USA Jobs is nuts

[Anonymous]

I should give up on federal jobs.

A Ph.D or law degree required for a GS 9 position?

Inaccurate job descriptions?

I look at the questionnaire first because the job descriptions don’t include everything that’s required in the questionnaire.

They’ll ask have you submitted X to Congress or reviewed DHS policy with senior DHS managers.

Um, no. How many of us from outside government have submitted a specific type of report to Congress in our daily jobs?

If you want to hire an internal candidate, please do not waste our time with ghost job postings.

These take an hour to tailor and proofread for each position.

[Anonymous]

Don’t blame USAJobs though. Federal requirements say that jobs have to be posted publicly and there’s an indicator to tell you if it’s truly internal. What you’re complaining about is that sometimes the “open to the public” jobs are wired for a specific person and the problem there is that government hiring doesn’t allow a way to hire that someone without posting it. Do you really want that rule to go away? I’ve heard of examples where someone else gets the wired job and that helps keep hiring a little bit more honest.

And if you’re upset about needing a Ph.D or law degree for a GS9, then what really irks you is that the government doesn’t offer enough pay for well qualified entry level jobs. Again, not a USAJobs problem.

[Anonymous]

Agree 100% with PP.

[Anonymous]

Many jobs are heavily geared towards contractors already working them so they flip over to the agency.

You might want to find a job with a large contractor first and then use that experience to flip over to the agency down the road.

[Anonymous]

Agree with previous posters, and for the questions about interacting with senior agency manager, those are certainly meant to weed out a large chunk of applicants, but it also is likely a critical part of the job, and finding people who have the experience and soft skills needed to get and keep things moving in the upper levels of a bureaucracy is important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many jobs are heavily geared towards contractors already working them so they flip over to the agency.

You might want to find a job with a large contractor first and then use that experience to flip over to the agency down the road.

That’s a good idea. I used to work for a contractor. My main contact on the government side was another contractor (friend) hired by our government client.

That said, maybe I should look at those smaller contracting companies that operate more like temp agencies for the government.

OP

[Anonymous]

As a contractor, these are things I’ve done. I think expanding your search to contractors is a wise idea, and will offer better pay (unless you are very junior).

[Anonymous]

If you're in a field where there's a shortage of candidates (like the occupations doing direct hiring), network with feds. There's a lot of information that's specific to your field and to federal hiring.

[Anonymous]

If you’re just applying blind and don’t know anyone hiring, I think you’re not going to have a high chance of getting hired.

[Anonymous]

GS 9 is what PhD or Law degrees come in at if they are just out of school and have no experience. I don't think that's crazy. We can offer GS11 sometimes to them. GS7 is for BS/BA degrees.

If you think our ads are crazy, you should see the candidates we get. They're just not qualified. I think ads try to get more and more specific to weed out these candidates but it doesn't help. I wish they'd bring back KSAs or even maybe a short phone screening would be helpful. I hire for GS13/14s and at that level the person should be an expert with 10+ years of experience. It's very hard to find those people versus the people who do my job as an ancillary duty 5% of the time and aren't very familiar with my work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’re just applying blind and don’t know anyone hiring, I think you’re not going to have a high chance of getting hired.

Not true at all.

In fact, when I know candidates and want to hire people I know, they don't even show on the cert list. Knowing a hiring manager isn't helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re just applying blind and don’t know anyone hiring, I think you’re not going to have a high chance of getting hired.

Not true at all.

In fact, when I know candidates and want to hire people I know, they don't even show on the cert list. Knowing a hiring manager isn't helpful.

Is an internal “shoo-in” candidate ever beaten out by a stronger external candidate? I can see wanting a fresh perspective in some cases, but also imagine it could be really bad for morale to hire an external over internal candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re just applying blind and don’t know anyone hiring, I think you’re not going to have a high chance of getting hired.

Not true at all.

In fact, when I know candidates and want to hire people I know, they don't even show on the cert list. Knowing a hiring manager isn't helpful.

Is an internal “shoo-in” candidate ever beaten out by a stronger external candidate? I can see wanting a fresh perspective in some cases, but also imagine it could be really bad for morale to hire an external over internal candidate.

Only if that external candidate has connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re just applying blind and don’t know anyone hiring, I think you’re not going to have a high chance of getting hired.

Not true at all.

In fact, when I know candidates and want to hire people I know, they don't even show on the cert list. Knowing a hiring manager isn't helpful.

Is an internal “shoo-in” candidate ever beaten out by a stronger external candidate? I can see wanting a fresh perspective in some cases, but also imagine it could be really bad for morale to hire an external over internal candidate.

There's often not enough money for both candidates. They can't have both internal candidate doing old job and external candidate doing new job because there was only enough money for 1. And there's often FTE caps too.

If there is enough money for both the old job and the new job to exist, this can happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re just applying blind and don’t know anyone hiring, I think you’re not going to have a high chance of getting hired.

Not true at all.

In fact, when I know candidates and want to hire people I know, they don't even show on the cert list. Knowing a hiring manager isn't helpful.

Is an internal “shoo-in” candidate ever beaten out by a stronger external candidate? I can see wanting a fresh perspective in some cases, but also imagine it could be really bad for morale to hire an external over internal candidate.

There's often not enough money for both candidates. They can't have both internal candidate doing old job and external candidate doing new job because there was only enough money for 1. And there's often FTE caps too.

If there is enough money for both the old job and the new job to exist, this can happen.

I’m thinking more like a vertical promotion. So an internal Program Manager applies for a vacant Program Director job that is also advertised publicly. Two different positions, not a ladder promotion if that makes sense. Is there incentive to hire the internal candidate and backfill that position?