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Network42 posted:It's literally the polygraph interviewers job to freak out and yell at you. That's how polys work, they want to stress you into admitting things or changing your story. That puts it in perspective, I guess my falling asleep gave the guy a perfect opportunity to accuse me of wrongdoing.
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Jul 27, 2014 19:48
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Network42 posted:It's literally the polygraph interviewers job to freak out and yell at you. That's how polys work, they want to stress you into admitting things or changing your story. Mine made me cry because I admitted to having lied to my mother, and in rating my trustworthiness I gave myself an 8 out of 10 because I'm not a sociopath.
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Jul 27, 2014 21:11
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Stolennosferatu posted:You guys have a law enforcement background? I have an interest in this, but I haven't looked at this yet. So what I am saying is "no." In the written test phase, I was the only person who made it to that part of the process who was not former/current law enforcement. I am pretty sure it is because the Secret Service is moving away from counterfeiting and toward fraudulent identity documentation, and I wrote a master's thesis on the subject. But drat man, those sit-ups are not academic-friendly. I can at least feel good knowing I passed the fitness exam ... ...by myself in a gym the week before the real thing  Network42 posted:It's literally the polygraph interviewers job to freak out and yell at you. That's how polys work, they want to stress you into admitting things or changing your story.  And at this rate I do not know if I will ever be applying for a position that requires one CherryCola posted:Mine made me cry because I admitted to having lied to my mother, and in rating my trustworthiness I gave myself an 8 out of 10 because I'm not a sociopath. Lying to your mother comes up on the polygraph? Dope. And here I would still give myself a 10 out of 10 on trustworthiness and then when the guy was like BUT YOU ADMITTED LYING TO YOUR MOTHER I would be like "yeah but my mother is not integral to the national defense." Then I would go to jail
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Jul 27, 2014 21:56
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Stolennosferatu posted:You guys have a law enforcement background? I have an interest in this, but I haven't looked at this yet. Didn't see this earlier, I have zero law enforcement background. I suspect I made it past the FBI screening filter because I have no criminal history, no ties to foreign governments (and only US citizenship), have a law degree and can speak Mandarin. Quarex posted:Lying to your mother comes up on the polygraph? Dope. And here I would still give myself a 10 out of 10 on trustworthiness and then when the guy was like BUT YOU ADMITTED LYING TO YOUR MOTHER I would be like "yeah but my mother is not integral to the national defense." Then I would go to jail I was asked something to the effect of "have you ever broken the trust of your family and/or friends?" I honestly answered no the first time around, later after the interviewer got all WHAT DO THE NUMBERS MEAN MASON on me, I fed him a narrative how I felt so guilty about not using my degree and that in my cultural background not living up to my RESPONSIBIRITIES as firstborn son was a serious breach of my filial piety to my parents, etc. Thinking back on it, the interviewer seriously dialed down the pressure after that one, I guess they were just shaking the tree to see what came loose, so to speak. I guess working in CBP Internal Affairs as long as my interviewer has made him assume everyone's a lying shitbag.
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Jul 27, 2014 22:15
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Wait. If I was a former Chinese citizen, am I hosed?
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Jul 28, 2014 02:47
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It Depends. Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
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Jul 28, 2014 04:16
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Most of the jobs I see allow you to add a cover letter but it's optional. Is it really optional or is it "optional"?
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Jul 28, 2014 09:52
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Spacewolf posted:It Depends. Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? Well, no?
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Jul 28, 2014 12:32
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Sorry to repeat myself, but is it possible to negotiate your salary any with federal jobs? I received my "informal" offer last week and was told to expect a formal offer from HR today or tomorrow. Does a master's degree pretty much give you the GS-7, or does it have to be "relevant" education experience?
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Jul 28, 2014 15:45
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Thesaurus posted:Does a master's degree pretty much give you the GS-7, or does it have to be "relevant" education experience? I think you mean gs-9.
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Jul 28, 2014 18:51
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laxbro posted:I think you mean gs-9. I have an MA in English. Should that give me a GS-9, then, or is it irrelevant given that it doesn't have much to do with the position?
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Jul 28, 2014 23:26
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Strictly speaking your qualifications are your qualifications, and they do exactly what they say they do--but practically speaking, your qualifications only help insomuch as they help you meet the job requirements. I cannot tell you how many positions I applied for since it said "blah blah requirements OR 3 years of education leading toward a doctoral degree" and then upon actually getting into the application it was abundantly obvious you needed the experience to make the cut, educational-equivalent be damned. It still helps to be educated, though--there is a reason that the federal government has a very high percentage of people with graduate education working for it. DNova posted:Most of the jobs I see allow you to add a cover letter but it's optional. Is it really optional or is it "optional"? And why am I telling you all this? Because on the subject of cover letters, she said "if it doesn't specifically ask for a cover letter, well ... if you write a cover letter, what do you think I am going to do with it?" So if even the most hardass HR person in the world does not think they are important for federal hiring, they probably are indeed closer to unimportant than you might expect.
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Jul 28, 2014 23:49
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Thesaurus posted:Sorry to repeat myself, but is it possible to negotiate your salary any with federal jobs? I received my "informal" offer last week and was told to expect a formal offer from HR today or tomorrow. Yes, it is possible, depending on the job. I negotiated an extra $12,000 on my salary from my original offer (went from step 1 offer to step 10 offer). I'm also ridiculously overqualified for my job, so whatever. But others in my class were able to negotiate some extra steps if they had relevant experience or education. There is no harm in negotiating. They aren't going to withdraw the offer, so just do your best. If you know they're hiring at multiple GS levels or a range of steps (what was on the hiring announcement?), then definitely argue that whatever you have (experience, education, previous income, hell, talk about your student loans maybe someone will take pity on you) justifies the higher steps. Get creative. If they're not going to be transparent with the standards then just hit them with everything. I threw all of the above at them. HR person on the phone said "it doesn't sound like you can take this job." I told her I was very interested but I wasn't sure I could do it at that income, felt I deserved more, and needed her to go talk to someone and see what they could offer me. I never even got another phone call, just got an offer letter with the higher step a couple weeks later. It is possible, there's no harm in trying, go nuts. Once you're hired, it's too late. Coworker of mine was hired at step 1 because she didn't know she could negotiate. She had very very similar credentials to me (same education, very similar work history). She freaked out when she realized how much more I was making and went crazy at HR and whoever else's email she could find. Spent a month or two arguing she was entitled to a higher step. Got nothing whatsoever. Also, an MA in English seems relevant to just about anything. You won't be writing any reports or reading anything complicated? Communication skills aren't important?
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Jul 29, 2014 03:40
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Also do not be too disappointed if that does not work. I spent hours looking through every possible federal perk that could be relevant to my job that was not specifically mentioned as "not authorized" for my posting, and was systematically turned down for every one since the job was not deemed "hard to fill" and therefore that meant "take the lowest thing we can offer you and like it." I do, however, "like it," for the record. And in the new USCIS Director's opening town hall he pledged to "look into" bringing monthly student loan repayment benefits to USCIS! Haha, right. Well, at least he mentioned it; that was nice.
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Jul 29, 2014 03:46
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An update on my search, for those interested: I have acquired (after patiently explaining what it was to the advanced practice nurse (AKA my primary care provider) at the clinic I go to at least 2 or 3 times, then showing her the sample letter so helpfully provided at the DOL website) a Schedule A certification letter. I've applied for my first job with it. Not heard anything back yet - apparently, it's an "every 3 weeks we issue a referral list until the closing date sometime in 2015" kind of thing, so I suppose I wait a *minimum* of 3 weeks. Annoying is when agencies will tell you how you scored on the Occupational Questionnaire (86 when I was applying for 0950 jobs with CBP), but (in every case so far) won't tell you where the cut-off was...Only that you weren't the best qualified. I'm literally thinking (but not wasting my breath asking) "Did I waste my time getting the paralegal degree? Can you give me a hint as to if I met the *minimum* qualifications?" In short, I'm now in the depressed stage of the job search. Considering my private sector job search ain't going any better, I'm wondering if I'll *ever* get a job. 
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Jul 29, 2014 15:13
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Artificer posted:Wait. If I was a former Chinese citizen, am I hosed? Depends on the job and depends on your continuing connection to/support of/dependance on China. I will assume as a former citizen you don't claim dual citizenship, that is a no go with many DoD and security related agencies. But I can tell you plenty of naturalized citizens work even in those places, so no, you are not necessarily hosed.
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Jul 29, 2014 15:16
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Quarex posted:Also do not be too disappointed if that does not work. This is the best advice, taken with trying to negotiate doesn't really hurt. But depending on HR you may get a "This is what we are offering, take it or leave it." It's nothing personal usually, some HR people just don't like having to deal with variations. And sometimes there are reasons they cannot. If you are coming from another government position then consideration must be given as per regs, but otherwise it is just whether you are needed enough for the manager to go through the extra effort to include whatever incentives they can and HR being willing to deal with it as well. Angry HR Guy: "LOOK I AM CALLING TO OFFER YOU A JOB, DO YOU WANT IT OR NOT WE HAVE PLENTY OF OTHER CANDIDATES SO TELL ME NOW!" was the start of my Federal career. I made the mistake of asking two questions after that, even, but they didn't withdraw the offer so I guess it all worked out.
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Jul 29, 2014 15:32
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e_wraith posted:Depends on the job and depends on your continuing connection to/support of/dependance on China. I will assume as a former citizen you don't claim dual citizenship, that is a no go with many DoD and security related agencies. But I can tell you plenty of naturalized citizens work even in those places, so no, you are not necessarily hosed. I have family in China, but I only have US Citizenship now and no dependents in China either.
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Jul 30, 2014 02:49
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I wasn't able to find one, but I'm looking to get some information on law enforcement. I've done some reading on the benefits and rates for a police officer, but I've also got huge moral dilemmas. Mostly that I feel the legal system mostly works against people, that and I'm not a fan of the incarceration system. But I feel like that for every poo poo cop out there, there's at least one good one, and then a whole lot of mediocrity. Another bit I'm curious about, within the police force there has to be a plethora of other jobs I haven't even thought of/considered. Mechanics, IT, etc etc. I'd also like to get some or at least pointed to information on that aspect.
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Jul 30, 2014 21:30
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Artificer posted:I have family in China, but I only have US Citizenship now and no dependents in China either. Clearance jobs aren't going to immediately rule you out based on that, though they will question your ties. Explain things truthfully and I doubt you will have issues.
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Jul 31, 2014 03:31
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Over half of the people I worked with at DoS (almost all CS, but a few FSOs rotating through domestic assignments) were foreign born and still had family ties. All of them had a least a Secret; most of them had a Top Secret.
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Jul 31, 2014 07:31
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DevCore you might get a better and more specific response in the Ask a Cop thread in GIP.
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Jul 31, 2014 11:07
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Tyro posted:DevCore you might get a better and more specific response in the Ask a Cop thread in GIP. Thanks!
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Jul 31, 2014 17:19
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Man, I wish I would've read this thread before submitting an application on USAJobs yesterday. About a month ago I had a phone interview with an agency in response to an "on the down-low" job posting that I found, which went great (he said I was at the top of his list), but they didn't have funding for the position at the time. Yesterday I get a call from another person at the agency telling me to apply for a USAJobs posting, and to hurry because it was closing that day. She told me to re-write my resume around the job posting, which I did, but I answered the questionnaire with a lot of Cs and Ds; I didn't know that it was the norm to answer E if you can justify it in any way. I could have squeezed Es out of all of the questions, and in retrospect I think she was kind of hinting that I should. I'm just worried that I made it this far only to not get referred because I didn't totally understand the process.
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Aug 1, 2014 23:53
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HR gave me the final offer and informed me that my MA us not "relevant" for pay grade purposes  But I'm in the door now! Half of the people I've told about my new job are all  drat YOU ENTITLED BUREAUCRATS
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Aug 4, 2014 20:50
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Is there an average timeframe to hear back about a job after the close date?
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Aug 4, 2014 22:51
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Thesaurus posted:HR gave me the final offer and informed me that my MA us not "relevant" for pay grade purposes 
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Aug 4, 2014 23:30
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It's a gs5,7,9,11 progression. I'll start at the bottom, but supposedly you move up a grade per year provided adequate performance. So I figure that in a few years it won't matter where I started...
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Aug 5, 2014 00:00
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True, it is hilarious how easy progression through the numbers is, particularly for a job like that with such a large range. But I am still surprised by your story. Did the posting not say that education was a substitution for experience?
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Aug 5, 2014 00:16
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So in an effort to consolidate things into one day of maximum annoyance, I am both interviewing people for a promotion tomorrow and interviewing for a promotion. The one I am interviewing for I don't even really want since it is not the location I work in, but they were so eager to interview me and willing to do a phone interview at lunch time I felt bad about saying no. Plus I need practice for high grade interviews, and as long as I don't suck it never hurts to get your name in front of leadership. Hopefully the people I am interviewing will appreciate that I feel their pain!
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Aug 5, 2014 12:56
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Quarex posted:Does the job have a GS-9 promotion built in? If so, then I am confused. If not, then, well, yeah, that is what happened to me. But just think of how easy your advancement will be since you already qualify for a promotion from education Never underestimate the power of ignorant federal HR practitioners. I hired someone for a GS-7 position. The applicant's resume was a standard template-based one created as part of an OPM-administered hiring program. OPM's system limited candidates to providing two lines of description for each job. My person has a J.D. and I provided our HR with an original transcript showing conferral of this degree. The HR folks insisted that my hire needed to provide additional written statements detailing her prior experience to establish her qualification at the GS-7 level. I pointed out that she had more than enough education to substitute for experience for GS-7, but HR wasn't hearing any of it.
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Aug 6, 2014 02:47
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I just started a security investigation for USAID. I had significant periods of homelessness, which lead to some terrible money decisions. I think I can mitigate those concerns since my dad works in the financial sector and he can help me create a financing plan. Question: I had an entry-level separation in the military. Nothing dishonorable (medical, from a long long time ago). This always trips me up when I do my government on-boarding. I don't really count as having 'served' in the military because I didn't pass basic training. Any advice? ThatSinkingFeeling fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 22:54
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IRS phone positions opening for next tax season. Lots of them open, and not just in the big service centers.
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Aug 7, 2014 02:43
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Investing question for you fellow feds: I'm onboarding and setting up my TSP account. I understand that it's the government's version of a 401k. However, I was unaware of the different funds that they use, for example the proprietary G Fund. Do you have any advice or sources of info on where I should be investing (the relative advantages/disadvantages), since this is a bit different than the usual retirement options? I understand the the G fund is guaranteed not to lose value, which is pretty cool. However, it's rate of return looks pretty modest. C Fund is basically an index fund? S and I funds are variants of that?
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Aug 7, 2014 18:30
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Ask in the long term investment thread. Or just max into the life cycle fund near your retirement year. Evil SpongeBob fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Aug 8, 2014 |
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Aug 8, 2014 05:28
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So I may be getting a promotion up 2 GS levels since I just got my license for my healthcare profession. A grad with no license puts you at GS9. Once you get your license, you get a bump to GS11. Thing is, I have to complete something called KSAs and forward to HR before getting officially boarded for the GS11 spot? There's like 7 KSAs for the GS11 position. How do I "complete" the KSAs? No one here has any loving clue. My supervisor said all she did was write a few paragraphs explaining why she met each KSA and then forwarded it to HR when she had to do it years ago. Is that all I need to do? Or is there some formal KSA packet, or KSA form, or some other random poo poo I need to fill out? (Oh yea, and gently caress the hiring process. I never received a formal offer letter. I literally showed up the first day thinking I would have a chance to sit down with HR, receive an offer, and then counteroffer. All I got was an email basically saying "Hey, show up on x/x/xx at random place. Cu there!" It was actually my first day on the job doing all the employee orientation poo poo) Avalanche fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Aug 8, 2014 |
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Aug 8, 2014 09:13
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Thesaurus posted:Investing question for you fellow feds: First off , congratulations on the job! Overall the fund categories are pretty close to commercial offerings in a mutual fund portfolio. G is short term government securities and the safest, F are primarily commercial/foreign bonds if I recall, C stock in larger, established companies, S are small cap riskier companies that are more likely to have bigger moves (up or down), and I is international. Those are in order from least to most risky as people usually view them I think. The Ls are a bit to conservative for my tastes, but a better option than leaving it all in G which I know far too many people who do. And, of course, I know many people who do not take advantage of the matching, which always confuses the hell out of me because hey, free money and all. But you are thinking about it, so that puts you ahead of many people which is good. I am pretty aggressively in C, S, and I since 2008 when the market tanked, and it has paid off, as I get closer to retirement I will shift some of that to the safer funds. But since retirement is a million years away and bonds are pretty weak now, well, whatever. But that is me, and I know I am probably a bit more to the risky side than many people are comfortable with. Not recommending it to you or anyone else, I just personally have the time left that I think I can recover any major losses short term. Judge how long you plan to be working and how risk tolerant you are, and go from there. maybe take a look at the L for your projected retirement year and tweak things based on that, or if you are comfortable with their recommendations just use the L and they will even adjust your ratios for you as time goes on. And don't fret over it day to day minute to minute, I know people who go too far to that extreme as well and while their constant moves may net them a few more dollars long term I doubt it is worth the stress and annoyance.
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Aug 8, 2014 15:21
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Avalanche posted:
As far as I have seen you would just explain how you meet the KSAs as your supervisor said. Where I work at least they also want examples where you have demonstrated the KSAs in some sort of practical usage with some positive result cited. They are very focused on that part here at least, so saying "I took blah in school" is usually not enough. "I learned blah and applied it through blah and it resulted in blah..." usually works, even if it was not on the job or even just in a training situation.
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Aug 8, 2014 15:40
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So I've been offered a job in the DC metro area. Pay is somewhere in the $55k range. The work is going to be in two locations, Mc Lean and Pentagon City. Can anyone offer any insight as to where I should look for an apartment? I've been told Arlington, though with that salary I think that'd be on the high side.
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Aug 11, 2014 17:21
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You are going to be working in both of those locations not just one correct? If so yes Arlington is a good choice. On that salary it should be doable if you don't have a lot of debt. Might be tight though depending on your neighborhood and what is important to you. Should be fairly easy if you are willing to get a roommate.
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Aug 11, 2014 19:00
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