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Actually let's walk that back. As a current employee who has passed a background check with 5 years, how long should it take before I get a firm offer? School is starting soon, and I need to get my kids set up. If BG checks are still taking a year I'm boned. Edit: Apparently they only take a day or so 
Beerdeer fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Jul 25, 2016 |
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Jul 25, 2016 15:45
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Any tips for getting local government positions? I'm not sure if there's a separate thread for that... After losing out on the fed job I interviewed for back in May, I am applying to a local city office in their collections department. There is a section stating "Please tell us how your education and background prepare you for this position." Am I supposed to write a cover letter or just a blurb about how qualified I am, etc? Is there something specific they want to hear? I must have done something right on my fed app since I was able to get an interview, but this one does not state anything about a cover letter, it's just through the city HR page... Any help is appreciated!
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Jul 25, 2016 19:45
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I did work in local government (and almost worked in state government if political campaigns count!) before becoming a FED so uh...yeah I would say you probably want to treat your application like a normal private sector application, as the people involved likely treat applications more through that lens than through something like USAJobs. But of course, every local government could have its own bonkers system for doing something, too. ... Meanwhile...as an alternate reality version of my question about hardship transfers, is a noncompetitive application basically just a better shot at getting an interview? Not to disparage that, mind you, as that is still pretty cool. But as someone whose never-failed interview style from my pre-federal life is apparently abhorrent to federal interview panels, as I have gotten precisely zero jobs or promotions after interviews, it makes me think non-competitive hiring is not really something I (personally) should be too excited about; is this true? I always figured "well, if all else fails, I can easily get a job at a lower GS non-competitively," but I think I just misunderstood how non-competitive hiring worked.
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Jul 26, 2016 23:02
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I got my current job through NCE. From what I could tell, it does two things. 1) You apply directly to the agency, so you skip the bullshit that is USAJobs, so you're more likely to get interviewed. 2) If the agency is really hurting for people, they want to get guys in as fast as possible. So they are likely to choose you over someone else that has to go through the entire USAJobs bullshit process, because they have to do less paperwork.
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Jul 26, 2016 23:12
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My new posting was a no-compete because I was a 12 going to a 12. I went right to the certified list. Didn't interview for the new post
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Jul 27, 2016 02:57
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Those posts both fill me with chipper-dee-doo-daa, so thank you! "The office not having time for interviews" is why I got my job in the first place, after all, so the idea that I might at least be able to go hop to new similar-or-worse job without an interview based on changing life circumstances is encouraging, particularly if a hardship transfer does not work out. Yay! Goooooo USAJobs thread!
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Jul 28, 2016 02:58
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Let's talk about applying for DC positions. I'm state government in Texas in a niche field with direct applicability to federal positions. I don't want to live in Texas forever. We have lots of family in Virginia, so DC would be nice. As would several other large cities. Ive always assumed my application would just be binned for being from out of town. Is that a misconception? What can I do to get myself past the initial review processes?
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Jul 29, 2016 00:37
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Hot Dog Day #91 posted:Let's talk about applying for DC positions. I'm state government in Texas in a niche field with direct applicability to federal positions. I don't want to live in Texas forever. We have lots of family in Virginia, so DC would be nice. As would several other large cities. Half of my office was hired from the western half of the country. It might be different from agency to agency, but at least where I am they tend to not pay attention if they are local or not. Our subject area is pretty narrow as well. About 2/3 of the program specialists in our division used to work for state governments doing the job out in the field before going federal and dealing with monitoring.
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Jul 29, 2016 00:50
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Hot Dog Day #91 posted:Let's talk about applying for DC positions. I'm state government in Texas in a niche field with direct applicability to federal positions. I don't want to live in Texas forever. We have lots of family in Virginia, so DC would be nice. As would several other large cities. Total misconception. Start applying on USAJobs, set up the daily DC email blast. You'll get like 6-10 positions per day or more. Read the job description carefully. Especially the KSAs. Tailor your resume to include all of the job duties and KSA you can reasonably claim. Your resume can be long as poo poo, you just want the computers to see the things you need. DOJ will probably ignore you completely but other agencies will most likely refer you if you're qualified. Then it's a total guessing game unless you know someone in the agency/division you are applying to.
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Jul 29, 2016 01:10
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Not interested in DOJ at least. I'm going to get tired of litigation at some point and prefer to move on to compliance. Phil, I take it a job you were looking at was not LA based then?
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Jul 29, 2016 01:33
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Dr. Quarex posted:Those posts both fill me with chipper-dee-doo-daa, so thank you! "The office not having time for interviews" is why I got my job in the first place, after all, so the idea that I might at least be able to go hop to new similar-or-worse job without an interview based on changing life circumstances is encouraging, particularly if a hardship transfer does not work out. Yay! Goooooo USAJobs thread! I know the first example was peace corps NCE while the second was a "tenured" fed. Are these non compete statuses the same? I was under the impression that the peace corps NCE was maybe more powerful in some way.
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Jul 29, 2016 06:56
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Hot Dog Day #91 posted:Not interested in DOJ at least. I'm going to get tired of litigation at some point and prefer to move on to compliance. Yes, it was with a three letter agency's headquarters in DC, with the equivalent of their general counsel. It would have been monitoring and cooperating with US attorneys handling litigation for the agency. I was offered the job but for many complicated reasons I had to turn it down, to my extreme disappointment.
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Jul 29, 2016 12:18
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Thesaurus posted:I know the first example was peace corps NCE while the second was a "tenured" fed. Are these non compete statuses the same? I was under the impression that the peace corps NCE was maybe more powerful in some way.
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Jul 29, 2016 14:26
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Yeah, there is a specific list that is extremely active with gov agencies that do things similar to peace corps fields. That probably helps a ton
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Jul 29, 2016 17:39
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Here's a good one. I am starting at a new duty station in August. I was just referred for a higher position at that office. Would it be kosher to interview for and possibly accept the higher position?
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Jul 29, 2016 22:29
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Beerdeer posted:Here's a good one. As long as you accept the position as an external hire, rather than an internal hire, everything is fine. This happens more often than you think.
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Jul 29, 2016 23:06
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How the heck do you get a typing proficiency certificate that isn't from online?
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Jul 30, 2016 03:45
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Slaan posted:Yeah, there is a specific list that is extremely active with gov agencies that do things similar to peace corps fields. That probably helps a ton I also heard a rumor that the requirement to hire vets was incredibly onerous/exhaustive/counterproductive (where even vets who wouldn't fit a position would end up having to be hired) and that one of the few loopholes where you could get to hire someone you wanted/was more qualified was NCE - so Peace Corps volunteers are kinda unintended beneficiaries of a program intended to streamline vets into federal career positions.
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Jul 30, 2016 08:29
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Abu Dave posted:How the heck do you get a typing proficiency certificate that isn't from online? I'm not sure that's even possible?
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Jul 30, 2016 15:58
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El Mero Mero posted:I also heard a rumor that the requirement to hire vets was incredibly onerous/exhaustive/counterproductive (where even vets who wouldn't fit a position would end up having to be hired) and that one of the few loopholes where you could get to hire someone you wanted/was more qualified was NCE - so Peace Corps volunteers are kinda unintended beneficiaries of a program intended to streamline vets into federal career positions. So basically, Peace Corps volunteers win because vets preference is completely broken and (for lack of a better term) over-powered? Makes sense. In my dream world, vets pref wouldn't trump everything else - at the very most, it'd be equal to other NCE like Schedule A, like Peace Corps, etc. Because at present, it's basically "If you're a vet you have a guaranteed job; if not, sorry, no job for you". (This is an exaggeration but, at GS-5, feels close to reality.) I gotta wonder how many qualified folks with (for example) disabilities look at how vets pref works and figure they'll never have a chance in hell, so they never apply.
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Jul 30, 2016 16:03
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Abu Dave posted:How the heck do you get a typing proficiency certificate that isn't from online? I do hiring for the State of CA, so I can actually answer this if you live in CA! It's probably pretty similar if you live in another state, too. Here's a list of locations that we allow typing certs from. Adult schools are a good place to check.
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Jul 30, 2016 19:48
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DaisyDanger posted:I do hiring for the State of CA, so I can actually answer this if you live in CA! It's probably pretty similar if you live in another state, too. Thanks for this. Don't really see any locations for my state alas 
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Jul 31, 2016 01:22
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Going through the process of creating my profile, would I qualify as Schedule A disabled due to major depression? It caused me to drop out of my PhD program after 5.5 years, and I'm currently medicated on lithium and prozac.
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Jul 31, 2016 16:36
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I am pretty sure that is on there, yes. I am not seeing it directly mentioned but I think it is covered under "psychiatric disabilities," which should be pretty easy to prove considering you are on two medications for it.
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Jul 31, 2016 18:56
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Applied for a position 2 weeks ago with an agency that has Direct Hire Authority through mid-late September and haven't heard anything from them yet. I was in touch with the POC listed on the posting before applying and to ensure all my documents had been received, which they were. I easily met or exceeded all the requirements. Never applied for anything with DHA before but am wondering if I should forget about being interviewed at this point if I haven't heard back by now. 2 weeks is nothing in Government time, but I figured with DHA it might be a much different process. Thoughts?
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Aug 2, 2016 15:00
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Keep waiting. Your docs are probably sitting unopened in a pile in someone's desk. Also forget that you even applied. That'll help keep you sane.
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Aug 2, 2016 15:55
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Do you guys have any suggestions for guides on writing your résumé for an internal promotion? (DoD, since it probably makes a difference). I know my job does seminars on it occasionally, but I don't know when the next one is.
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Aug 3, 2016 02:07
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On the Peace Corps NCE thing, remember it only lasts one year from your Close of Service date. It can be put on hold if you go to grad school or some other things, but your overall time to utilize NCE is very small.
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Aug 4, 2016 00:24
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Tequila Sunrise posted:On the Peace Corps NCE thing, remember it only lasts one year from your Close of Service date. It can be put on hold if you go to grad school or some other things, but your overall time to utilize NCE is very small. I got my current fed job in the last week of my NCE. Got my first fed job during the first few months of it. NCE owns.
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Aug 4, 2016 22:04
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Odd question, but how hard would it be to jump into federal law enforcement with a land management agency having federal tenure, but having no background in it? Just thinking of perspective career moves in a few years.
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Aug 4, 2016 22:26
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sparkmaster posted:Odd question, but how hard would it be to jump into federal law enforcement with a land management agency having federal tenure, but having no background in it? Just thinking of perspective career moves in a few years. I think it would really depend what agency you want to go with, places like CBP and BOP hire tons of people with often very little to no LE experience. If you really want to go out in the sticks, border patrol is always looking for suckers for the Mexican border.
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Aug 5, 2016 04:11
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I wonder if there are any other well-paying/effective federal jobs besides the CIA/FBI for graduate students and beyond. Economic/political thinktanks/foreign affairs entry-level jobs are things I am also considering. Also if I were to apply to such a job, should I wait before, during or after grad school to apply? I also ask because I am highly aware of their extremely thin acceptance rate and criteria standards - I could be rejected simply because I used to  until over a year ago. (And how strict does that rule apply anyway? Does bad filesharing extend to inter-forum picture postings/poo poo off google too!?  ) Basically I wonder if it's even worth cutting chunks off my lifestyle just to hope to apply.
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Aug 5, 2016 08:34
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I mean, one of the reasons I went into The Fedz instead of academia is because I was virtually guaranteed to make more money in the government than I likely would have outside it. Which admittedly is sort of an inversion of the typical assumption that government work pays less but is steadier with better benefits. But I mean, I do not think the CIA/FBI pay really any more than other federal jobs? Maybe you make more when you start, like Secret Service agents start at $80,000 for example I believe, but like, I think a majority of people I work with at my not-at-all-dangerous job make more than that since that is just GS-12 money and GS-12 is ostensibly pretty easy to get if you are willing to move around. I stopped pirating things over a decade ago in no small part for the same reason you are discussing, and eventually realized that the overwhelming majority of federal jobs are not the sort where you have to take a polygraph or where they care what you do in your spare time (besides drugs or maybe gambling debt) anyway. It does take some time to get a job, certainly; from the first day I started shotgunning my résumé to USAJobs (in the middle of my doctoral program) to the day I actually started on my job, it was about 15 months. Though once I actually had my stuff savagely edited by some résumé-smart people I started getting a lot more attention and it was probably only 10 months from then. So yeah you would want to wait until nearly the end of your graduate program UNLESS you are done with classwork and just working on a project/thesis/dissertation, in which case you would just start applying when you neared the end of your coursework instead, assuming you do not have an assistantship or scholarship or something that necessitated being on-campus obviously.
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Aug 5, 2016 15:44
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Dr. Quarex posted:Though once I actually had my stuff savagely edited by some résumé-smart people I started getting a lot more attention and it was probably only 10 months from then. I'm graduating in December with my M.S., so I know I should be applying now.
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Aug 5, 2016 16:00
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I'm in a similar situation, looking at the comm offices of NIH/NAS/FDA/USDA.
Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Dec 3, 2020 |
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Aug 5, 2016 16:51
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Grouchio posted:I wonder if there are any other well-paying/effective federal jobs besides the CIA/FBI for graduate students and beyond. As Dr. Quarex stated starting salary and sign on bonuses are the main difference. Some agencies will only authorize bonuses for specific skill sets during times of need, like a certain language or hot topics like cyber security. In addition to sign on bonuses there are some permanent boosters like LEAP (Law Enforcement Availability Pay) for most 1811s (Special Agents) they add an additional 25% to their salary but also work a minimum of 10 hour days, often more, or they stop qualifying for LEAP. I have heard of some agencies authorizing up to a 25% increase in salary for maintained proficiency of certain languages but your mileage may vary. If you like being deployed to dangerous areas there is also hazard pay. Pretty much everyone uses the GS/GG scale or some close variant, so I wouldn't expect to get rich off the government unless you like working overseas in dangerous hell holes. Grouchio posted:I could be rejected simply because I used to This can vary by agency and job series and based on your type of background investigation. If you have the kind of investigation where they ask, don't lie. It is always good to have more time between you and a prohibited behavior to show you're serious about not doing it again. Getting turned down once because of that doesn't necessarily mean you are stopped from ever applying again and successfully getting that job. Grouchio posted:Also if I were to apply to such a job, should I wait before, during or after grad school to apply?
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Aug 6, 2016 16:23
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Slig posted:also work a minimum of 10 hour days, often more, or they stop qualifying for LEAP. Huge "air quote" with that statement.
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Aug 7, 2016 21:12
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problematique posted:Huge "air quote" with that statement. There are at least three terms in that statement you could air quote depending on your agency and/or GS grade.
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Aug 8, 2016 02:04
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I would say that caveat applies to pretty much any statement about federal employment.
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Aug 8, 2016 13:20
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What are some good federal jobs and/or programs for people on the high-end of the autism spectrum, during or after grad school?
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Aug 8, 2016 20:58
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