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Nutella posted:I've worked for the Social Security Administration for 21 years (yeah, get off my lawn). There are a couple other goons on here that work for them as well that are much younger and may have a different perspective. SSA does a lot of hiring thru USAJOBS and job fairs. If you are a social person, like rules and regulations and love to hear people's life stories or blatant lies, then SSA is the agency for you. Also, depending on what part of the country you live in there's a great need for certain language abilities. If you want creativity in a job though, SSA is not the agency for you. Feel free to ask me about SSA. What exactly was your job there? Also, did you know anyone in the Office of the General Counsel or who was an attorney with ODAR?
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Jul 5, 2010 19:21
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Nutella posted:My official job title is Social Insurance Specialist-Technical Expert. I am a lead employee for the Title 2 program which includes retirement, disability, survivors and Medicare benefits. I work in a field office (aka your local Social Security Office) so I only deal with OGC when working on cases that need a legal opinion and only with ODAR on a case by case basis. So how did you wind up with this job in the first place, exactly? What sort of qualifications, educational, experiential, or otherwise, did it take on your part to get the job? Please share your Federal Employment Success Story  Also, has anyone in this thread been through/participated in/know people who've done the Presidential Management Fellowship program?
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Jul 6, 2010 11:33
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fivetwo posted:I encourage anyone to attempt to get do an advanced search on USAJobs, then Search by Job Series. Type in 1811. Can you be more specific about this? I imagine that 1811 type jobs would vary really widely based on the agency.
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Jul 12, 2010 03:07
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fivetwo posted:It's the Criminal Investigation series. Job duties vary by agency. It's DEA, ATF, Secret Service, US Marshals, FBI, ICE, NCIS, AFOSI, and all other federal "detective" agencies. The scope of investigations will vary but the pay is the same (Journeyman 13 which is at least $100,000, depending on locality, at step 1), retirement is 25 years at any age or 20 years at age 50, and the pension accrues more than non-law enforcement employees. Must not have reached your 37th birthday before hire. Do you work in one of these jobs? If so, how did you wind up working there? Most of the people I knew who were federal law enforcement agents were former state or local police. prussian advisor fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Jul 12, 2010 |
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Jul 12, 2010 03:52
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Evil SpongeBob posted:There's a couple of forums on other websites for that. Asking is a thread in and of itself. Can you link to some that you'd recommend?
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Jul 13, 2010 13:33
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Gawain The Blind posted:
So can you tell me/us about what your job is and how you got it? Are you IRS CID? I really, really want to work for the IRS.
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Jul 18, 2010 13:13
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Gawain The Blind posted:This isn't true of everything. If you have a law degree or accountant degree you might be able to slide into one of the more esoteric gigs, like CI or Innocent Spouse or something, where you deal with cases rather than forms. Those are the fun gigs, but they're also harder to get, and are generally at the top of, or above the GS pay grade. Are these entry level paths for people with law or accountancy degrees? Do you know folks in these roles who got into them from out of law school? I'll be graduating law school relatively soon, but the IRS hires few attorneys from straight out of school and I'm looking for alternative ways to get hired so I can (hopefully) move internally into an attorney position later. I imagine that's a much more reasonable path, since everyone I've talked to (including you) has emphasized the IRS's preference for doing internal hiring.
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Jul 18, 2010 20:39
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ChadBroChill17 posted:Anyone have any experience with the Presidential Management Fellowship? Meeting with my school's coordinator this week and going to get the process started. I'm going to be doing this also, but I don't have any real experience with it either. Mostly I'm just trying to get any information about how to do well on the actual exam and get selected as a finalist--has your school's coordinator told you anything about that or put you in contact with folks from your school who have taken it and done well/passed? Also, what kind of graduate school are you in? Law student here, forgot this wasn't the law school thread for a minute.
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Jul 25, 2010 18:46
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SWATJester posted:VA is a great opportunity to work outside of Washington but that being said, the VA is a lovely organization to work for, has terrible leadership, and will depress you at all levels. I keep hearing this. Anyone have any particularly depressing or illustrative VA stories? Seems like there's 1102 openings and I hear that's a good way to break into higher-level procurement type federal gigs. prussian advisor fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Jul 26, 2010 |
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Jul 26, 2010 02:07
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ChadBroChill17 posted:Anyone else doing PMF? Yes. Well, trying to, anyway. Seems like they've added an in-person assessment to the exam process this year. Does anyone here know anything about what exactly this entails, besides the description on the website that it involves an individual presentation, a group exercise, etc.?
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Oct 21, 2010 23:33
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Tyro posted:I'm interested in PMF for next year. I attended a presentation at my school on the program. From what I remember it is pretty much a full day thing. They used to do the full in person assessment but got rid of it for several years. They are bringing it back starting this year due to complaints from some agencies/offices that the PMF candidates they were getting from the written-only assessment were technically qualified but a bad "fit" for them or lacking in soft skills. When I get home next week I can check my notes from the presentation if anyone wants. Not sure what the basis for those complaints would be exactly, since it's not like any agency is obliged to accept any particular candidate at the job fair who's lacking the requisite "soft skills," whatever that means. Finalist status doesn't guarantee a job offer from an agency, or at least that's my understanding of the process. Anyway, I can't speak for other people but as a PMF hopeful, I'd love it if you'd post your notes from the presentation, especially anything that pertains to the written or in-person exams.
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Oct 22, 2010 02:55
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Tyro posted:You are correct about finalist status not guaranteeing an offer. I think their complaint was about the composition of the candidate pool. But yeah next week I'll try to find those notes. Anything specific you're interested in? Anything at all that relates to the examination process. Or anything at all, really.
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Oct 22, 2010 03:39
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So did anyone else in this thread wind up taking the Presidential Management Fellowship online assessment? Does anyone know much of anything about what percentage of the nominees are expected to make semifinalist status, or what exactly the in-person assessment early next year consists of?
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Dec 6, 2010 23:19
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HiddenReplaced posted:Hiring freeze has been announced for DOJ literally giggling irl
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Jan 25, 2011 05:30
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fivetwo posted:Don't get me wrong, Marshals can move up to GS-13, but they have to promote, whereas FBI/DEA/SS/ATF get it as the automatic progression for all agents. I thought the whole point of LEAP was that it was predicated on a 50-hour work week, hence the flat 25% bonus on payout for your pay grade?
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Feb 5, 2011 07:20
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:What about it? I was hired under PALACE Acquire a few years ago, though I'm now beyond it. Can you talk more about how the program works? Which of the fields were you hired on for, and at what stage in your education? How competitive is the process generally, and what makes people more competitive for it in your experience?
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Mar 30, 2011 15:06
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psydude posted:2011 grads: the DoD and military agencies have been posting pathways programs with incredibly short 3-4 day application windows. I'm guessing they're rushing to fill the vacancies that the end of the FCIP and the budget crisis caused, so be on the lookout. Where are these found? USAJobs?
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Apr 18, 2011 17:46
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psydude posted:They're all on USA jobs, but you'll probably have an easier time going to each agency's website and looking at their career internship page for the direct links (I linked the Army's a half a page up). Also, I assume I'm wrong about this, but I thought this was the program that was completely eliminated shortly after President Obama took office? Or am I thinking of a different one entirely?
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Apr 18, 2011 23:33
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AndrewP posted:Yeah, they look for business degrees. Lots of these jobs around, but since the FCIP was axed I'm not sure what the hiring climate for new grads are. I would assume its the same in that you need a bachelor's and a certain amount of credits in business or law or whatever. Why the gently caress did they get rid of the FCIP program anyway? Still really confused about that decision.
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Jun 10, 2011 22:38
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Beerdeer posted:I was hired as an FCIP after getting my JD. Yeah, this is exactly why I wish the program hadn't been cancelled just as I graduated. Great timing 
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Jun 11, 2011 05:42
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Sbull posted:I'm a recent law school grad (with a lawyer job holy poo poo I feel like I'm a unicorn sometimes). I don't really like it that much, but I want to stay in the public sector. I can tolerate my job while I am applying, I am sure, but I don't really want them to know I'm applying for government jobs if I try to do so. Will the application process let the cat out of the bag? What is the type of lawyer job you're working in right now?
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Aug 12, 2011 02:12
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Tortilla Maker posted:
Verterans, aka veterans of the Air Force only. Who feels stupid now, huh? 
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Sep 18, 2011 01:07
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Boxman posted:I'm an attorney advisor decision writer, so I'm new to the SSA. Im new enough, and insulated enough from the process, that I can't really speak to it. Sorry. What was your background as an attorney prior to getting this job?
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Sep 12, 2012 01:34
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Baby Battering Ram posted:I am also a new attorney advisor with ODAR. Did you just spend 2 glorious weeks at training in St. Louis? Please tell me how you wound up getting this job!
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Oct 7, 2012 19:23
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Evil SpongeBob posted:Anyone else have a crapload of both non-eligible and retirement eligible people leaving? Since the start of the year, it seems that a bunch of people are either retiring or getting out of government service entirely in my agency. Which agency is your agency?
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Jul 21, 2013 22:47
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So is federal hiring in general expected to substantially increase now that the sequester has been "eased" with the new budget bill? If so, when's this projected to take place? After an omnibus appropriations bill is passed?
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Dec 23, 2013 10:02
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So I'm going to be starting as a new federal employee in roughly one month, assuming background investigation etc. go according to the hiring office's predictions. Is there anything I should be aware of in general terms about how federal benefits/retirement/medical etc. work going on? I'm assuming that there are HR people or OPM employees whose job it is to explain these programs to employees but, if they are about as competent as their state equivalents, I'm not entirely sure I trust them. I plan to stay with this agency my entire career, and since I'm in my early thirties that's likely to be another 30 or so years, so I'd like to make sure that I'm starting on as sound a footing as possible. Specifically, there appears to be an utterly boggling number of options for health plans, and I don't have any real idea how to compare one with the other. My previous employer (a state agency) had a grand total of two, and bizarrely enough paid essentially 100% of the costs rather than the feds' 75%, not that I'm complaining. Also, does anyone know of a good discussion forum for federal employees in general? I'm aware of federal soup but it seems really dead compared to the sheer number of current and aspiring federal employees, so I'm assuming the bulk of discussion has been moved elsewhere?
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Sep 7, 2015 22:23
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Loucks posted:When you come on board with your agency you ought to be provided with SF-2817 to elect FEGLI (life insurance) coverage. Be aware that once you hit 60 days after your appointment you can no longer change your FEGLI easily. Open seasons are not common. If I had realized that I'd have maxed everything on day one because it's really cheap. I'm going to be maxing out my TSP contributions at 14% (for 19% total contributions with government matching I believe) to drive down my income levels for public service loan forgiveness/income-based repayment reasons. I don't really plan to opt into the life insurance as I don't really have any dependents who would be suitable beneficiaries; I'm tentatively assuming that there's no actual 'investment vehicle' options for FEGLI ala a "whole life" policy? Which plan do you use for FEHB/do you like it?
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Sep 8, 2015 00:19
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Tyro posted:High five max TSP for PSLF benefits, buddy. That's a ridiculous starting salary if 14% is maxing your contribution. Or is that just the max you feel comfortable putting in? I thought employee contributions were capped at 14%, and government matching capped at 4% (including the automatic 1% on top of that for a total of 5%?) Maybe I heard wrong, I'll swing over to tsp.gov to be sure. You wouldn't happen to be an attorney as well, would you? BC/BS PPO was my state option and I loved it, there were times where I was literally shocked (in a good way) at the scope of things they were willing to cover and the extent of the coverage. Hopefully the federal equivalent is just as good.
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Sep 8, 2015 01:06
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