Anyone familiar with State of Florida jobs ? (employees, company, salary)

[heydade]

My wife may be offered a financial related position with the State of Florida. Right now she works for a private company with a shaky financial outlook and no benefits, no sick days, vacation days, nothing.. zilch. Only good thing is that they pay relatively well.

The State of Florida position says that she may be required to do 30% travel by car in a state issued vehicle. The salary is 10,000 less than what she is making now, but again....the benefits are MUCH MUCH better.

I told her I am concerned due to all the budget cuts. I am assuming they have already made their cuts and wouldn't hire her if they are anticipating more cuts. Am I right with this assumption ?

A couple of questions for anyone that is/has or knows someone that worked for the state. Are all full time state employees covered under FRS (Florida retirement system) ? Also...is there a lot of room for advacement and promotional opportunities working for the state ? Are raises gauranteed every year like Fed jobs or are they performance review raises only ?

Any insight into the pro's and con's of working for the State are greatly appreciated !

[PG77]

Since you haven't gotten any responses to your post from yesterday probably because people are not familiar with the State of Florida jobs, I will just put my two cents in. I lived in Florida, however, I did not work for the state. I have worked for the city government in Ohio and the Federal Government. I would think that it would be safe to assume that the job would be safe. I don't think they would hire anyone and then turn around and let them go. Also, the benefits are excellent and the pay will probably increase as you move up. At the Fed Gov, I started out at a lower wage but within a year I had advanced quite considerably. If I had a chance at a state job, I would jump on it! But that's just me. You might want to check out the Florida forums. You might be able to get some information from there. Good luck!