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I'd like to make a comment as a current federal employee. The Fed's have moved to an entirely automated grading system for applications. A computer program scans your resume and looks for "key words" that HR has selected. The more you have, the higher you rise up the scale. Once this has been completed, you are then given "points" for veterans status, education, and experience. The top 5 per position are then placed on a best qualified list, and sent to the selecting official for interviews. So it doesn't matter how many people apply, only the top 5 move on. This process was implemented to take humans and potential bias out of the hiring process.
Now, most Fed employees at the higher end are underpaid. Scientists, lawyers, CPA's, doctors, nurses, etc. Blue collar workers make more than the private sector. This is due to the stringent background checks. For instance, a janitor in a V.A. hospital will start a $12.00 an hour. Much more than a private sector employee. However, if that janitor gets a D.U.I., he will loose his job. Private sector, not a problem. On the other end, doctors for the V.A. get paid anywhere from 120k to 230k a year, based on specialty. Those same doctors could be earning double that in the private sector. I have worked with cancer doctors who are paid 380k a year, at small community hospitals. They could never earn that amount in government.
Where the numbers go out of the window is in law enforcement. Federal law enforcement officers get paid huge salaries. It is because of them, and the DOD, that the federal pay gets skewed. Senior federal agents earn over 100K a year. Supervisors get into the 120's. Many civilian DOD jobs earn over 100k a year.
In my current position, the top pay is 65k. I would have to get into management to get above that, and I would have to be a senior level manager to ever get above 100k. However in the private sector, I would have a base rate of pay plus commissions for working in the finance industry. So I am earning less.
I would like to add however, that if you are disabled, government jobs are superior. That is why I continue to work for uncle sam. Federal law REQUIRES that they accommodate me, and I am protected. In the private sector, I could be fired for having too many doctors appointments, or taking too long to get back from the bathroom, etc.
Just to correct a misconception. Civilian DoD jobs are on the same pay scale as the rest of gov. Even those that are called a different system (IE Acq Demo and Lab Demo). The pay scale is the same so DoD are not paid higher than non DoD for the same job. I don't know the law enforcement pay system so can't comment to that. But yes, in general scientists, engineers, and other professional positions are paid less than market while lower grade positions are above market.
I've never had a government job, but I recently started applying for them and it seems very difficult. I even spoke with both federal and state recruiters at some job fairs and they said the process is fairly difficult and I should expect 6-12 months waiting period before hearing back about any open job that matches my qualifications.
I'm in Accounting so there is usually open positions in my area. The process for federal is a lot less tedious than the State process. The state process requires a ridiculous resume packet with super detailed work experience, copies of certifications and degrees, and other supplementary info. They also want you to go to a testing center and get assessed. Then you're graded and put in a pool of candidates, so recruiters will look into this when trying to fill jobs. That being said, the chances of getting something right away seems to be a long shot since from what the recruiters told me the jobs are usually first filled by this pool of graded candidates... The federal process is similar, but a lot less tedious. No luck with either so far.
It does seem really stable though and the benefits very good. The pay is a lot less than private sector, but from what I've heard of government work from people I know, the benefits and stability make up for it. Plus, a lot of people praise the 35-40 hour weeks and really great benefits and even the rare pension at some departments. The people I have spoken to have also said it's pretty laid back and there is no rush to get anything done, so it's good for people who don't want the intensity and stress of private sector. Guess I just got to keep applying.
I've never had a government job, but I recently started applying for them and it seems very difficult. I even spoke with both federal and state recruiters at some job fairs and they said the process is fairly difficult and I should expect 6-12 months waiting period before hearing back about any open job that matches my qualifications.
I'm in Accounting so there is usually open positions in my area. The process for federal is a lot less tedious than the State process. The state process requires a ridiculous resume packet with super detailed work experience, copies of certifications and degrees, and other supplementary info. They also want you to go to a testing center and get assessed. Then you're graded and put in a pool of candidates, so recruiters will look into this when trying to fill jobs. That being said, the chances of getting something right away seems to be a long shot since from what the recruiters told me the jobs are usually first filled by this pool of graded candidates... The federal process is similar, but a lot less tedious. No luck with either so far.
It does seem really stable though and the benefits very good. The pay is a lot less than private sector, but from what I've heard of government work from people I know, the benefits and stability make up for it. Plus, a lot of people praise the 35-40 hour weeks and really great benefits and even the rare pension at some departments. The people I have spoken to have also said it's pretty laid back and there is no rush to get anything done, so it's good for people who don't want the intensity and stress of private sector. Guess I just got to keep applying.
Usually the hardest thing I commonly heard about when it comes to Government jobs is the amount of time you need to wait just to even be called for an interview.
The wait time is very annoying for some of those government jobs
I actually was called in 1 year later in for an Interview to work for the City as a IT Desktop Guy but I denied the request because I was already working for the school district by that time
It was annoying
I have recently applied for Mid level IT Positions for the government but still not heard back
I hear back usually for entry level jobs but not mid levels
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CosmoStars
Usually the hardest thing I commonly heard about when it comes to Government jobs is the amount of time you need to wait just to even be called for an interview.
The wait time is very annoying for some of those government jobs
I actually was called in 1 year later in for an Interview to work for the City as a IT Desktop Guy but I denied the request because I was already working for the school district by that time
It was annoying
I have recently applied for Mid level IT Positions for the government but still not heard back
I hear back usually for entry level jobs but not mid levels
This can be true, but not always. In a previous public agency career, we would do a written test, then the top 25-30 would be interviewed by an oral board. That would result in ranking, and for each opening the hiring manager would interview the top 3. For positions with high turnover we would do this annually to establish a list even if there were no openings, so it could be close to a year before you got called. Where I am now, I interviewed for two positions last week for postings that closed the week before, and we made offers already. The people will start after Thanksgiving.
Everyone I know considers a fed or government job almost like winning the lottery unless its the post office which is nowadays a last resort.
For the most part, Federal Govt jobs are very good/stable, but things are getting a lot more volatile with how Congress is now using constant short funding periods and threats of government shutdowns every few months. With how extreme the two sides are getting, it could get worse.
I don't think this will happen, but here is an interesting and scary article:
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57744
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_grimace
I've never had a government job, but I recently started applying for them and it seems very difficult. I even spoke with both federal and state recruiters at some job fairs and they said the process is fairly difficult and I should expect 6-12 months waiting period before hearing back about any open job that matches my qualifications.
I'm in Accounting so there is usually open positions in my area. The process for federal is a lot less tedious than the State process. The state process requires a ridiculous resume packet with super detailed work experience, copies of certifications and degrees, and other supplementary info. They also want you to go to a testing center and get assessed. Then you're graded and put in a pool of candidates, so recruiters will look into this when trying to fill jobs. That being said, the chances of getting something right away seems to be a long shot since from what the recruiters told me the jobs are usually first filled by this pool of graded candidates... The federal process is similar, but a lot less tedious. No luck with either so far.
It does seem really stable though and the benefits very good. The pay is a lot less than private sector, but from what I've heard of government work from people I know, the benefits and stability make up for it. Plus, a lot of people praise the 35-40 hour weeks and really great benefits and even the rare pension at some departments. The people I have spoken to have also said it's pretty laid back and there is no rush to get anything done, so it's good for people who don't want the intensity and stress of private sector. Guess I just got to keep applying.
We have had several openings in Accounting lately with people retiring at 68-70, and more to come. Currently we have two openings for Accountant II at $70k and one for Senior Accountant at about $90k, and we normally fill them and have the new person working here within 4-6 weeks of the application closing date. We have had 10-20 openings most of this year in different departments, currently only 9 in all but it's getting to the slower holiday season.
Here are a bunch of government jobs available in our part of the country, lots in accounting:
Personally, I think it's VERY hard. But that's been my own experience.
Years ago applied for more than 100 fed jobs at the GS-13 level, in Washington, D.C.
Had my resume professionally done supposedly by ex-gov people who helped design the key word search "application program." AND also had my own resume.
If your already a federal contractor your chances of getting a federal job are far better then someone applying from the outside. Years ago when I worked for the Federal Aviation Administration and they were hiring 40 people to replace contractor positions, 39 of the people that were hired already worked there as federal contractors. Only one person from outside was hired, a black women who was a national guard veteran.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kibbiekat
How would campaigning help you get a government job?
There's two ways to get a federal job, by applying and going through the federal hiring process or by presidential appointment. When a new president takes office, they appoint about 4,000 people to assume government positions. It's true that the senate has to approve any appointment the president makes, and high level positions get a lot of scrutiny, but the senate isn't going to grill every low level employee that is appointed. Actually I highly doubt the president is hand picking all 4,000 people, he picks the top level people, the cabinet positions, they in turn pick there assistants, and the assistants in fill the lower level positions. If you help campaign for the president, and are are well known by the people who get selected to be assistants cabinet members or assistants to the assistants, it's possible to get appointed to a government position.
The down side is when a new president takes office, you'll most likely get replaced.
Last edited by TechGromit; 11-24-2016 at 06:11 PM..
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