The U.S. Federal Government Jobs Megathread: Next time... be more careful!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > The U.S. Federal Government Jobs Megathread: Next time... be more careful!

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

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?

# ¿ Jan 9, 2014 22:35

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# ¿ Jun 2, 2024 03:16

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

YF19pilot posted:

So, I have a degree in engineering that I got 5 years ago, but no experience, what sort of jobs should I be looking for on USAJOBS? Apparently I'm not eligible for the Pathways program since the cut off is 2 years. But should I be looking at short-term stuff, or what?

I would suggest looking at GS 7 5 jobs and just filter by keywords. Stick in "engineer" + whatever type of engine you are. What were you doing during those five years? If you were doing a master's (even if you didn't graduate) I think that'll make you eligible for higher grades (like GS 9 7 level)

Edit: someone correct me if I'm wrong, but opm.gov has a classification qualification table and it says for gs 7 you need 1 year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement.

Stolennosferatu fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Jan 14, 2014

# ¿ Jan 14, 2014 00:22

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Declan MacManus posted:

Just a bachelor's means 5 or 7. 5 if you were a regular student, 7 if you were something of an overachiever (or took a year of graduate school). 5 and 7 are the entry level jobs and you can find any number of different things, but good luck getting in (giant candidate pool)

I thank my lucky star every day that I qualify for superior academic achievement because GS 5 jobs pay terrible and look boring. Then again, I haven't gotten a job yet so it hasn't really helped me at all.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2014 18:34

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Justus posted:

I "just have a bachelors", and I got my entry level government position starting April last year. It's a GS-12 position that is structured as a GS-7 internship with a career ladder. I think those are pretty much the best deal for "just a bachelors". I'm looking forward to my automatic promotion to GS-9 next month, and I'll be a GS-12 in a little over two more years! The best part is that I'm only expected to do a tiny part of the actual work as an "intern", and have a virtual free pass on gently caress-ups until I get the GS-12...not that there's really a lot to gently caress up. For as well as it pays, the job is one of the easiest I've ever had!

e:

Yes, if you also meet the other requirements in the listing.

What are those positions called? Is there a standard name for them (like how Pathways means 'recent graduate')?

# ¿ Mar 20, 2014 21:43

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Justus posted:

Sadly, there is no standard name. Different agencies offering these kind of career ladders have different names for it. You can generally tell when you've found one if the listing lists a "promotion potential" that is higher than the grade of the listing. For instance, the listing for my job is a GS5/7 with a promotion potential of 12. For what it's worth, I work for the DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) and our program is called the Keystone program.

e: I know that the Air Force has a civilian internship program that's similar called Palace Acquire.

Thanks a lot. I'm applying for a couple jobs now that fit me way better than some of the other ones I have been applying to.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2014 05:18

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

The only emails I get are "This vacancy was canceled. Please reapply to vacancy #973827910." I got all excited too...

# ¿ Apr 5, 2014 08:17

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Drewski posted:

I translated for the government for seven years. I'm going to tell you straight up that if you want to be a linguist, a little bit of foreign language studies in college isn't going to help one bit. There's a tremendous difference between conversational language skills and the ability to read nuanced language when there are deadlines and sometimes lives at stake, especially when the people doing the talking don't want you to understand what they're saying or planning.

If you're really interested in linguistic work, I have to recommend going abroad. Immerse yourself in the language and culture. Maybe try your hand at being a foreign service officer in the Department of State? You'll get experience, time-in-service, and get the opportunity to go abroad on Uncle Sam's dime.

The foreign service has its own thread if you are going to look into it.
Edit: if this was referring to the guy who wanted into the CIA, check if intelligence agencies will even hire former diplomats. I know serving in the peace Corp disqualifies you from serving as an intelligence officer for 5 years. The government doesn't want to give the wrong impression.

Stolennosferatu fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Jul 10, 2014

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 19:30

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Quarex posted:

Well figuring out what you should do is probably above my pay grade. But I would never recommend withdrawing an application while your application was under review (well, or ever, but especially not then, as that would probably make them think their suspicions had merit).

And uh, wow, falling asleep during a polygraph. That is quite a story.

Also I passed Phase 1 test of the Secret Service Special Agent process and flamed out before Phase 3. Even if you are a well-conditioned exercise machine and will pass the fitness test with flying colors, I have a feeling that your polygraph incident could potentially become a problem again. So proceed with caution. Probably.

You guys have a law enforcement background? I have an interest in this, but I haven't looked at this yet.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2014 07:21

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Quarex posted:

Today's town hall meeting with Service Center Operations for USCIS led to the fairly tantalizing suggestion that they are very likely to be opening an entirely new service center basically as soon as they can figure out the logistics...the chief actually said "we would like to open one, two, three more service centers?" so THE SKY'S THE LIMIT! maybe.

The best part is, regardless of whether you like whatever new location they pick (the only rumored location was Orlando, but that is seemingly just a perpetual rumor), there will undoubtedly be not only lots of jobs opening there, but also at the other service centers and field offices with their respective mass exoduses to the new location.

Basically this is just my monthly "come work for USCIS" post

Wait, so is CBP the one that it sucks to work at? Because I was going to schedule a test for the officer opening.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2014 03:22

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Quarex posted:

Apparently CBP and ICE are both the ones that suck to work at. Well and TSA. Pretty much everything involving border-crossing in any sense that is not USCIS, from what I gather.

BUT, I will say that of course the people who came to USCIS from these agencies left because they did not like it there. In fact, CBP (Border Patrol specifically) is the only one I have really heard anything good about at all, as even though one of our GS-9s came from being a GS-12 in Border Patrol, he said it was not that he hated the job, but that rather after 7 years he was ready to stop carrying a gun and feeling like a target.

If you would be CBP like passport control, then that seems like it would not be so bad other than the hectic nature of the job, at least from what my passport control ex-ladypal tells me.

Cool, thanks for all the info. I'm not going to make the CBP a career thing, nor am I worried too much about furloughs, but it is a lot to think about.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2014 03:39

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

Network42 posted:

This is a pretty specific question, but who knows, someone might be able to answer.

I'm currently at FLETC with CBP for officer basic stuff. I (shockingly) did not get my first choice of port.

There's another announcement open right now for CBPOs. Can I reapply and take another crack at getting my home town? Would I have to redo training or what? I emailed the hiring center about it, but haven't heard back yet.

Congrats. I'm in the 14-2 applicant group, so I have to ask, how is it?
Also, are any outside forums a good resource for cbp officers?

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 23:08

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# ¿ Jun 2, 2024 03:16

Stolennosferatu: Jun 22, 2012

McCoy Pauley posted:

I'm trying to wait until after the immigration executive action is announced tonight, so I can see just how much shutdown fever it triggers among the GOP. But yeah, seems like it's worth at least thinking about. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a CR that takes us from Dec 11th to some time in late January, but even if we do, I expect that just shifts the shutdown speculation to January.

I'm in the middle of the CBP Officer application stuff, so I hope no shutdown happens

# ¿ Nov 20, 2014 17:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > The U.S. Federal Government Jobs Megathread: Next time... be more careful!