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Any USPTO workers in this thread? I've been trying to get a job there for four years now. They keep freezing hiring for my relevant fields, but reopened a few positions in the last few weeks. I'm applying again. Is it as bad as the USPTO job-satisfaction surveys claim it is? The pay's pretty awesome for gov stuff, from what I've seen.
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Jul 13, 2010 19:20
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Kaymaster posted:I worked as a contractor in the USPTO Library, so I got to speak to a lot of examiners and private researchers. Right now, there is a lot of pressure on examiners to meet quotas and deadlines, however, the hours are very flexible. Also, many examiners are working from home now, but I think you need at least a year or two of experience before that happens. Thanks. That about matches what I got from the recruiters at my college's job fair a few years ago. I had seen the satisfaction survey results for the USPTO posted online, and they were dismal... but every employee satisfaction result ever has been dismal. That's just how people are.  GS-13 after 2 years with only a B.S? Did he work in a patent-law firm before starting at the USPTO? I'm trying to figure out how he could possibly have made the leap from GS-7 up to 13 in only two years, even if he was Jesus Christ, Patent-Pro or something.
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Jul 14, 2010 16:39
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Apparently not, judging by my interviews with the USPTO. Standard resumes were perfectly fine for them, and any extra information they needed (SS#, etc) was on a separate form they gave me.
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Jul 14, 2010 17:22
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Baruch Obamawitz posted:A 3.25 undergrad GPA gets you in as a GS-7 at the PTO, and given the applicant pool, most new hires have above that anyway. That plus a Masters or JD is -9, plus PhD is -11. The PTO only has -5, -7, -9, -11, -12, -13, -14 and -15 as their paygrades though. Baruch - how picky are they on the qualification standards for "Masters"? They specifically list it as "Two years of graduate study leading to a Master's Degree". I did a Master of Engineering program, which compresses the research part into the first year of classes, and you end up with a M.Eng after one year. Is that typically sufficient to meet the GS-9 rating? I know the recruiters said I'd be a GS-9, but they also made it sound like I had the job, guaranteed, and then they dropped off the face of the planet.
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Jul 14, 2010 23:50
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Yeah - that's one very important thing to remember: Fed jobs, almost regardless of agency, take freaking forever to get responses from.
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Jul 15, 2010 17:19
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Ahh, I forgot how fun ApplicationManager is. You submit everything, it accepts it all, you check all the checklists to confirm that they say 'submitted'... ...and then you come back two weeks later on a whim, to find out that the job opening is closed, and that your application was rejected without notification because ApplicationManager decided to wipe every loving attachment you gave it. It even eliminated my resume. Every single thing was gone except for the questionnaire. So much for USPTO this year. 
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Aug 2, 2010 18:56
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That's about it usually. When I was looking a few years ago, it was either 80-100K or 27-33K. Nothing in between.
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Aug 10, 2010 18:45
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USPTO just opened a shitload of new positions for Patent Examiners in many disciplines. Stupidly long link below, or go to http://www.usptocareers.gov and find your way to the USAJobs site from there. http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/Channe...basic.aspx&ss=0 Based on my personal experiences, be careful with Application Manager (that's what they're using). It loves to eat your applications. Early-Cutoff is this Friday, and then rolling deadlines from there.
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Aug 24, 2010 14:31
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Tesoro posted:Hey guys, Woohoo! #1 - How do you like it? #2 - One of the complaints I see about the USPTO in discussions of different agencies is 'poor work-life balance'. This, meanwhile, is constantly one of your recruiters' talking points (that you have a great balance). Where does the truth fall? #3 - How's the work autonomy? #4 - Could you give any information on the promotional or advancement potential within the department? How long, for example, does it take for someone to advance a grade assuming they aren't miserable failures at their work, and also assuming that they're not on one of the accelerated promotional incentives?
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Sep 9, 2010 15:42
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Tesoro posted:Hope I answered everything you wanted. Fire away if anyone wants to know anything else. Thanks for the answers! I appreciate it! The only remaining question I have probably isn't one you can answer, which is "why is it so loving hard to get a job there?!?" I've been applying for five years now.  (Though the answer almost certainly lies in combination of pay and flexibility, combined with number of applicants trying to get out of the unstable science fields right now. )
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Sep 9, 2010 18:22
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Biological engineering, currently employed as a pharmaceutical scientist. Have already applied for this most recent batch of openings. I met with the hiring representatives at my former school (Cornell University) twice, had interviews, and then never heard back again. Also never got any phone answers in spite of being told "if you haven't heard back in two weeks, call me at this number". My school's about a six hour drive from me now, so it'd take a bit of planning to go back again admittedly. I have some time to plan, though - the next career fair I could even hope to make it to isn't until winter. Sundae fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Sep 9, 2010 |
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Sep 9, 2010 19:43
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Tortilla Maker posted:I'm a Wage Hour Investigator (formerly Compliance Officer) with the Department of Labor. Holy poo poo. This thread is like Christmas to me. First a USPTO guy, then WHD. I've just PM'd you.
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Sep 10, 2010 13:00
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I got a voice-mail this afternoon from the USPTO inviting me down for an interview this Wednesday. I have no freakin' clue how I'm going to get from eastern CT to Alexandria VA for a Wednesday interview. I can't afford the airfare, hotel, or train fare, and it's a 7 hour drive. Woohoo on the interview, but drat that's inconveniently timed.Anyone have any clue if they reimburse interview expenses? It's a loooong trip from Connecticut.
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Oct 1, 2010 20:52
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Yeah, panic mode's over now. I got the phone message like 15 minutes after their offices closed for the night, and I went into "oh god how do I get to Alexandria on no notice whatsoever" mode. All better now. I'm going to have to push for the phone interview, regardless of whether I can afford the trip. I checked over my work schedule, and I'm slated to give a research update presentation on the same day as the interview, so I can't go down there for it. At least, not on that day. Now that panic mode's over, I believe 'woohoo' is in order.
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Oct 2, 2010 19:55
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quote:You need to grow a pair and request a telephone interview. That's what I did. I told them I didn't have time to go to Alexandria, and they didnt seem to mind. We set up a phone interview, and after a 30 minute phone call in my boxers I virtually had an offer. I wish I had your luck on that. I just got off the phone with them explaining the presentation, and I got an "absolutely not" as a reply to the phone-interview request. In-person or nothing. I got them to bump it back to Thursday, which is a start. At least I don't have to cancel the interview entirely, though. If they couldn't move it off of Wednesday, it was dead in the water right there. Bolt Bus looks remarkably cheap - thanks!
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Oct 4, 2010 14:23
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I sent an e-mail to the HR rep asking whether the agency reimbursed interview travel expenses, and received back both a 'no' and an interview cancellation. I guess they don't much care for applicants asking questions.
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Oct 5, 2010 15:08
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Skandiaavity posted:Sundae - I believe they're authorized to reimburse your expenses for it at least under GSA Schedules. USPTO doesn't seem to be having budget issues this year so It wouldn't be the first time I'd rubbed someone the wrong way, but this would be a new record for the smallest number of words needed in order to do it. I have no idea. The only thing I can think of is that they maybe their thinking was "Eh, we needed to reschedule his interview AND he's asking about reimbursement? Screw that, we've got 900 other applicants for the job who are easier." That's all I've got. Oh well.
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Oct 5, 2010 20:01
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why they'd both say no and cancel your interview. Did you rub off in the wrong way or something?
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:33 |
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Based on about 6,000,000 variants of the same one application (applying to the USPTO is hilarious in a Kafkaesque sort of way), the NOR is telling you that some flunky has looked at your application, confirmed that you meet the absolute most basic requirements and are in fact a mammal, and now may or may not actually send your application to the agency you were trying to apply to in the first place. The only things you can truthfully read out of it is... 1) you aren't dead yet, and 2) if it says you aren't qualified, the application isn't going anywhere*. *Unless your application permitted multi-checking for a bunch of different grade levels of employment and you were qualified for one but not the other in which case oh god it hurts make it stop.
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May 11, 2011 19:06
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