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the new retirement system is now FERS-FRAE which requires a 4.4% contribution towards your defined benefit portion of the three-legged retirement program (the other two legs being SS and TSP). you'll also have FICA deductions at whatever that rate is.
TSP contributions are voluntary up to the limits defined by law and you must now opt out of contributing but as mentioned, can get up to a 5% match.
depending upon your skills/abilities and where you are, moving into a higher paying position can be accomplished and this seems to be the plan of many who go into the federal govt.
go for the fed job. You are already stressed and swamped now, it will only get worse as a temp. that life is not nice and worrying about the next assignment could be hard on the nerves.
the lower pay of the fed job is compensated by the benefits and real work life balance.
So, what did you do with the money you chased? Invested it?
Some of it, yes.
But since I didn't initially have to worry about a budget, I ended up becoming a spender. Whereas if I had taken the lower salary, I'd have been forced to be more careful about my spending in general, and probably would have ended up saving more in the long run.
I've been agonizing over two job offers for the past couple of days:
1) Indefinite Temp job with midsized tech company doing sales operations for $30/hr. Job was initially posted as a perm job but the hiring manager said they needed to assess their budget for the first quarter before making any permanent hires. They could not make me any promises on whether or not conversion would ever be an option.
pros: high pay, opportunity to begin a new career and learn new tools
cons: temp work, long hours at the end of the month
2) Low paying benefits adviser position w/ a Federal agency. pay will start at 37k/year.
pros: amazing benefits, excellent work life balance, government jobs are really hard to get,
cons: low pay
Some background about me. I've been doing customer support for the past couple years at a tech company and am fed up with the job on account of the lack of work life balance and constant micromanagement. My current pay is 52k/year. I have an average amount of student debt (25k) and a few car payments leftover (around $200/month). I live with my partner who is very financially stable and takes care of the majority of our costs of living.
At this point, I'm just looking to get out of my current job. Also, if someone could offer me some insight into work as a fed and what the career ladder is like, I would highly appreciate it.
If you are young, you don't need a work/life balance. Those are the years you need to bust your you know what to make some money.
Fed job: So...it won't count toward Social Security since you'll have your own retirement plan? Hmmmm. I was going to say take the govt job and plan to stay a year or two, no matter what, and then leave if you don't like it. But that would hurt your Social Security pay at the end, unless your ending years take the place of these beginning years (again...it depends on your age).
BENEFITS MATTER. They are worth their weight in gold. It is getting increasingly difficult to get decent benefits in the private sector. There are 401ks, where employers contribute piddling amounts...YOU are the main contributor. No pension plans. Decent but not great insurance. LAYOFFS.
Hard decision. Depends on your age. To me, a temp job is something you take in an emergency, and not part of a career plan. So I wouldn't do a temp job unless it were a temp-to-perm, no matter what other offer there is on the table.
federal employees on FERS or any iteration of the original FERS do pay social security. the retirement system of the past, CSRS, is gone for any incoming employees and has been for quite some time. so no, any federal employment will not negatively impact SS pay.
You do not have to be a veteran, but a rating system is used and veterans can get up to 10 extra points. So the highest score a non-vet that is fully qualified can get is 100. A vet can get 110 points. And one MUST hire from the 3 highest scoring applicants and one must hire a vet if the vet is in the top 3 before a non-vet or have a very good reason to pass the vet.
Do you have veteran status, if not how the heck did you get a fed job, how many fed jobs did you apply for on USA jobs and how long did it take?
I personally am not a vet. BUT my first federal job was as a chemist. Not many vets apply to be a chemist--they do not qualify. It is a positive education job series which means you must have college chemistry classes--lots of them, although a chemistry major is not needed, just 4 years of chemistry and a bunch of other science and math classes.
Once employed as a federal employee the competition is not the same competition with vets. It is for new employees where the competition makes it hard.
I am now a scientist.
And the first job did not take long, maybe 3 weeks after I applied to get an offer, but there are not a lot of chemists applying to work for the feds--the pay is much lower than private companies. And background checks went faster then, and all my references for the background check responded immediately to the forms as they knew I could not start the job without the security clearance. That took maybe another month, and it was for a pretty high clearance. The FBI actually found my K and 1st grade teachers and interviewed them on the type of child I was, personality, etc. BTW they were both retired
Since you are paying an hourly wage, you are going to get compensated for long hours at the end of the month, no ?
I think the greatest value to you is interesting experience that will let you go places and a dead end government job is not that place.
In a federal job you will have good benefits and regular annual raises, federal jobs almost never pay as well as industry. married people with families, once spouse usually works for the benefits while other works for for the cash. fed job is where you work for benefits, you can work a fed job for 20 years and retire early.
I always prefer industry to government jobs.
how is gov job dead end? gov jobs are the most secure. i would go gov job all the way, unless you are in need of lots of money (medical bills, kids, etc). taking the temp job is too short sighted. The gov job is low paying but secure, with lots of room for mobility. Even if not, you could pretty much keep that job for decades or till retirement. Plus, gov jobs are hard to get
Definitely federal employment. Temps can be ended at any time, for any reason or no reason. You don't have the security of a regular private sector employee, much less the feds.
Absolutely this. You say that money isn't your biggest concern, as you have a partner who covers most expenses and your federal pay will increase. Benefits and stability are huge. Temps can and are let go on a moment's notice.
I suggest the federal job because of the stability and benefits.
In my case, I worked in private sector most of my work life. I am not a veteran. After that, I had 7 years in a federal job but resigned to due to burn out from a ridiculously negative work environment (dept was chronically understaffed and went through several managers). I went back to private sector for over a year. I received more pay but the benefits were poor and expensive. The company had rumors of layoffs for months and those rumors were confirmed a couple of months ago.
Next week, I am returning to federal employment (different agency). I am in my mid-forties and just want to continue working hard, then retire. I am getting more $$ than when I resigned and the benefits are better than private sector job and more affordable.
I hope everything works out for you and take care.
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