All About Federal Government Jobs

2010 Federal Government Salary Tables

Here are the 2010 Federal Government Salary Tables...enjoy the 2% 1.5% pay raise.

2010 Census Bureau Jobs

It looks like the Census Bureau will have up to 800,000 people on its payroll by the middle of next year.  According to this Denver Post article some are thinking the census will provide a bit of an economic boost at a time when people really need jobs.

If you are looking for a temporary job that could pay between 10-25 dollars an hour check out the Census Bureau jobs site.

DoD Waves Bye-Bye to the National Security Personnel System

Here's an interesting article in Federal Computer Weekabout the National Security Personnel System and why it was rejected.  The NSPS was supposed to change the culture of federal employment into one of pay for performance instead of pay based on time in service.  While the idea is sound, the execution of it in DoD was horrible. 

I am in DoD and my agency converted from the GS system to NSPS last summer.  From a guy in the trenches, the training I received (if you want to call it that) revealed a very complicated and bureaucraticsystem that appeared (to me at least) unmanageable.  Another thing that bothered me is my agency knew last February the system was destined for the trash bin, but continued the conversion process anyway.  Now we have to be converted back to something else (I'm sure at a considerable cost)...and who knows what that will look like.

Federal Hiring Process - A Bottomless Abyss?

The Wall Street Journaltoday had an interesting article about the vast number of federal jobs available and how they are unfilled because the hiring process is so bad.  Unfortunately this is so true.  We have a couple of vacancies still not filled even though people were selected over 8 months ago.  Even in our current economic environment people just can't wait that long.  It's frustrating for both the prospective employee and for the organization needing the help.  Hopefully OPM can somehow straighten the process out...just who is the patron saint of lost causes?  

Even though the process is pretty screwed up, I still say if you read the job announcement very closely, and tailor your resume to exactly what the job description says, you stand a better chance of of being selected.  I know this probably seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many resumes I've read where you can tell that the job seeker put very little effort into his/her writing.

Federal Hiring Process Has Problems

According to yesterdays Washington Post, the federal government's hiring process is a confusing jumble of conflicting activities.  In short, this is absolutely true.  These problems are magnified now because the federal government is about to go on a hiring binge that will completely overtax the current system and overwhelm the people who work in human resources.  The article says an estimated 100,000 - 250,000 people will be hired under the current budget plan.  I assume this doesn't count all of the current vacencies and those that will occur as the retirement pace picks up.

A prospective employee can ease the process somewhat by making sure he or she thoroughly reads the the job announcements (even if they 29 pages long) and tailors a resume to the specific position.  The more focused your resume is on the job description the better chance yours will be forwarded to the hiring official by the human resources folks. 

Because the hiring process is broken, be prepared for a long wait (mine took two months) and don't stop looking for other jobs.  While this part is a pain in the rear, it will be worth it once you get hired.   

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Competition for Federal Jobs Heating Up

I've written before about all of the federal employment opportunities available, and now it seems the economy has created a mad rush to take advantage of them.  I've noticed it from my own experience of sitting on a selection board for seven vacant positions in my agency.  The board had to sift through 40 resumes from people looking for work.  The striking aspect of this is in past years we probably would have been hard pressed to receive enough qualified resumes to fill all seven positions.

I've also previously written about the "perfect storm" creating opportunities in the federal government.  But with the unemployment rising steeply, the competition for these opportunities is really heating up.  Here is an article in the Star-Ledger in New Jersey discussing this competition.

Another aspect of the competition is coming from new college graduates entering the job market.  In the perfect storm link above I talk about how the federal government will probably expand job opportunities with the democrats coming into power.  The recent election has also instilled a spirit of public service in college age people who now rate government employment as a top career.

Even with all of the competition, if you look for federal jobs you truly are qualified for, write a good tailored resume highlighting those qualification you will have a leg up on everyone else.  While reading the resumes for the selection board I sat on, I would guess only about 10 of the 40 resumes were specific to the job announcement - the rest were very general.  The people selected were out of the 10. 

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Best and Worst Jobs in the US

I found an interesting article in the Wall Street Journalabout a study showing the best and worst jobs in the US.  Who would have thought that a mathematician, an actuary, and a statistician would be at the top of the best jobs list?  The article says the criteria used to evaluate jobs were "environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress."  I love the description of the duties of the mathematician in the article and would love a job like that - good pay, regular hours, and working from home.  The only problem I see is one has to be really really good at math to be a mathematician...keeping it out of reach for me!

One thing I did notice is you can find many (even most) of the "best jobs" in the federal government. 

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Nursing Shortage

I was reading this article on the internet about the nursing shortage and the creative ways recruiters are designing to attract prospective employees and wondered what the situation looked like in the federal government.

When I used "nurse" as a search term on USAJOBS there were 1384 hits (this will change as positions open and close).  It appears the vast majority of positions available are with the Veterans Administration, but they are all over the country.  There are also quite a few civilian positions available with the Department of Defense and the Public Health Service.

If you are looking for a job in nursing,  there are many choices...don't forget about the federal government.

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Want to Work for the FBI?

I got this little tip from FedBlog about the FBI's hiring effort.  The FBI is looking to hire about 2100 professional staff members AND about 850 Special Agents.  The FBI Jobs site is calling this a "mega hiring" effort and, as you can see, they are not just looking for badge carriers, but people with many different specialities.  Here is what they consider Professional Staff and Special Agents.  I believe full-scope polygraph examinations are required for every FBI employee as they are for the CIA.   This link shows you how to apply for a position at the FBI. 

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More on the Aging Federal Work Force

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how the massive numbers of federal workers retiring in the next few years are creating opportunities for other people to find good paying jobs.  Today I found a link at FedSmith.com to an article in The Huntsville Times about how one government agency is dealing with the issue.  Multiply this by every federal agency across the US and you'll see this is really a potential problem.  

Even if you take away all of the future job creation as a result of the Obama election, there will be a massive number of vacencies caused by these retirements.  While competition for these positions will be fierce because of the unemployment rate, the person who really pays attention to detail in the application/hiring process will find many opportunities.   

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