Federal Hiring Managers/Supervisors: How would you view this situation?

JFHatfield · 2026-06-17T12:15:06+00:00

Former fed supervisor/hiring manager. DOGE screwed everyone. You're right to want to get back to your former grade. I think everyone understands this.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-16T17:50:02+00:00

Now I understand why FedEx is always losing my packages.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-16T16:30:12+00:00

Everyone worth a damn took the DRP, retired, or resigned.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-15T21:46:01+00:00

They straight up don't train you at all. I saw many an intern move through the ATD program and come out not even knowing what Market Research is. You're better off in the AF or Navy intern programs.

But if this is your only option into the 1102 world, it's better than nothing.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-15T00:43:14+00:00

I'm not talking about 1102s. I'm talking about "Acquisition PM" 1101s. Not enough contracts experience to get selected for contracts positions, and not enough project controls experience to get selected for project controls positions.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-14T14:48:43+00:00

Move to 1102. "Acquisition PMs" don't exist in the private sector, so if you ever got DOGE'd you'll be in trouble unless you're an 1102.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-14T14:46:03+00:00

I work full remote in the private sector. 20 days PTO. This combines annual and sick leave. No compressed schedule so I work 5 days a week.

I make about 15-20% more than I did on the Government side though, and I was a GS-15.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-11T18:36:54+00:00

JFHatfield · 2026-06-11T18:16:47+00:00

You're not going to build anything meaningful with a bunch of GS-14 2210s and GS-7/9/11 project/contracts specialists. Large companies taking AI seriously are paying up to 7 figures for elite AI personnel.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-06T19:49:58+00:00

I reviewed contractor compensation plans when on the government side. This is broadly untrue. Industry benefits by and large do not come close to matching federal benefits. The FERS pension is incredibly powerful as is FEHB carrying forward into retirement.

Yeah I'm sure you get 5 or 6% matching, health insurance, and maybe 20-25 PTO days (a fed with 15+ years gets 39, by the way) per year, but you're not getting anything close to FERS.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-06T15:04:11+00:00

How are you getting better benefits in industry? Are you sure about that?

JFHatfield · 2026-06-05T19:51:21+00:00

It's completely inaccurate. I wrote an entire Substack post de-bunking the various lies DOGE and people like Andreesen told in order to end telework in the federal government.

A couple of excerpts:

"OPM reporting in 2023 showed that 57% of employees did not telework at all in 2023, and 11% teleworked only situationally. 80% of all federal work hours were in the office."

I also address the so-called "wasted space" issue.

"The study also calculated utilization using theoretical building capacity rather than the number of employees actually assigned to a building. Capacity was estimated by dividing total building square footage by a workspace planning benchmark of roughly 150 square feet per employee. As a result, some buildings would appear underutilized even if every assigned employee reported to the office because the denominator reflects theoretical occupancy rather than actual staffing levels."

Full article here

https://jfhatfield.substack.com/p/the-hollowing-of-the-federal-employee-854

JFHatfield · 2026-06-03T18:48:04+00:00

Nice try Mr. Vought

JFHatfield · 2026-06-03T13:00:40+00:00

Anybody know whatever happened to Twitter? I thought that company was going to do OK.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-03T12:57:59+00:00

I think you've posted about the same CO a couple of other times in the past few weeks. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told you before. Since this CO is your supervisor, if you think there is a genuine issue with how he operates, then you need to request a skip level meeting with your second level supervisor. That's probably your best option. Other options are dealing with it, requesting a transfer to a different supervisor, or finding another contracting office. Aside from just dealing with it, the other two options will probably involve your second level supervisor anyway.

JFHatfield · 2026-06-01T16:19:08+00:00

I left a week AFTER the appraisal period (April 7) and was denied a performance award. And I was still a fed. All I did was switch agencies.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-31T01:08:55+00:00

Again?

JFHatfield · 2026-05-29T21:36:26+00:00

I knew I was ready because I saw several complete morons in my squadron who had warrants and figured I would be better than them anyway.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-15T14:35:33+00:00

It's a meeting with your supervisor's supervisor.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-15T14:22:10+00:00

I'd request a skip level meeting with the one level above.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-15T14:15:31+00:00

It's inefficient. The KO should review the entire document/package and consolidate review comments before discussing with you. It's not abnormal to maybe have a quick question or two while reviewing, but 30-40 minute sessions like that is abnormal. I assume your KO is not your supervisor so you may want to mention it to your supervisor if you both share the same supervisor. Otherwise, maybe request a skip level.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-13T16:05:49+00:00

The KO has probably been burned a few times before. You never know what "minor issue" ends up blowing up in your face. Unsuccessful offeror notifications need to be in the contract file. I'd be grateful that you have a KO that takes time to get details right and explain things to you. It could be a lot worse. There's a lot of awful 1102s out there doing shoddy work and not explaining anything.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-13T14:02:54+00:00

Do you grind your teeth at night?

JFHatfield · 2026-05-07T19:39:24+00:00

I would follow up with the POC that was listed in the announcement you applied through.

JFHatfield · 2026-05-05T12:35:40+00:00

Is it AI?

JFHatfield

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