Applying for a United States Federal job can be a perplexing affair but it does not have to be. Federal job announcements are written to comply with various laws that include merit staffing, veterans preference and equal employment opportunity laws. This can mean that the job announcement is far from the plain language that many are used to in daily living. This article will go over the terms of a federal job announcement in an effort to help clear the fog from a sometimes difficult to understand process.
Initial Information
Listed below are the line items in an actual federal job announcement posted on USAJOBS on November 23rd, 2010. The items initalics are from the announcement followed by a short explanation.
Job Title: Program Specialist (Lessons Learned), GS-0301-13/14 – This is a Program Specialist who will work in the lessons learned branch. The position is part of the “General Schedule,” it is coded 0301 for general administration and can be filled at either the GS-13 or 14 level depending on experience. For those hired at the GS-13 level, promotion to GS-14 is possible after a year of service.
Department: Department Of Homeland Security– The federal department that manages the sub-agency that has posted the job announcement.
Agency: Federal Emergency Management Agency– The actual agency where the job is located. In this case it is FEMA and given the agency performance during hurricane Katrina it is probably a good thing that they have a “lessons learned” department. One can only hope that they actually learn from their mistakes.
Job Announcement Number: MG-2011-T0028-DCF-409362D/M– An internal control number that the applicant should retain in case there are questions during the process of applying for the job. It is best to print out the announcement or save the web page as a screen shot or pdf file. Attempting to ask questions about the job announcement without this internal control number means being shuffled around on the phone until disconnected.
Salary Range: $89,033.00 - $136,771.00 /year– This is the starting pay for a GS-13 in the DC area and the final pay for a GS-14, step 10 in the DC area. Plan on starting at the lowest possible level as many citizens believe federal employees are paid too much and the government does want to save money whenever possible.
Open Period: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 to Tuesday, December 07, 2010– This is the period of time that the job announcement is available to the general public and the application, resume, qualifications and all supporting documents must be in by midnight of the closing date.
Series & Grade: GS-0301-13/14– This states the same information that was presented above. Not all agencies present that information in the Job Title position so the format requires it here also. It is for those government officials who provide too much information.
Position Information: Full Time Career/Career Conditional– This tells the applicant that it is a full time position and that it is permanent position as opposed to a term position which could last anywhere from a few months to 4 years.
Promotion Potential: 14 – Another repeat of information. In this case, the promotion potential is 14, as in GS-14.
Duty Locations: 1 vacancy - Washington DC Metro Area, DC– This tells the applicant where the job is located. The federal civil service seems to be fascinated by things military and calls work site a duty location, much like service members refer to their duty station.
Who May be Considered: US Citizens and Status Candidates– This states who may have a remote chance of getting the job. Virtually every federal job requires US citizenship. The term “status candidates” also refers to citizens who are already employed by the federal government or are honorably discharged veterans who can also apply under the “status” category.
Key Requirements
This includes few extra items that may or may not have been disclosed earlier or in another part of the job announcement.
You must be a U.S. citizen to be considered for this position. – This is a repeat of the earlier information on “who may apply.”
You may be required to serve a probationary period of 1 year. – This statement allows the agency to fire the person it hired if they are less than impressed.
This position requires a Top Secret security clearance. – This will require filling out over 15 pages of personal information and waiting for over 6 months for the clearance to come back with additional questions to answer before it goes back for another 6 month wait. In other words, if the applicant doesn’t have a Top Secret security clearance already they the applicant should just forget about applying for this job.
Occassional [sic] travel may be required. – (Spelling provided by FEMA) – This means the agency may require the person hired to travel to various locations via government paid travel, eating government paid meals and staying in a government paid hotel room.
Direct Deposit is mandatory. – This means that the government wants information on the applicant’s bank account so the paycheck is deposited electronically and thus saves the government money because they don’t have to print a check.
All male applicants born after 12/31/1959 are required to register.– Unless this is spelled out a little better the male applicants may be wondering what registration is required. The real requirement is that male applicants born after 12/31/1959 must register for the selective service, otherwise known as “the draft” so that they can be conscripted into military service should the need arise.
Time-in-Grade Requirements: Status applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the Federal service. To be creditable, one (1) year is required at the GS-12 level for the GS-13.To be creditable; one (1) year is required at the GS-13 level for the GS-14. – Time in grade is another military reference and it means that a person must have at least one year of service in the grade just under the position being applied for or else the applicant is not eligible for the position regardless of other qualifications. For private sector experience the federal resume must be written well enough to have the human resources professional grade the experience as equivalent to the federal service. This can be difficult because most government HR types believe federal service is much more complicated and demanding than the private sector where things like profit and market share come into play.
All qualifications and grade equivalency requirements must be met within 30 calendar days of the closing date of this announcement. – This is the exception statement that allows the applicant to be close to meeting the requirements on the closing date to still apply for the position. The reason this line is here is because very few government agencies are capable of reaching a hiring decision within 30 days. Some reports put this at much closer to 180 days.
Security Clearance Requirements: Top Secret Security Clearance – A repeat of earlier information and considering the length of time it takes to hire and then run the security clearance the prospective employee may well have moved on to another job. Then the agency must start the process all over again.
Getting a government job is a process that takes time and an understanding of the jargon that the federal government uses. If applying for a federal job it is best to apply for several jobs in the same category and if the rating for the applicant is less than 90 (out of 100) then the applicant may want to consider doing a rewrite of the resume.
TLE101
Mark Butler - Mark Butler is a Navy veteran and the author of The Coffee Break Guide for Veterans Seeking Federal Employment.
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