looks at my application.
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Dec 22, 2013 23:40
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So after agonizing about what kind of "REAL CAREER" I want while working my current job, I decided to apply for the FSOT in order to (hopefully one day) work with the department of state in the Consular office. I realize that it's probably a really huge long shot for me to land any of the jobs with the DoS, but I figured it'd be worth a try. I'm trying to find some decent study material for the FSOT test and figured this might be a smart place to ask, so.... anyone willing to help a brother out? I've got a good job that pays decently now, but the Consular Services job sounds right up my alley as well as being relatively in line with my skills (I've been working as an English instructor abroad for over 5 years). I'm serious about studying for it, and am willing to listen to any advice out there.
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Dec 23, 2013 03:08
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The test is (or was) a lot of general knowledge history class Jeopardy questions. If you're a Well Rounded Individual who reads, you'll pass that part. I boned up the interview something fierce, though. Don't ask me about that. There were 10 in my group who interviewed, only one was selected.
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Dec 23, 2013 03:29
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USMC_Karl posted:So after agonizing about what kind of "REAL CAREER" I want while working my current job, I decided to apply for the FSOT in order to (hopefully one day) work with the department of state in the Consular office. I realize that it's probably a really huge long shot for me to land any of the jobs with the DoS, but I figured it'd be worth a try. I'm trying to find some decent study material for the FSOT test and figured this might be a smart place to ask, so.... anyone willing to help a brother out? I've got a good job that pays decently now, but the Consular Services job sounds right up my alley as well as being relatively in line with my skills (I've been working as an English instructor abroad for over 5 years). I'm serious about studying for it, and am willing to listen to any advice out there. Did you post in the FSOT thread?
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Dec 23, 2013 03:51
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I meant to go over there and post, but got sidetracked with work. Actually, my original post was supposed to go over there but I posted in the wrong window.
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Dec 23, 2013 05:01
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So is federal hiring in general expected to substantially increase now that the sequester has been "eased" with the new budget bill? If so, when's this projected to take place? After an omnibus appropriations bill is passed?
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Dec 23, 2013 10:02
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prussian advisor posted:So is federal hiring in general expected to substantially increase now that the sequester has been "eased" with the new budget bill? If so, when's this projected to take place? After an omnibus appropriations bill is passed?
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Dec 23, 2013 14:49
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grover posted:A lot of the hiring freeze was simply budget driven- the same cuts that forced government agencies to furlough so many employees earlier this year have driven them to enact hiring freezes in the hopes of realizing similar cost savings through attrition rather than forced reduction in pay. With realistic budget, all those vacant billets should start getting filled. I think (hope) we're going to see a huge glut of hiring in the next two months. I sincerely hope they do start hiring again. In my group, the director of our entire division is my acting supervisor because we are short two managers that would come between us and the director. Also because of retirements and transfers, my immediate group is down to 3 out of the normal 10. Figuring out who would be in over the holidays to deal with our normal incoming work was fun.
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Dec 23, 2013 15:17
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Do hiring people just send out batch e-mail with mild delays to pretend that things are happening? Today I got "you have been judged eligible for this position" at 10, "you are best qualified and have been referred to the selecting official" at 10:15, and "you are not selected" at 10:30. I do not think that really happened in that timeframe 
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Dec 24, 2013 08:45
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Welp I am starting to hear back from the CBP test I took back in September or something. Now I get to try and set up the medical appointment. So far I just keep put on hold for 10 minutes then told to leave a message and call back later. Anyone else that took the CBP test hearing anything?
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Dec 27, 2013 01:35
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Brotein_Shake posted:Welp I am starting to hear back from the CBP test I took back in September or something. Now I get to try and set up the medical appointment. So far I just keep put on hold for 10 minutes then told to leave a message and call back later. Anyone else that took the CBP test hearing anything? Took mine back in August, did the medical/physical test last week. I was on hold for 40 or so minutes and got transferred to a government subcontractor in charge of scheduling. Video based & structured interview in January, that was scheduled for me via e-mail early December.
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Dec 27, 2013 05:17
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I just got an offer for a mechanical engineering position. I really got caught off guard by the offer since I wasn't expecting anything the week of Christmas, and I only had about a 10 minute phone "interview" with someone. I'm not even 100% on the department. I at least think I understand the pay grades. So can anyone tell me any general information about engineering jobs with the Navy or government? Deeters fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Feb 18, 2016 |
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Dec 27, 2013 21:20
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So a 1% raise, universal?
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Dec 27, 2013 22:53
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Tremendous Taste posted:So a 1% raise, universal? For all GS levels, so far as I can tell. OPM has the pay tables for 2014 up: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2014/general-schedule/ I'm not 100% sure if there was a 1% increase on the other scales (e.g., SES, SL, etc.) I think there was. But for GS, at least looking at the one for my area, the table reflects the 1%.
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Dec 27, 2013 23:14
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Just GS or all federal civilian? What about excepted service like FP or others?
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Dec 28, 2013 01:19
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problematique posted:Just GS or all federal civilian? What about excepted service like FP or others? Not sure -- I've never really looked at anything other than GS and SES/SL (which also have updated 2014 salaries on OPMs website that I think reflect the 1% bump). If that other stuff is normally listed on OPM's website, then I'd expect to see 2014 updates there, which would tell you whether the 1% is included.
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Dec 28, 2013 01:23
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thanks mate!
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Dec 28, 2013 01:31
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Deeters posted:I just got an offer from the Norfolk shipyard for a mechanical engineering position. I really got caught off guard by the offer since I wasn't expecting anything the week of Christmas, and I only had about a 10 minute phone "interview" with someone. I'm not even 100% on the department since I've talked to guys from both combat systems and refueling. I at least think I understand the pay grades. I'm a GS-0854 computer engineer with the Defense Contract Management Agency, and this is more or less how it worked for me. I applied for the job on USAjobs.gov some time in October 2012, had the 10 minute phone interview at the tail end of November, and had a tentative job offer sometime the week before Christmas, and began the security clearance process. Got my clearance near the end of March, and moved across the country, and started my job April 20th. They literally never met me in person before I was already on the payroll. So, anything in particular you'd like to know? "General information" is a bit broad.
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Dec 29, 2013 00:30
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Deeters posted:I just got an offer from the Norfolk shipyard for a mechanical engineering position. I really got caught off guard by the offer since I wasn't expecting anything the week of Christmas, and I only had about a 10 minute phone "interview" with someone. I'm not even 100% on the department since I've talked to guys from both combat systems and refueling. I at least think I understand the pay grades. If you will be working on systems that are already in use throughout the fleet, please for the love of god listen to your military counterparts. Nothing pissed me off more than having a shipyard engineer come in to tell me the particulates in my GTG's lube oil system was caused by faulty strainers when I had the lube oil samples to prove that it was a crack in the cooler!  But really, it depends a lot on whether you're going into design, maintenance, or what have you.
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Dec 31, 2013 05:07
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I managed to figure out some more about the position on my own, but I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who got the job that fast. It's the combat systems department and is mostly maintenance from what I understand. I know my question was really broad, I was hoping that if there was anything particularly awful about the job that someone would mention it.
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Dec 31, 2013 06:35
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Deeters posted:I managed to figure out some more about the position on my own, but I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who got the job that fast. It's the combat systems department and is mostly maintenance from what I understand. I know my question was really broad, I was hoping that if there was anything particularly awful about the job that someone would mention it. Max out TSP matching funds as soon as you're able to- give that compound interest time to compound. grover fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Jan 1, 2014 |
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Jan 1, 2014 19:58
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Question: I'm currently most of the way through the first year of a three-year internship program with the Defense Contract Management Agency as a software specialist (doing contract software surveillance). Part of the internship is doing a three-month rotation during the third year. The agency encourages people to rotate to preferably a different DCMA office that can still be driven to (so that they don't have to pay for a TDY), and possibly even staying at the same office but just trying out a different discipline (such as systems engineering). However, I've recently found out that technically, one could rotate outside the agency if the employee is able to do the footwork to get communication going. I'm really interested in doing this. I've found out that the FDA has a position at the Office of Device Evaluation that is fairly similar to my job description now. Basically, it's doing software surveillance as part of the approval process for new hospital equipment (rather than lifecycle contract management of new DoD weapons systems as I do now). So, my question is: How might I go about reaching out to the FDA and the Office of Device Evaluation? I've tried googling it, and haven't been successful at finding any sort of contact information. There was a generic e-mail on the USAjobs.gov job listing that I tried contacting months ago (for questions regarding the listing), but I haven't heard back yet in the last three months.
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Jan 2, 2014 18:48
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Justus posted:So, my question is: How might I go about reaching out to the FDA and the Office of Device Evaluation? I've tried googling it, and haven't been successful at finding any sort of contact information. There was a generic e-mail on the USAjobs.gov job listing that I tried contacting months ago (for questions regarding the listing), but I haven't heard back yet in the last three months. It looks like Office of Device Evaluation is an office within the FDA's Office of Medical Products and Tobacco, Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The ODE management phone directory is at the link below. http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OfficeofMedicalProductsandTobacco/CDRH/CDRHOffices/ucm127854.htm If you are especially enterprising, you can cross reference that directory with the DHHS Employee Directory to find a direct telephone number and email address.
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Jan 3, 2014 04:21
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JohnnyHildo posted:It looks like Office of Device Evaluation is an office within the FDA's Office of Medical Products and Tobacco, Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The ODE management phone directory is at the link below. Wow! That is really cool! Thanks a ton. And yes, I do feel quite particularly enterprising.
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Jan 3, 2014 06:11
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Just a heads up the FAA is going to be putting up a posting on February 10th for Air Traffic Controllers. All you need is a college degree, and be under age 31. This is a fantastic opportunity for people that have the ability to relocate anywhere.
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Jan 9, 2014 17:23
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I got a email for the export import bank, junior credit admin. Anyone have experience with them? Its not the position I originally applied for so I'm also wondering how often resumes get passed along for other openings as well. Is this a good sign?
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Jan 9, 2014 22:35
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How feasible is it getting hired by the CFTC if I'm doing accounting in undergrad?
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Jan 10, 2014 00:12
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