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fuseshock posted:So I applied for a position with the bureau in May 2015, went through the whole process and began a background check some time in October 2015. Had a "follow-up" meeting in April 2016. Now it's almost November 2016, and I've never gotten a thin letter or anything to my knowledge. Tried reaching out to a local HR person but doesn't know what's going on. Dislike button posted:Does your agency let you provide a self-appraisal? Because I got tired of the copied and pasted reviews and scores from last year and started doing a self-appraisal. It took me from a 4.2 to a 4.6 in a group where the average is probably a 4.2.  Though this is the same supervisor who said people should not be able to achieve excellence in this specific job without doing something that our center literally does not do.
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Oct 22, 2016 20:45
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Dr. Quarex posted:You are definitely at the high end of the amount of time that passes, but I do not necessarily think it is over. Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I don't think it's necessarily over yet either, I think they have reservations about my travel patterns. At this point though I'm game for anything, although I am at a salary level in industry far beyond what they originally offered. At some point I'm possibly interested in Foreign Service so definitely interested in how this turns out.
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Oct 23, 2016 01:26
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Dr. Quarex posted:I do imagine self-assessments can basically only ever help you, but I tend to write about 3-5 pages for every annual and mid-year self-assessment and the best I have ever done is "high side of 'achieved expectations.'" My last supervisor literally said in a center-wide meeting, of her employees, "a lot of people feel far more impressed with their own work than anyone else does." Ha This is probably grievable if you're covered by a CBA.
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Oct 24, 2016 13:22
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Must Love Dogs posted:This is probably grievable if you're covered by a CBA. I actually tried to file a grievance after figuring out a few things that had happened that seemed totally not cool, but I did not know there was a filing deadline and totally missed it. Alas. Oh well, I would certainly prefer to get through my federal life without having to file one, so maybe nobody will do shady things going forward???
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Oct 24, 2016 18:18
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Dr. Quarex posted:That makes sense, and could be what the mysterious grievance was that one of her team filed that got him promoted after he was initially turned down for it. I will definitely not hesitate to file a grievance if something that sounds totally not-O.K.-at-all happens again. Well, and I actually get around to it within the filing deadline. Every contract has a deadline for filing a grievance, so it's really important to talk to a steward as soon as you can when you run into something that you think might be iffy. That's why they are there, to educate on what you can actually do through the grievance procedure and to help you through the process as an advocate. You work for CIS, yeah? Do you have a copy of your contract?
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Oct 25, 2016 01:41
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No self assessments here. I've been generally unhappy with my current job, and so I've been looking around and I just happened to get the following from a friend who works for the Air Force: Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB is doing in-person interviews on November 16th for the following positions and I hear they're hiring on the spot: Acquisition Program Manager Budget Analyst Logistics Management Specialist Cost Analyst Contract Specialist Financial Management Analyst Astro, Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical, Thermal Engineers From AFCivilianCareers.com/SMC: Meet us at a hiring event November 16, 2016 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott from 9AM to 3PM. Dozens of positions need to be filled by ambitious and determined people like you. These are rewarding and challenging jobs and include the terrific benefits offered to Federal employees. Conditional job offers may be extended at the event after a resume review and interview. Email your resume* ahead of the event for staff review to SMCjobs@us.af.mil. Otherwise bring your resume to the event. Pre-registration is highly encouraged and will give priority access at the events.
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Oct 26, 2016 00:13
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So as a public trust employee, am I not supposed to have some sort of reinvestigation at the 5 year mark? I'm pretty sure they didn't do an investigation when I switched agencies so I should be due and no one has asked me to fill out any forms or authorize a credit check. I think I"m also supposed to get a stupid pin?
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Oct 26, 2016 02:53
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Must Love Dogs posted:Every contract has a deadline for filing a grievance, so it's really important to talk to a steward as soon as you can when you run into something that you think might be iffy. That's why they are there, to educate on what you can actually do through the grievance procedure and to help you through the process as an advocate.
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Oct 26, 2016 18:16
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Kase Im Licht posted:So as a public trust employee, am I not supposed to have some sort of reinvestigation at the 5 year mark? I'm pretty sure they didn't do an investigation when I switched agencies so I should be due and no one has asked me to fill out any forms or authorize a credit check. First pin at 10. Pretty sure public trust is 10 years.
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Oct 26, 2016 18:53
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Sorry for the vagueness of the question, and/or if this is the wrong place to ask, but what would be a good degree to pursue if one wanted to open up a wide range of options for public sector jobs? Business? If you knew you wanted to go into the public sector but weren't exactly sure of the specific career track you wanted, what might you do education wise?
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Oct 28, 2016 02:06
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Join the military.
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Oct 28, 2016 02:49
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Public affairs/administration, law, business, etc. All the normal ones. But yeah, its hard to get in without a poo poo load of education, military experience, or Ameri/Peace corps
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Oct 28, 2016 03:04
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Aw, well poo poo. I was hoping to get my foot in the door somewhere at the Bachelor level. Military is not an option for me unfortunately. Thanks for the reply.
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Oct 28, 2016 03:10
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Kibbles n Shits posted:Sorry for the vagueness of the question, and/or if this is the wrong place to ask, but what would be a good degree to pursue if one wanted to open up a wide range of options for public sector jobs? Business? If you knew you wanted to go into the public sector but weren't exactly sure of the specific career track you wanted, what might you do education wise? Go for some type of STEM degree if you're not planning on joining the military for that veterans preference.
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Oct 28, 2016 04:05
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God yeah. If you don't hate math, engineering is the way to go for government. They can't get enough engineers or it specialists, and I had no problem getting a job as a computer engineer with only a bachelors degree.
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Oct 28, 2016 04:34
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Justus posted:God yeah. If you don't hate math, engineering is the way to go for government. They can't get enough engineers or it specialists, and I had no problem getting a job as a computer engineer with only a bachelors degree. I'm doing pretty well off of getting an associates in CS after having obtained a worthless BA. Get 24 hours of IT coursework and start applying.
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Oct 28, 2016 06:31
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TheMadMilkman posted:I'm doing pretty well off of getting an associates in CS after having obtained a worthless BA. I've considered doing this, but I'm about to become a 12 in a completely non-IT field. Would I have to drop back down to a 9 if I got an Comp Sci Associates and wanted to do IT? I have a level 2 COR certifiation which I think could help me get in at a higher grade. grenada fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Oct 28, 2016 |
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Oct 28, 2016 11:32
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You can always also learn one of these 14 languages and that will put you on a path to be eminently useful to at least the Department of State, and likely other agencies as well. I wish I were the kind of person who could have taken that path instead of being someone who took two years of a language and would get stomped in conversation with a 3-year-old.
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Oct 28, 2016 13:31
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laxbro posted:I've considered doing this, but I'm about to become a 12 in a completely non-IT field. Would I have to drop back down to a 9 if I got an Comp Sci Associates and wanted to do IT? I have a level 2 COR certifiation which I think could help me get in at a higher grade. I know people who dropped back down the ladder to change career fields in desperate circumstances. But more usually they just start getting involved in areas related to their interest and them shift over at or near their level. Look at your career field. How does it relate to IT? You say it does not, but... Do you use a computer at work even part of the time? Is there software that your competency/department/group specifically uses? Who manages that? Who does the department IT purchasing? Who is the department liaison to your general IT department? Who is the IA/Cybersecurity person? What are the IA/Cybersecurity concerns within your group/department/competency? I am not looking for answers to these questions (Please do not answer them here!), but they are ones you need to be asking. If somehow your position is truly bereft of IT, keep year eyes and ears open and talk to people in other places and orgs. Ask to shadow someone (a senior leader, don't be afraid to select someone up the chain, most SESers I have worked with are pretty cool about it even) in the area you want to be in. Ask about rotations as well. Build your contacts across the Federal government, don't limit yourself to your agency or specific subdivision there of. It helps to find something somehow tangentially related to what you do, but it doesn't always have to be. Program management and logistics relate to almost everything so if one wants to transit between career fields they are usually good places to look as an interim step. Also COR is a valuable skill almost any place, but it can lock you into getting certain assignments. No idea what your computer skills are, but from a job requirements standpoint you probably don't need the associates degree, though it doesn't hurt.
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Oct 28, 2016 15:04
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laxbro posted:I've considered doing this, but I'm about to become a 12 in a completely non-IT field. Would I have to drop back down to a 9 if I got an Comp Sci Associates and wanted to do IT? I have a level 2 COR certifiation which I think could help me get in at a higher grade. I dropped down from a 9 to a 5 to make the move (although based on skills and competency I should have retained my 9, but that's a different issue). I was placed on pay retention, so my pay did not change. As e_wraith mentioned, there are lots of IT positions that don't require software development experience. I chose the path I did specifically because I wanted to write software.
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Oct 28, 2016 19:31
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TheMadMilkman posted:I dropped down from a 9 to a 5 to make the move (although based on skills and competency I should have retained my 9, but that's a different issue). I was placed on pay retention, so my pay did not change. You've got to be really careful with pay retention though. As far as I understand it, pay retention is only good for two years. Edit: I also had a pay retention when I left a GS-11 position for a GS-9 job. I had a guarantee of GS-11 after one year and GS-12 a year after that, so I personally did not had to deal with expiration of pay retention. Drewski fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Oct 28, 2016 |
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Oct 28, 2016 20:59
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I had a weird discussion with my supervisor the other day where she basically told me to "do less" because if I was doing gs-12 work as a gs-9 she could get in trouble. It was a pretty bizzaro discussion. Is this a thing other people in federal service have encountered?
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Oct 28, 2016 21:55
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I could see that happening in a case where you're going out of your lane. Other than that it's a bit odd.
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Oct 29, 2016 00:29
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El Mero Mero posted:I had a weird discussion with my supervisor the other day where she basically told me to "do less" because if I was doing gs-12 work as a gs-9 she could get in trouble. It was a pretty bizzaro discussion. I mean, from a union's standpoint, we always suggest that when doing work outside or above your PD that you get it documented in your evaluation so that it gives you an edge when applying to higher graded work. Another thing could be that your agency has you underclassified at 9 and they're worried an OPM desk audit will cause you and others in the same series to get a pay bump and blow a hole in their budgets.
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Oct 29, 2016 02:28
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Kibbles n Shits posted:Aw, well poo poo. I was hoping to get my foot in the door somewhere at the Bachelor level. Military is not an option for me unfortunately. Thanks for the reply. Depending on exactly what you want to do, there may be seasonal positions that lead to perms in a few years. Pretty occupation specific, though.
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Oct 29, 2016 03:58
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TheMadMilkman posted:I dropped down from a 9 to a 5 to make the move (although based on skills and competency I should have retained my 9, but that's a different issue). I was placed on pay retention, so my pay did not change. Ouch, sorry to hear that, though I am sure it will work out well long term. Good for you being willing to take the jump. A programmer position at GS-5, though, you are working for the wrong agency! I hope it is developmental and you will be moving up quickly at least. I have to assume it must be, I have never heard of a programmer FPG GS-5. The thing is in moving between career fields you may not get into the exact area you want immediately, but getting a toe in IT will basically mean you can eventually choose to do anything. I have seen so many people get into an IT related group and become programmers with starting degrees that are far from anything programming related. Once you are there and prove you are smart and can learn, more often than not there will be training dollars to pay for education and certs. Heck, being willing to take tests for professional certs is worth a ton even, since many old timers resent and put off such things. My problem with IT is that no matter what I get hired for I wind up working with it. That's how I know you don't have to be a 2210, 1550, 854, whatever to work IT. It is everywhere. Many feds are downright afraid of dealing with it. Don't be. Make that fact known. Ask smart questions about IT related items... And in my experience IT will find you. Your boss will know you as they guy who gets the weird computer stuff, even if your group is not an IT group. It is a bare minimum start in moving. Learn how to live the dream of working in IT as a federal worker! Then wonder why you thought it was a good idea in the first place.
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Oct 29, 2016 05:32
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Kibbles n Shits posted:Aw, well poo poo. I was hoping to get my foot in the door somewhere at the Bachelor level. Military is not an option for me unfortunately. Thanks for the reply. My perpetual advice for those looking to get into the federal government without military experience or STEM specific degrees... Business bachelors degree, contract specialist. Should get you in and if you stick with it to 11/12 if you don't want to hold a warrant, or 12/13 if you do. Depending on where. But there always seems to be a fair amount of demand for contracts people due to high turnover. Take that as you will.
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Oct 29, 2016 05:50
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e_wraith posted:Ouch, sorry to hear that, though I am sure it will work out well long term. Good for you being willing to take the jump. A programmer position at GS-5, though, you are working for the wrong agency! I hope it is developmental and you will be moving up quickly at least. I have to assume it must be, I have never heard of a programmer FPG GS-5. It is a developer position. If it hadn't have turned up I was ready to leave the government. And ta, I'm the only GS-5 I've ever heard of too. It was handled wrong, in part bc they didn't trust somebody transferring in from another part of the agency and who didn't have an IT background. I hated my previous position and was happy to get out, but I should have fought harder for a higher starting grade. Even a 7 would have made a difference. I did nothing that first year. Not figuratively. Literally. Because a GS-5 programmer is not expected to be able to tie his own shoes, let alone write code. I think I attended 1 2-week training class, and maybe updated 1-2 pieces of documentation. Other than that, I read technical books on my own and wasted time on the internet. I still got a very good eval. I got off of pay retention after 1 year, so that wasn't a major issue. The 999b salary table for IT helped there. I am now a GS-11 and will be auto promoted to 12 next year. I'm also with an agency where 13 and 14 positions are realistically attainable. My group of 10 developers has 2 14s, 3 13s, 4 12s, and me at 11. None of those are management positions -- our manager is not on the GS scale. So ya, the first few years in the new position were rough. But I'm finally in a really good place and happy with it overall, and have a god chance of ending up even better off.
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Oct 29, 2016 06:57
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e_wraith posted:I know people who dropped back down the ladder to change career fields in desperate circumstances. But more usually they just start getting involved in areas related to their interest and them shift over at or near their level. Awesome information, thanks a lot. I've taken CS50x on edx, and did most of the problem sets on my own. Right now I'm working my way through the front end module on freecodecamp. I'm on my computer all day in my current job, working through our online grant admin system, writing reports, and responding to emails from our stakeholders. I have really great work/life balance right now, which is what is allowing me to focus on building programming skills. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate coding into my current job, but haven't found one yet. I've let my supervisors know that I'm studying coding on my own time, which is one reason why I think they paid for me to get a COR cert. I'm going to get placed on one of our website contracts. I have the python book, Automate the Boring Stuff, but haven't found any projects yet that could help our office. Will keep on look though, and will try to see if I can shadow someone from the office that manages our online grant admin system (which again, my supervisor has offered to set up). Thanks again! grenada fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Oct 29, 2016 |
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Oct 29, 2016 13:53
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El Mero Mero posted:I had a weird discussion with my supervisor the other day where she basically told me to "do less" because if I was doing gs-12 work as a gs-9 she could get in trouble. It was a pretty bizzaro discussion. Probably didn't want you to make others look bad.
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Oct 29, 2016 18:21
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El Mero Mero posted:I had a weird discussion with my supervisor the other day where she basically told me to "do less" because if I was doing gs-12 work as a gs-9 she could get in trouble. It was a pretty bizzaro discussion.
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Oct 29, 2016 19:10
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TheMadMilkman posted:
Awesome, I figured it must be something like this. Congrats on being willing to make the move!
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Oct 29, 2016 23:50
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I need to vent. So, OK. A few months back, in July...I had an interview with an agency who shall go nameless for a GS-5 position in their Newark NJ office. It was pitched to me on short notice (literally, on a Friday at 3 PM the email arrives "Are you available for an interview Tuesday @ 1030 AM? I need your reply today." basically), but I go. The interview goes well for my first federal interview ever, and I settle in to wait because I know they're sending the packets to DC for decision by HQ. I send a thank you note after a day or two, but that's all. This time? OK, the position is the same, but it's in Boston. Funnily enough, I had marked down Boston as a place I could do, but anybody with access to my resume and a spot of critical thinking would grasp that I do not live in the Boston area. Also the only time I had marked that down was on a different application months prior to the other one...from which I was not referred. However! That does not stop this agency from sending me, on Friday @ 3 PM, an email saying I'm on the hiring list (does that mean anything better than the time I was referred?) and they'd like to do an interview...On 1 November. I flopped around very unsure if I could pull it off, but eventually decided to apologize and ask if they could either reschedule the interview so I could have time to work the logistics of getting from NJ to Boston (not a short notice thing - I did not add "especially when one is staying with their grandparents who are in their 80s while in the area" but that is a live factor), or if alternatively we could do an interview via Skype or phone. I pointed out in the email that while I am entirely willing to move to Boston if I get the job, traveling there on short notice is difficult otherwise - because, I carefully did not say, it would be pushing every one of my orientation and mobility skills to the *limit* to work the MBTA, Amtrak, etc for the first time on no notice, especially since I'm blind. I have not yet heard back, but don't expect to until Monday. My questions for the esteemed fedgoons: 1. How much did I shoot myself in the head asking for a Skype or phone interview, or a reschedule? 2. What the hell do they mean by me being on a hiring list? Does that mean anything different from being on a referral list? 3. Do all federal agencies schedule their interviews on this short a timeframe? I can see no greater barrier to disabled hiring, to be honest - transport and logistics are not small things if you're blind or in a wheelchair. Once you get a job they're much easier to work out, but for interviews? Asking someone to go from NJ to Boston (for instance) on this short a timeframe is asking a lot if they can't drive. This doesn't even account for the mass of forms they sent that I have no idea where to begin with...or where the heck I'm supposed to find 5 professional references when I've spent the last year as an independent contractor for a virtual customer service place.
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Oct 30, 2016 01:37
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What are the actual procedural steps for firing a federal employee? Assume for this purpose that the employee is human scum, universally unliked, doing absolutely zero or negative work, but is not committing any illegal acts. vvvv Right, so, why? What is the actual procedure? I hear a lot about the impossible hassle of firing ineffective/openly destructive federal employees, but never get details. Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Oct 30, 2016 |
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Oct 30, 2016 20:37
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Discendo Vox posted:What are the actual procedural steps for firing a federal employee? Assume for this purpose that the employee is human scum, universally unliked, doing absolutely zero or negative work, but is not committing any illegal acts. Not sure about other agencies but where I work, would be pretty impossible.
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Oct 30, 2016 21:21
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Hope and pray they're still on their probationary period and/or confessed to stealing an eraser a few years ago?
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Oct 31, 2016 02:25
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Discendo Vox posted:What are the actual procedural steps for firing a federal employee? Assume for this purpose that the employee is human scum, universally unliked, doing absolutely zero or negative work, but is not committing any illegal acts.  .pdf source; there's a second possible method that the .pdf talks about but this seems to be the main one? Details may vary by agency; I've been told (by non-HR people) that my agency will try to find the employee a more fitting position after the PIP fails (and thus they'd have to go through the first two lines again before even possibly being fired), but I've never even seen them try.
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Oct 31, 2016 04:05
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Spacewolf posted:My questions for the esteemed fedgoons: 2. I cannot help but assume this is related to Schedule A hiring, as it sounds like you are doing that. I have certainly never heard of a "hiring list" before, though it sounds similar to the way the Returning Peace Corps Volunteers I know at my office ended up getting their jobs, so it makes sense that it would be a special hiring authority. 3. Well, it does happen. I actually got an invitation on Friday afternoon to interview the following Monday morning, and I had both that Friday and Monday off. Only because I happened to check my work e-mail on a lark did I even find out I had an interview before it was over. Discendo Vox posted:What are the actual procedural steps for firing a federal employee? Assume for this purpose that the employee is human scum, universally unliked, doing absolutely zero or negative work, but is not committing any illegal acts. Oh, yeah, that chart posted since I started typing this pretty much sounds right. Though it is a little intense having that first part be "the dismissal process" considering how many people I know have been through the "let's get you better at your job" first phase of that chart.
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Oct 31, 2016 04:35
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Discendo Vox posted:What are the actual procedural steps for firing a federal employee? Assume for this purpose that the employee is human scum, universally unliked, doing absolutely zero or negative work, but is not committing any illegal acts. From what I hear, at my agency the Performance Improvement Plans always required six months straight of continuing to gently caress up for the firing process to continue. So, as long as you stop loving up for one month out of six, the clock resets and you will get at least another six month period all over again. Also the people who would end up getting fired anyways often end up getting transferred to a different job (in the mailroom processing incoming letters etc). Basically you have to steal from the agency or commit major PII misuse.
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Oct 31, 2016 05:16
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Man_of_Teflon posted:Basically you have to steal from the agency or commit major PII misuse. Threatening to physically harm your direct supervisor works too, although that apparently comes with 90 days of paid and being "allowed" to resign.
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Oct 31, 2016 06:36
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