namely qualifications for such. I'm a quality assurance manager, but my company is on the outs and I'm starting the unenviable task of looking for work as we move towards shutdown.
My DCMA rep put me on to USAJobs, but I'm not familiar with the government pay grade system other than GS-7 is considered entry-level.
I've got 3 years of managerial experience, and 7 years overall in the quality field, but I'd like to hear what's considered when they review applicants and what the federal hiring process is like.
Any takers?
GS Locality Pay Scale - ( New Window )
Thanks for that, every little bit of info helps.
Good luck!
GS Locality Pay Scale - ( New Window )
I'm not sure how to interpret that. So, if a job is placed in a certain locality, wouldn't they already reflect the locality pay in the job posting?
What they don't tell you is that once you accept the offer, they then post the job NATIONWIDE to make sure there aren't any gov't employees who want it first.
Civilians are at a disadvantage - military background gets a leg up (as it should). I was lucky enough to get hired as a civilian.
And I really dig the job. DCMA isn't for everyone - but for a QA guy, it's right up your alley. Pay isn't as good as private sector, but for me it was worth the move.
GS Locality Pay Scale - ( New Window )
The list seems off. Albany has a 14% COLA and Boston is only 25%.
NH-1 = GS01-GS-04
NH-2 = GS05-GS11
NH-3= GS12-GS13
NH-4= GS14-GS15
Every year, you are evaluated/graded on 6 performance measures:
1. Problem Solving
2. Teamwork/Cooperation
3. Customer Relations
4. Leadership/Supervision
5. Communications, and
6. Resource Management.
I don't know anyone who prefers the GS system. The advantage is you can be promoted within your band without changing jobs. Also, you get promotions and/or a bonus for performance. Every annual evaluation is scored by boards in your functional area (e.g., engineering, Quality & Safety) and the better you perform, the bigger the share of the pool of money. You can always compete for promotions in a higher band...
The hiring process took all of 10 months to complete. I was one of about 140 applicants for the particular job and, to be entirely honest, the internship i served in the region that hired me was the only reason I was selected. About three months ago I saw the region's selection write-up that was submitted to Washington. It clearly showed that the other five applicants that made it to the final round were much more academically impressive than I.
My take away is that personal relationships are much more important than hard qualifications in securing employment in any sector, public or private.
In regard to the GS system, my position started at a GS 11 with full performance being a GS 14. There is a set promotion time table that can be altered slightly based on exceptional performance or underperformance, as the case may be.
Each federal government job that utilizes the GS system, as far as i can tell, utilizes the same experiential system for promotions. Each job has a starting GS salary and a full performance GS scale rating. You make your way through the bands to full performance based on years employed and supervisor evaluations.
i hope that was somewhat helpful.
Totally agree with this logic, I'm a former Fed. You'd be amazed how many lousy candidates are 'best qualified' b/c they said they were experts on everything.
Of course, if a vet is blocking the list then all bets are off.
Based on your experience I'd say GS-11 or 12.
And while I know that veterans status gets a leg up, it doesn't really alleviate the pain. My brother is currently going through a GS-13 hiring process, and even with a veterans preference (along with 30+% disabilities rating), it's been a slow process, and he's about as qualified for the position as they get.
Good luck. The good thing is that up until you hit GS-13 or so, promotions are relatively easy and fast.