Contractor --> Fed. How much and what did you negotiate?

[Anonymous]

I am still in the very early stages, so this is wishful thinking. I would be going from 20+ years consulting/contracting to a GS-15 position. I have heard that people can negotiate things like annual leave based on experience. Is that true? What else can you negotiate based on experience? How do salary negotiations work? Would I Just have to negotiate to the highest possible step level that they'd give me and then be happy with COL adjustments after that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am still in the very early stages, so this is wishful thinking. I would be going from 20+ years consulting/contracting to a GS-15 position. I have heard that people can negotiate things like annual leave based on experience. Is that true? What else can you negotiate based on experience? How do salary negotiations work? Would I Just have to negotiate to the highest possible step level that they'd give me and then be happy with COL adjustments after that?

How much do you currently earn? Go to the ppm tables and see what GS 14/15 position matches closest.

The other question is if the position you’re going for has a control point, which is a cap. Could be a 14-10, which matches somevstep in the 15 range.

[Anonymous]

Did you get the job? Or are you trying to find one?

[Anonymous]

I took a significant pay cut to join the government. Couldn’t even negotiate additional leave earnings, and I’d been doing the exact same job as a contractor for many years. But a friend got in as a step 8 in his grade due to his prior salary. So it is completely agency dependent.