US Government Jobs

[JaneAusten]

I figured I would start a new topic on this.

My brother has a friend who has encouraged him to apply for a job with the US Census bureau. He's a statistician and has a lot of database experience. I know there was someone out here who worked for the federal gvmt. Can anyone share any insight on the process to apply, the interview process, and most importantly is now a good time to apply? I am frankly concerned for him and as much as I don't have a lot of faith in the private sector, I think that would be a safer bet at this point.

 

Thoughts?

[xtr]

I work for the federal government (for the military/ Department of Defense). I actually didn't go the traditional route in getting hired, in that I was hired originally underneath a year contract for my agency as a critical hire during Covid. I was laid off from another job and decided to inquire about the government job after I heard they were hiring. I literally walked into the admin office after finding out about a job from an acquaintance of my dad's. I asked her about the available jobs. She was nice, gave me her information and then told me to shoot her my resume. I was hired and then a couple of weeks later was sworn into the position. I worked there for the entire year, applied for a few permanent positions, got rejected, left for a couple of months, did a separate temporary at home job and then was hired back in a permanent position.

Normally when people apply for federal government jobs, they go through usajobs gov first. That what I had to ultimately end up doing to get a permanent position. It's very important for people to read/understand all of the instructions for the application process because if they don't their application can get rejected. The government is pretty specific in how they want you to do the application process. That's what happened to me the first couple of times I applied for permanent position while I was on my contract.  I didn't understand the process all of the way and that factored into my applications getting rejected.

Some useful tips for applying for a job are:

To make sure that a person clicks either expert or skilled journeyman (depending on the job) during the questionnaire. If you are applying for a government job, you are an expert at everything lol. I didn't answer it like that when I first applied, and I believe that was one of the reasons my first application was kicked back. I was told by my bosses to make sure you put expert or whatever the highest skilled answer is. That will give your application a better chance of making it through. 

People also want to use pretty much all of the job qualifications in the job description on your resume. You're not supposed to write it for word, but you can reword in your own words. I was told resumes was run through a system where they search for keywords in the job description. That helps determine whether they push an applicant forward. If you cover the job qualifications on your resume that can help.  

People also want to make sure that their timelines for each previously held job they list are properly covered. One time I was rejected because they said they couldn't determine proper starting and ending dates for previous jobs I held.

People need to make sure they list the proper preferences on the application and make sure they can apply to the position they are seeking. Some jobs are only for veterans/miliary spouses, others are open internally and/or to the public. That's important to remember and could factor into people getting rejected if a specific job is for certain people and they don't fit those preferences. 

Some jobs like will ask for proof of higher education, so people can make sure they have that information ready. Some jobs will tell you specifically not to show proof of any higher education and people can take note of that as well for particular jobs.

It's also okay if someone wants to apply for a job with a slightly higher GS than they currently are. You can go at least one level higher, and I believe you can go as high as two levels. If your application/resume is really impressive you can land a higher GS job, than your current rank.

I will mention some more stuff like when you can apply and benefits in my next post lol.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by xtr

[xtr]

Here is some more information about the hiring process and benefits.

I'm not sure about the interview process and I believe each department and their supporting agencies can handle things differently. I was very fortunate in the way I got the temp job and then later the permanent one. After my contract ended, I exchanged information with one of my bosses. She told me to apply again as we had some people leaving permanent positions. After my temp at home job ended, I applied for like the fourth or fifth time for the gov job and finally was told I met the qualifications and would be referred to the hiring manager. I texted her, told her to look for my name on the list and her and a couple of my other bosses/higher ups selected me. They sent a tentative and then later a firm offer, and I didn't have to interview with them. Though, I do believe most jobs will require people to do some form of interviewing. 

 

That's another reason why it's good to try and follow the tips, it can help you land on a list to get noticed.

A lot of agencies are always hiring, people can apply anytime a job is open. Sometimes you might not hear back for a bit, but eventually they will get back to you, and tell you whether or not they deem you're qualified and if you will be referred to the hiring manager. Sometimes they will tell you are qualified but that they currently are not referring to you to the hiring manager. That actually happened to me too one of the times I applied. But you can continue to apply to different jobs, and you can apply to the same jobs, multiple times, once the position opens up again. Also sometimes depending on the job/agency, you can also take a temp contract and either have the contract extended or become permanent afterwards. My younger sister also works for the federal government under Health and Human Services and currently has a multi-year contract with them. She is looking to apply for a permanent job with them when one becomes available.

Federal government jobs also have excellent benefits. They have very generous leave. Even a new/lower ranked GS person gets at least like 26 days of leave each year. At the very least most employees will get at least 13 annual days/13 sick days. Depending on the GS/how long you've been working at the job you can get even more leave than that. They also give Weather and Safety leave in the event of people not being able to work due to things like Hurricanes, snowstorms, etc. Sometimes you can also get admin leave and time off awards for your performance. It can build up nicely. I have co-workers that take off weeks at a time throughout the year. (One has taken off a month before) I have a boss that does this as well. They receive that much leave.

A certain amount of leave rolls over (240 hours) and then people have to use or lose the remaining leave. If any annual leave if left when people separate or retire, they will get that paid out to them. I had two weeks of annual leave saved up when my temp contract ended, and they paid me for that. I think they still don't pay people for sick leave should they separate or retire. (Unless that changed). But you can use sick leave and get paid for sick leave as long as you are working.

The main reason I was able to get my foot in the door and was hired underneath a temp contract is because my job allowed at risk people to stay at home for 10 months. I was able to help fill in for them while they stayed at home. Those people were able to get their full pay, plus they were allowed to acquire sick/vacation days during this time. They were able to stay at home almost a whole year and then were able to come back after the vaccine came out. My job also provided us with the vaccine very early before most other people got it.

And even with their generous leave policy you still do have people that abuse leave and exhaust it. But it is generous.

People also pay into a pension that I believe you're vested in after like 5 years, and you contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan. Unless you change your additions, a person will have at least 10% of their check go towards retirement plans.

And they will pay a percentage of your healthcare insurance if you opt to get it through them. If you work 40 hours, I believe it's around 50%. If it's 32 it's less, but they still pay a nice amount for you. Same goes for dental and vision. I worked 40 hours during my temp contract and am now a 32-hour permanent employee who gets anywhere from 32 to 35 hours, and I have health insurance/dental/vision.

People also get a Cost of Living Raise each year and can also get raises every time they go up in their steps/promote to a higher GS. I've gotten four raises since I've been working at this job. Some agencies are less likely to give raises than others, but people will at least get a COLA raise each year.

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by xtr

[Taoboi]

Hehe. I was just about to tag you, @xtr. Perfect timing. It did not work out for me (but I'm doing much better now) but I know your advice would be appreciated. 

[xtr]

Thanks, Taoboi. I'm glad that you are doing much better now. 

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 And you can always keep applying if you ever feel like doing so again. A lot of people don't get hired the first time. It took me like four or five applications until I finally got a permanent position. This was also the case for other co-workers I had who were hired underneath temp contracts and some who applied for permanent jobs from the start. Federal governments job really do have a lot of excellent benefits.

Working for them is the best employment decision, I've ever made. I still do part time/part year work for my last job (that I was laid originally laid off from). Sometimes I will do the two jobs for part of the year. Because I also enjoy the type of work at my second job (it's also closer related to my fields of study). Plus, I have another retirement account with the second job and it's nice to have more money to add to savings/investing. But the government job far exceeds the second job as far as benefits goes and the way my bosses act. My bosses at my government job actually recognize me and other people for working hard, which I can't say for other jobs I've had.

Edited October 1, 2022 by xtr

[JaneAusten]

Thanks @xtrall very helpful. Some of the gvmt stuff is not much different than the private section. You have to use certain keywords in your resume or it will be rejected regardless of your actual qualifications. 

My biggest ? is the politics. Should my brother worry about that or not and while it should not impact his job, one can never tell in the times we are in right now.

 

[xtr]

You're welcome JaneAusten. Hopefully if your brother applies and is hired, he won't have to worry too much about politics impacting him. I work for the military/deal with a lot of military personnel. I have interacted with several veterans who are Pro Trump and can be vocal about that. But employees at my jobs have pretty much been told from the beginning not to mention politics too much/push political beliefs on each other. One of our bosses did talk to us after the insurrection happened one on one in his office. He made it clear that we were not to be caught participating in events like that. And I believe I've seen some memos mentioning that but for the most part employees at my job act pretty neutral regarding politics.

I think that several other agencies behave in a similar manner. It looks like the job your brother may be interested in might also have the opportunity for some teleworking, so that could possibly help down on that type of issue as well.

Federal government agencies can also have a lot of good resources in case someone has an issue at their workplace. My agency has a good Equal Employment Opportunity department, we actually had training/met with one of the higher ups from there not too long ago. It was very informative, and he seemed helpful. We also have someone separately we can reach out to if we feel like we are being harassed for something that doesn't fall under EEO. Some federal government agencies also have unions as well that can help people deal with potential issues in the workplace.

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by xtr