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!

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Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

You can add me to the list of Fed goons. I work in USCIS.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2010 19:04

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 17:16

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Skandiaavity posted:

Which department, specifically? USCIS sounds like a place where you have a lot of fascinating and heartwrenchng stories :P

I work in Service Center ops, meaning I never actually see a client. I do work in refugee processing though, so I see horrific stories daily, like the woman who had to flee her country to that her neighbors wouldn't circumsize her daughters.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2010 23:37

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Hrm. I'm an FCIP, due to convert in July and go up to a GS12. So how is that going to work?

# ¿ Dec 30, 2010 06:50

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Homie S posted:

You'll move out of that conditional appointment category or whatever it is.

Are you CBP?

Anyone who is CBP and is under their two year should be celebrating BIG for this.

USCIS, so I was pretty much guaranteed to convert anyway. Now I guess I can start looking for a house.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2010 15:03

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Finally got something on paper that I converted on the first. And since CIS is a fee-based org, less need to worry about furloughs.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2011 19:46

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

We were told this morning that 80% of DHS is staying open, including my own USCIS. Most of it is the protection of life and property thing, but ours is because we're fee funded.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2011 16:04

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Giodo! posted:

What do you do at USCIS? I'm getting recruited by some folks in Fraud Detection and National Security, but I hadn't really considered USCIS before and am curious about the organization. I'm a counterterrorism/national security type and had pictured myself at the FBI.

I'm an adjudications officer, which just says I process the apps and decide if they get the benefit they want. I've had friends in FDNS, and they didn't speak TOO highly. They worked in service centers though, and another posting might be more favorable to actual "policing" work.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2011 17:23

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I was hired as an FCIP after getting my JD. A woman who came on the same time as me has a PhD and had been a professor for years. Not exactly "intern" level.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2011 02:38

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

New posting just went up for Immigration Services Officers at the Nebraska Service Center. GS5-9 I think.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2011 04:37

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

TLG James posted:

Anyone know if this is a sweet job? I do live in Nebraska and have vet status.

It really is, at the Service Center. No customer interaction, relaxed dress code. Just desk work, pumping out applications. The center is one of the most relaxed places I've ever worked.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2011 18:04

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

TLG James posted:

Hey do you have an email or something I can send you a few questions on?

Sure. sa.beerdeer at the email service associated with Google.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2011 01:54

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Immigration through USCIS is going to be different depending on whether you work in a center or a field office. In the Service Centers it's sit at a desk pushing papers all day. Productivity is king. The upside is you don't actually have to deal with any customers.

Field offices do all the face-to-face interviews and such. There from what I hear you get about 15 minutes per case, and you're rated by how many clients you see.

I greatly prefer my service center work.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2011 05:56

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

With a law degree, I started at a 9, then went to 11 after a year, and 12 now.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2012 22:27

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I work for CIS and I love it. It does depend where you work though. Field offices are more stressful than the service centers.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2012 21:39

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Service Centers (I work at Nebraska) are just for pumping through applications. We're not open to the public, so we have a casual dress code. No direct contact with immigrants.

Field offices do all the interviews. That's where you have to deal with 15-minutes per case, attorneys in the office, and all the other "public relations" type work/headaches. If you're the kind of person who really enjoys that it's great. I'm not.

I'm an Immigration Services Officer though. As an analyst your experience may be very different.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2012 17:15

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Drewski posted:

I got an email at work today from my IT office - Microsoft is offering Office Professional Plus to federal employees for $9.95 through their digital river services. Supposedly it only works for *.civ@mail.mil addresses but it really can't hurt to try.

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupus/chooser.aspx?culture=en-US

Select your country, then click on the link that reads "Don�t Know Your Program Code? Click here." and input your work email address. You'll get a validation email which you can then use to buy the license and download the software.

DON'T DOWNLOAD THE SOFTWARE TO YOUR WORK COMPUTER.

Forward the confirmation email to your home address and do it from home.

edit: Worked for me, installed clean at home

I did the same a couple years ago.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2012 18:54

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Delorence Fickle posted:

An Immigration Officer position finally opens up! Sadly I got smacked with this:

Keep looking. We're hiring a ton soon.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2012 03:06

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Just put in for a temporary GS13 post at USCIS. I'm a 12 now, but boy would that be nice.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2012 01:57

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

USCIS is a fee-funded org, so I'm good, but what about GSA and USDA? It doesn't help if they can't keep the buildings going or pay us.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2013 01:27

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Delorence Fickle posted:

In the sea of bad news, there's a nugget of good news for me.

That was for the Immigration Services Officer position I applied for a while ago. Here's to hoping that I get it.

?

It's very good Since USCIS is kind of buffered from the sequester. Where did you apply?

# ¿ Feb 28, 2013 04:52

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I work at a service center, so I don't have exact experience with the field officers' duties. USCIS is a great place to work though. When you start you'll get a 6-week training course in Dallas, so there's that. Field offices get the major time crunches. You'll be making your decisions based on a 15 minute interview and file review. Good luck!

# ¿ Feb 28, 2013 15:59

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

grover posted:

Sounds a lot like when I was first hired- I accepted the position and was told I could start in 2 weeks! Ended up driving 7 hours to Norfolk two days layer with a carload of stuff, stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, and slept in a sleeping bag on the floor of my just-rented-apartment the third. Then left my car, flew back home, and rented a truck to bring my wife and the rest of my stuff down.

It's definitely a life-changing experience. Two weeks might not sound like much time, but you still have time to do research and find a good place to live and get everything moved.

That's pretty much right. I was given a choice of 2 EoDs, two weeks out, halfway across the country. I wound up staying in a residential hotel for a few weeks until I got paid so I could get an apartment.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2013 23:09

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I only applied for one GS job and I had zero connections. We were in a hiring swell at the time, though.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2013 17:33

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I'm good so far, but we have weird funding.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2013 17:32

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Hop on the ISO jobs, kids. USCIS is not only a good place in its own right, but since we're self-funded we're sequester-proof.

# ¿ May 8, 2013 14:52

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

McCoy Pauley posted:

Wait -- you guys have been completely exempted from sequestration? How did that happen -- did OMB deem you guys exempt because of some sequestration exception? Or do you have a revolving fund or some other device that frees you from the normal appropriation process?

All funding for USCIS comes from fees from filings. All of it. That means not only is our budget non-appropriations, but we can sneer at the smug "my taxes pay your salary" types.

We may not be COMPLETELY unaffected, but it looks like we don't have a lot to worry about.

# ¿ May 8, 2013 16:11

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

McCoy Pauley posted:

But are you outside of the appropriations process (ie, you just spend few collections directly, as opposed to being appropriated spending authority against whcihc fees are counted as offsetting collections)?

I ask because I know that some agencies who collect user fees (and are funded in whole or in part by them) ARE having those user fees subject to sequestration (e.g., user fees that drug companies pay the FDA to have their drugs reviewed were deemed sequestrable by OMB). Which is completely preposterous, since reducing a fee collecting agency's access to user fees obviously does nothing to reduce the deficit, since those fee collections don't count against the deficit in the first place. It's probably not a big piece of the overall sequestration madness, but it bothers me disproportionately because of how little sense it makes, and given how it harms fee collecting agencies without benefitting anyone.

Anyway, that's great for USCIS if you managed to avoid that.

I wish I had more specific info for you now. Popular opinion suggests that while USCIS isn't going to be hit directly (appropriations makes up like 1% of our funding) things like processing times will go up because of less personnel at ICE and CBP and the like.

# ¿ May 8, 2013 19:45

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Womacks-JP-23 posted:

Couple questions

3. I also have a foreign spouse (Japanese), how big of a problem could this be in terms of getting security clearance. For example, could I potentially be passed up because they don't want to bother with waiting a few extra months for my security clearance to come through?

I don't know about because of the spouse, but my background check took literally a year to go through, but I still had my job.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2013 16:26

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I was hired without an interview too. My agency was hiring a ton of new people so we just got the exam and then the offer.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2013 17:52

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Just got an official statement that my office is exempt from furloughs in a shutdown. This is good.

Beerdeer fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Sep 27, 2013

# ¿ Sep 27, 2013 14:41

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

McCoy Pauley posted:

Pay for the workers furloughed during a government shutdown due to a lapse in appropriation is merely tradition -- there's no legal requirement that Congress approve such pay (unlike the way they must eventually pay excepted employees who are obligated to work during a shutdown). Sure it's possible Congress could do that this time, but I'd bet you dollars to donuts that if there is a shutdown starting this Tuesday, that there's no way those chuckle gently caress tea partiers in the House GOP (who you rightly blame for this) would ever approve pay for the federal workers furloughed during the shutdown. They'd never go for that. (They're too busy trying to torpedo the full faith and credit of the country unless the Senate and White House agree to implement everything Romney ran on and lost with.)

That was pretty much my view of it. Better to be working and know I'll get paid than take the days off and lose the money to bickering.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2013 19:21

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

9 used to be a Doctorate. 7 for Master's.

I came into USCIS under the old FCIP system, but it is true that they WANT to hire perms from terms. I hear that a lot from my supervisors. The NSC is really expanding too (allegedly) and they keep talking about a big staffing need.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2013 19:08

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

sullat posted:

I was sent a conditional offer a few weeks ago; I did the onboarding stuff and the fingerprint scans last week. About how long before they come back with a firm offer? (Contact rep w/IRS)

I suggest you take up a hobby to get your mind off the incalculable wait.

I have to do my background reinvestigation. 5 years of being completely vanilla and I still worry.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2013 22:37

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Where was your offer? I'm an ISO at Nebraska Service Center. I know we're bringing in new ISO-1s.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 15:32

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

systran posted:

How many people here have ever actually heard back on a job that at all relates to immigration? If you have, what is your education and work experience like?

I currently have two years experience as an ARO for a University's J-1 program. I speak Mandarin and German as well. I apply occasionally to usajobs stuff that looks like I could qualify for, but I have never heard back. They all seem to take more than four months (sometimes almost a year) to even say I was not selected.

I'm only making $30,000/year (but with really good benefits, including free MS/PhD studies) in my current job, but if I worked in another state I'd probably start at around $42,000. I'm wondering if I should be pushing really hard to do immigration something or other for the government, or just get a higher degree for free while I am here and go into another line of work (or use that degree to get higher up within some university).

When I applied for my ISO job I had just graduated law school but had no real work experience. I was sent my email about 2 months after applying/taking the tests and started a year later.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2014 03:51

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

I'm at 5 years in July and I got a badge. My BASIC class was lame. No one else in the filthy hotel and only about 10 of us.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2014 23:49

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

Without going into too much detail about what I do, I have some minor contacts with RAIO, but most center ISOs won't be dealing with them.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 21:52

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

The last BS interview like that I had was for Radio Shack, and we know how well they're managed.

Having checked, there are no good 13 jobs in Europe on USAJOBS right now *sigh*

# ¿ May 16, 2014 15:40

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

We finally get some 13 jobs posted for the center and it's for goddamn training team. WHEN WILL YOU MAKE ME A SENIOR, LORD?

edit: When I first interviewed, the DHS section had a lot of High School questions. I'd guess for honesty metrics? Maybe?

# ¿ Jun 26, 2014 20:37

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 17:16

Beerdeer: Apr 25, 2006; Frank Herbert's Dude

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/PrintPreview/377501800

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/377500800

USCIS is hiring ISO1s for the Service Centers again.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2014 18:54

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

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