All About Federal Government Jobs

Foreign Service Ramping Up Hiring Effort

According to this very interesting New York Times article, the State Department is ramping up to hire up to 1500 positions in this fiscal year.  What makes this article really interesting is the author goes into great detail on foreign service employment and the requirements necessary for consideration. 

I was always attracted to the foreign service and my initial plan was to spend 5-10 years in the Army, after I graduated from college, then try to get a job at the State Department.  My plans changed when I ended up spending 20 years in the Army and decided I was done with long term foreign assignments.  But for a young and fresh person who craves adventure, I think the foreign service could be a great career.

Click here to subscribe to All About Federal Government Jobs

2009 Pay Tables

The office of personal management released the 2009 base and locality pay tables yesterday.  If you are not familiar with these, just click on the above link and scroll to the metro area you are closest too.  Click on the annual rate link and you will see the pay table consisting of combined base pay plus the locality adjustment for each area.  This locality adjustment is based on the cost of living in the various areas across the country.  The total cost of living pay increase is quite a bit higher this year than in the recent past.

I'm just glad gas prices have dropped so much...this year's cost of living raise may actually help.

Click here to subscribe to All About Federal Government Jobs

4 Step Process in Getting a Federal Government Job

Yesterday I had the opportunity to serve on a selection board reviewing resumes for 7 vacancies in my agency and I got to thinking about the process involved in applying for a Fed job.  I've identified a generic four step process covering everything from applying to selection and thought I'd couple that together with my recent selection board experience and kind of lay out how it all works.  While every federal government agency will have their own particular process, I think each will contain elements of what you read below.

1.  Submitting Your Resume for a Specific Vacancy.  This is the most critical step in the entire process.  If you don't pay close attention to detail here you will ensure your resume is NOT in the final pile given to the selecting official for decision.  First you need to make sure you are qualified for the job.  Read the entire vacancy announcement closely and make sure it fits with your experience, training and education.  Note any other special requirements like a security clearance, polygraph examination, or drug tests.  Also note the closing date of the announcement because no resumes will be accepted for that position after that date.  Here are the most important things you need to do...read the qualifications carefully and write your resume showing how you qualify for the position.  Most people aren't going to perfectly meet each qualification, but (as best you can) you need to address each.  As I reviewed resumes yesterday, for many of them I wondered if these people actually read the vacancy announcement.  By looking at job history, I could tell generally many of the people probably could qualify for the position, but they didn't write their resumes in a way to distinguish themselves from others.   Out of the 40 I reviewed, only about 10 people tailored their resumes to the specific positions.  Think of it...30 people who wanted (needed) a job disqualified themselves from the the very start. 

193,000 Mission Critical Jobs Needed Over the Next 2 Years

According to a short article on Military.com, the federal government has five job areas in the greatest demand over the next few years.  These specialties are:

    Enforcement and Investigation - 37,515 positions

    Medical and Public Health - 25,756 positions

    Engineering and Sciences - 23,806 positions

    Program Managers and Administrators - 17,373 positions

    Accounting and Business - 12,959 positions

I think these numbers are conservative.  If these are all professional career paths, there will have to be support staff to go along with them.  While these support personnel are probably not termed "mission critical," the people in the above positions won't be able to function without them. 

Click here to subscribe to All About Federal Government Jobs

Want to Make $156k a Year?

I would sure love to make $156K a year.  Apparently the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is looking for around 125 "Bank Failure Specialists" and I have the feeling these people will be fully engaged for a number of years to come.  According to the CNN Money article, the FDIC is looking to boost their number of employes from about 4600 to around 5000 in an effort to handle the growing number of bank failures over the next few years.  A quick look at the FDIC's career page shows an incredible number of vacancies all over the country.  Of course not all of them are have $156K a year salaries, but they do look like pretty good paying jobs - if you have the skills they want.

Hmmm...I bet many of those bank employees laid off would have the qualifications the FDIC is looking for.  Wouldn't that be an ironic turn of events.    

Click here to subscribe to All About Federal Government Jobs

Great Resources for Fed Jobs

Even though USAJOBS is a good resource for federal government jobs information, I've found a few other interesting sites you should look at:

FedSmith.com - Has a ton of info on all things federal, but seems to focus on benefits - specifically there's good info on the Thrift Savings Plan (401k equivalent).

US Office of Personnel Management - The federal government's human resources office.

USA.gov - The government's official web portal.  This site has information on everything you've ever wanted to know about the federal government including jobs.

About.com Us Government Info - Another one of those About.com sites containing a ton of info on federal employment.

Another type of good online resource are federal agencies themselves.  I'll list a few I really like:

Department of Homeland Security careers page.

Department of Energy employment page.

Department of the Interior jobs page.

Department of State careers page.

Central Intelligence Agency careers page.

These are just a few links with great employment resources, there are many many more out there.

Click here to subscribe to All About Federal Government Jobs

Perfect Storm Creates Opportunities

We are about to witness a "perfect storm" (I know this is a cliche, but hey, it fits) in the federal government job market where three separate events will combine to create great job opportunities for those who decide to act. 

The first event is our little economic meltdown causing hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.  I just read where we lost 533,000 jobs in November alone - and I have the feeling this number will keep rising in the months ahead.  The really sickening part about this is it's all happening just before the holidays where families and business really count on having a steady income.  While these events are all bad, the good part is there are hundreds of thousands of skilled and reliable people who hopefully will take a look at the opportunities available with the federal government. 

The second event is the election of Barak Obama and democratically controlled congress.  The past election, regardless of your political leanings, will probably create thousands of good paying jobs.  Over the past eight years, federal job growth centered on the national security sector.  This area will probably keep growing, but I have the feeling it will level out a little.  The growth will come in areas of concern to the democratic party like environmental jobs, health related jobs, financial oversight jobs (because of the government bailout of private sector business), and probably many others I just can't think of right now.  I think federal government jobs will grow like we haven't seen in a long time.  Many people won't like this growth for political reasons, but it's going to happen.

And finally, the third event is the fact that a large percentage of the graying federal government workforce will begin retiring in the next few years in massive numbers.  With all of these retirements coming in the next few years, the federal government will need to replace these people because many work in areas critical to the functioning of our country.

Conclusion.  While everyday we get more bad news, there will be opportunities for those who are motivate and decide to act.  Obviously, the federal government can't employee everyone who has lost a job, but there are openings right now for thousands and thousands of people with the right skills and experience, and there will be thousands more all over the world in the years ahead.   

Click here to subscribe to All About Federal Government Jobs

5 Reasons to Work for the Federal Government

Since I'm going to spend a lot of time writing about public sector jobs, I should start out by writing about the advantages of working for the federal government.  Here are my top 5 reasons why working for the federal government is a good idea

1.  Job Security - Right now thousands of Americans are without a job because of the crashing economy or because of corporate mismanagement.  Whenever there's an economic downturn, employees are usually the first on the chopping block and often get little to no notice pink slips.  This doesn't happen with the federal government's workforce.  For the most part, once you get hired, if you work hard and do a good job you will never be laid off.  Occasionally agencies close down, but those affected employees get preferential consideration on vacant positions in other elements if you qualify for the job. Trust me, there are always thousands of vacancies out there.   Also, every-now-and-then there are reductions in force (RIF), but these are usually voluntary.  Rarely is an otherwise good employee forced into the unemployment line as happens almost routinely in the private sector.

2.  Pay and Benefits - There's an old saying that "you'll never get rich working for Uncle Sam", but what most people don't know is you can make a very good living.  If you don't believe me look at the base pay federal government pay chart for 2008.  The federal government also uses locality pay  that increases your earnings based on the cost of living of where ever the agency is located.  For example, if you live in the Washington DC area the locality pay will be higher than if you lived in Iowa because the cost of living is higher.  There is also a variety of insurance offerings very comparable to any big corporation out there.  The are really two elements to the federal government's retirement system: a defined benefit plan (FERS) and the Thrift Savings Plan (government version of a 401k).  Today, most private sector retirement programs only consist of a 401K, but the government includes an annuity.  The human resource people will tell you there is a third component (social security), but you have that no matter who you work for.  One note about the Thrift Savings Plan...once you qualify for employer contributions, you receive them every pay period instead of at the end of the year like in the private sector.  Also, when a private sector company wants to cut costs, they can reduce or suspend these contributions - this doesn't happen with the federal government.

Why Blog About Federal Government Jobs?

Why am I starting a blog about federal government employment?  First, I think the federal government is a wonderful place to work.  While it's the largest employer in the US, working in the public sector is one of the best kept secrets out there.  Many people I've talked to think of government employees as   the stereotypical mindless bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to complicate the lives of citizens.  This view couldn't be further from the truth.  The majority of governmental workers are motivated employees who work hard everyday to keep our federal system running smoothly.

The second reason I started this blog is because I think the federal government does not do a good enough job advertising the opportunities that do exist.  There is a site called USAJOBS where all vacancies are listed, but the whole process of finding a potential position, understanding all of the requirements, and actually applying for a job can be very confusing.  With the articles I plan to write, I hope to remove a little of the fog, get the word out, hopefully help people navigate their way through a sometimes confusing process.  As someone who has worked in both the public and private sectors, I hope I can shed a little light the process of getting a job with the federal government.

It seems like everyday I read about another major corporation laying off thousands of employees as this economic meltdown gathers steam.  But also everyday I see that there are thousands of good paying federal government jobs, all over the world, left unfilled.  Hopefully, over the coming months, I can steer a few people into the public sector who wouldn't have normally thought about it.  

Click here to subscribe to Federal Government Jobs

Technorati Profile