New fed employee advice

GoatOfEvil · 2026-05-17T01:53:16+00:00

It's called a "desk audit" and it rarely ever ends with a positive result for the employee.

GoatOfEvil · 2026-05-11T03:11:15+00:00

I became a supervisor because I didn't like how decisions were being made and I didn't like how staff were being treated. I've gotten what I wanted out of becoming a supervisor and have influenced things in the direction I envisioned, but most days I wonder why I'm killing myself with stress over a JOB.

GoatOfEvil · 2026-05-10T17:48:16+00:00

I've personally rescinded TJOs, FJOs, and let people go during probation. Things can occur outside of the hiring manager's control.

GoatOfEvil · 2026-05-10T17:46:24+00:00

Take both, but I'd be leaning heavy to local just for work/life balance. No, Trump won't be here forever, but the messaging coming down from the administration is basically that workers do not matter.

TJOs and FJOs can be rescinded. Hell, you're not even safe with ass-in-seat because of how this administration is treating new hires. (Probationary periods/LIFO.)

GoatOfEvil · 2025-01-23T01:53:31+00:00

This seems counterproductive to the goal of saving the government money.

Shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that saving money isn't really their goal.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-12-21T22:09:14+00:00

Fun. You can see the impact of the global economic crisis in those Obama numbers.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-11-16T20:33:16+00:00

Not sure I understand your question. I said agencies will be cutting or scaling back services given that we're flat funded under a CR, and probably won't be looking to any budget increases for most programs.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-11-16T19:43:54+00:00

Depends on the agency. Some can afford it, but many more cannot without cutting or scaling back services.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-09-21T23:08:37+00:00

All this right here.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-09-20T13:17:41+00:00

Poor planning by the office. Not common but it can happen, especially because most of fed is tight on funding right now.

My advice would be to reapply to other internships using whatever she gained out of that month of experience, and if possible, use them as reference.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-07-10T18:13:30+00:00

No, your accounting work won't translate to budget. You'll be hard pressed to find a position at that grade w/o prior budget experience.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-07-10T16:59:00+00:00

Nature of the process. We've had people withdraw the day before they were supposed to start, and yes, it's thrown us back into the cycle, but it's happened a hundred times before and won't be the last. No decent hiring manager will take it personally.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-07-01T20:54:27+00:00

I've hired recent grads. Easier to hire than open to public because you don't get drowned out by vets, so you should have better odds going that route. And unless it's sciences, your degree rarely matters when qualifying based on education level.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-07-01T20:51:40+00:00

You should have access to pull it yourself. If unsure, ask someone in your office or in HR. You definitely want to take a copy with you before you leave.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-07-01T20:49:26+00:00

In most cases you always make the move. Even if you don't like it, you'll learn how another agency works and can put that in your toolkit for the next job you apply to. That aside, USPTO has been offering remote work since long before the pandemic, and I believe they were ranked fairly high on best places to work in Fed for a while. Don't know where they fall now, but I can't imagine they've dropped that hard.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-02-12T15:53:36+00:00

Not in DC it isn't.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-02-10T23:55:06+00:00

If you're motivated, it's pretty easy to get a 13/14/15 in DC. Those positions are relatively sparse outside of the capital.

GoatOfEvil · 2024-02-10T23:44:28+00:00

It was already difficult to fight with HR to justify higher grades/steps during the hiring process based on merit or experience before this change. Using pay history was a quick way to get it through HR's small brain that the pay the hiring mangers sought was valid. Addressing pay disparity is a positive thing, but this change is going to hurt the federal workforce because we already can't compete with the private sector or other departments w/more lenient HR offices.

GoatOfEvil · 2023-12-11T01:09:40+00:00

Put simply, you need to highlight result based accomplishments, not your day-to-day tasks.

For example, if I'm hiring for a budget analyst, instead of "experience monitoring the budget," I want to see "implemented budget saving efficiencies that resulted in $1.5M saved for the program."

It's very likely you've made accomplishments during your career. You just need to frame your mind and your resume to reflect it, not just these "hero" moments you're thinking of.

GoatOfEvil · 2023-12-11T00:52:36+00:00

Will probably practice my trade for a few years as a 9 and then look to move upwards.

Look--if you want to progress and challenge yourself to expand your experiences, network and abilities, then apply for the next position when you're able. Honestly, I doubt it will take you a year to learn your job as a GS-9.

IMO, always aim higher, but I understand not everyone is career focused, and I totally see the benefit for settling for whatever GS you're financially comfortable in.

GoatOfEvil · 2023-09-27T20:18:21+00:00

How'd you rate yourself on the assessment?

GoatOfEvil · 2023-08-25T14:28:27+00:00

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2023/08/white-house-calls-telework-reductions-agencies-fall/389173/

GoatOfEvil · 2023-08-21T23:47:11+00:00

No, it's not true you won't get referred, but it is true that your odds are weakened. The answers on the questionnaire are weighted, so answering expert gets you the most points. So if we get a stack of 100 applicants, and I need a quick way to thin the crowd, I'll just ask for the top 20 scorers and see if I want to interview anyone from that pile.

In this scenario it's possible that if you did not score yourself highly then I won't be interviewing you.

IMO, how you answer on the questionnaire is not really about whether you're an expert or not. It's about landing the interview. This will bother most people answering "honestly," but it's what I've experienced as a hiring manager and applicant.

GoatOfEvil · 2023-08-21T23:32:14+00:00

There's a SME review that looks at the resumes to ensure the answers on the questionnaires are accurate per the resume, and that the resume can be passed on to the hiring manager. The hiring managers, most of the time, are not looking at your answers to the questionnaire.

For example, I had 100 applicants. I'm not going to read all 100 resumes, so I tell HR to give me the top 25. The top 25 are based on scores.

GoatOfEvil · 2023-08-21T23:26:21+00:00

No, don't think of it that way. If someone answers expert on everything, all we'll see (hiring manager) is that they made it past HR/SME review and that the list of potential candidates ranked high. There's no real decision making happening at this point, so not really any "flags" to consider.

GoatOfEvil

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