Moving to DC and need information on Goverment relocation benefits

[mlv311]

Definitely inquire about relocation assistance if it was stated in the vacancy announcement. I worked in federal HR for many years in different agencies and I never saw an agency provide relocation assistance to people hired outside the government (only current federal employees).

As far as the salary, your vacancy announcement has a stated grade. If it has several grades, you were interviewed for a particular grade (they should have told you what grade you were being considered for at the time of the interview). If your current salary is higher than the step 1 of that grade, the time to negotiate a match in salary is once you get the official offer. HR and the selecting official have the option of offering you the step that matches your current salary. If your current salary is lower than the step 1, no worries. Good luck.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by mlv311

Definitely inquire about relocation assistance if it was stated in the vacancy announcement. I worked in federal HR for many years in different agencies and I never saw an agency provide relocation assistance to people hired outside the government (only current federal employees).

This is what I'm seeing here also. Relocation has only extended to current federal employees. I do know, however, that they are in desperate need of engineers and they are offering reimbursement to those in that field.

As far as the salary, your vacancy announcement has a stated grade. If it has several grades, you were interviewed for a particular grade (they should have told you what grade you were being considered for at the time of the interview). If your current salary is higher than the step 1 of that grade, the time to negotiate a match in salary is once you get the official offer. HR and the selecting official have the option of offering you the step that matches your current salary. If your current salary is lower than the step 1, no worries. Good luck.

Where I am working, when the hire from the private sector they try to give you a 5% raise over you current pay so long as you stay within the pay band/grade. If you are way under the salary advertised, then they just bring you in at the lower level of the band/grade. If you are midway within it, they will generally bump you up the 5% so you get some sort of raise coming in.

[mlv311]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Where I am working, when the hire from the private sector they try to give you a 5% raise over you current pay so long as you stay within the pay band/grade. If you are way under the salary advertised, then they just bring you in at the lower level of the band/grade. If you are midway within it, they will generally bump you up the 5% so you get some sort of raise coming in.

That's a good offer. When we hired outside government in professional/administrative positions, most applicants were looking for the job security and other benefits so it was a struggle to get approval for matching current salaries, but unless someone is unemployed, who is going to take a pay cut unless he/she has personal reasons to do so?

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by mlv311

That's a good offer. When we hired outside government in professional/administrative positions, most applicants were looking for the job security and other benefits so it was a struggle to get approval for matching current salaries, but unless someone is unemployed, who is going to take a pay cut unless he/she has personal reasons to do so?

In my agency, they are starved for new blood. In the past 4 years, there has been a big push to hire outside of federal service. In some of the fields, which are very specialized like mine, they have exhausted their own "in house" resources. Many of the managers are tired of shuffling the same people around between codes and never getting new blood. With pay-for-performance instituted, along with that came relaxed rules for hiring outside. I worked private sector, in my field, for 20 years. I decided to apply for a government job (that I was extremely qualified for) for the job security. I would have taken a small cut in pay, but not much. I was able to prove that my time in the private sector was directly related to my new job and I came in earning 8 hours of annual leave instead of the usual 4 hours. I did not get the standard 5% raise that other contractors were given because I was already salaried close to the top of my pay band, so a raise would have put me over the top. I was pretty happy with my package and didn't felt I lost out.

It was refreshing to see the government "come around" to regular hiring practices. I mean, why should I be punished because I am not a long time civil servant. I should be paid for my experience even if it was in the private sector. If I had applied at another private company, I would have been able to negotiate my salary upwards and negotiate my leave (unless of course I was unemployed). The old government mentality was that no matter what experience you had in the private sector, they seemed to want you to start over so to speak when you made the jump to public sector.

[mlv311]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

It was refreshing to see the government "come around" to regular hiring practices. I mean, why should I be punished because I am not a long time civil servant. I should be paid for my experience even if it was in the private sector. If I had applied at another private company, I would have been able to negotiate my salary upwards and negotiate my leave (unless of course I was unemployed). The old government mentality was that no matter what experience you had in the private sector, they seemed to want you to start over so to speak when you made the jump to public sector.

Good for you--I totally agree with you. That's why I believe in pay bands and pay for performance. My last agency gave very generous performance awards because 30% of the award funds went to the top 10 performers in the whole field division. I've worked in places where the mentality is that everyone should get something--where is the incentive to excel?

[dansuz1]

Lots of good advice. I had read that relocation incentives were only for current employees, but I've got to believe that they offer something similar for outside hires. I mean, how do they get top talent without comparable benefits.

Also, I had read that I could negotiate my pay band and my intention was to negotiate up to my current level and try for a little more. 5% sounds about right.

Thanks for all of the good advice.