Tentative Fed Gov't Job offer...need advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the current economy, I'd say you were lucky to even get an offer. My agency is only hiring scientists/engineers, no other positions, and those are only at GS12/13 salaries due to the government spending cuts.
To me, you seem naive to even be considering negotiating your salary. It's like you're not aware of the current environment for Feds.

I don't think OP is naive at all. She has a job offer in hand. The worst that could happen is that the feds could come back and say, sorry, unfortunately due to budget constraints, we can't give you a higher starting salary. It would be naive (and a very common mistake that women, in particular, make) to NOT negotiate for the best salary to start off with. This is your best time to give yourself a salary boost, other than receiving a competing job offer that one would take.

I agree. You can also ask to start at 6 hours of leave per pay period. That is being granted very liberally in my office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did negotiate for a higher salary moving from private to Fed. I had to provide a current paystub, my last review, and something from my current boss saying when my next review was due and what increase I would likely get. I also wrote a note about how I was already trained, ready to go -- didn't need classes, etc. -- and that my commitment to public service meant I'd take the Fed job at a lower salary but they'd benefit from paying me what I was making. I worked hard on the letter. It came down to my supervisor fighting for me.

agreed. it really is dependent on the agency, the position and the hiring mgr. i negotiated from a step 1 to step 7 to match my current salary at the time. but i have a hard to find skill and my hiring manager was a kick a$$ whenit came to manuevering the HR siuation. OP - bottom line is that it does not hurt to ask, bur you should ask the hiring mgr, not HR, who are generally clueless about their own discipline.

[Anonymous]

I've been told by a number of people working in several different bureaus of a particular agency that I would be brought in at a 15/10, which is what everyone with at least 8 years of experience coming from the private firms gets. I also was told that nothing could be done about the rate of accrual of vacation days, but that at this agency the supervisors allow you to elect to receive additional time off as a performance bonus in lieu of a monetary bonus.

[Anonymous]

You need to have the person hiring you (your future boss), not HR, fight for you. I think you've gotten some good suggestions. It's worth trying for. And I agree, that a man would ask for, and get, more!

[Anonymous]

What? From what I read in the newspapers, Feds are WAY over paid. You can't possibly be saying that you'd have less vacation and, at best, equal pay when switching from private to government work. I mean, that would mean the republicans are lying, wouldn't it?

[Anonymous]

I tmust be the great health insurance that she is switching for (ha ha)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What? From what I read in the newspapers, Feds are WAY over paid. You can't possibly be saying that you'd have less vacation and, at best, equal pay when switching from private to government work. I mean, that would mean the republicans are lying, wouldn't it?

You need to read a bit more. Secretarial and administrative workers are paid more than the private sector norm; however, white collar professionals (lawyers, doctors, scientists, PhDs, etc.) are paid far less than what they would be paid in the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Most of the jobs I saw on USAjobs have a huge salary range (like $117,000 - $170,000). Is there really a flexible range in reality?

[Anonymous]

the benefits are decent family friendly hours and job stability. you are not going to get fired no matter how badly you f-up. the pay isnt what youd get at say a major accounting/law/lobbying firm but you may keep your sanity.

[Anonymous]

I like my job. There's no exact private counterpart for the type of law I practice with the feds. I get to do what I want for the most part, get to run my cases the way I want to, and am mostly left alone.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Fed Spvr.

The technical term for getting an increased step in the advertised grade is called "Advanced in Hire".

If your office has the budget and wants to do it they can.

Do not negotiate until you have the firm offer.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what are the big benefits of working for the government? It's not the money or vacation time...is it just benefits? I was considering applying for a job I saw on usajobs but am wondering if it's even worth the time. I have a good job now that pays well and has great PTO but wanted to see what else is out there as I'm a little bored.

A defined pension plan and health insurance for life. Of course, that may well change by the time I retire .

Is this true? I didn't think they had that anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the benefits are decent family friendly hours and job stability. you are not going to get fired no matter how badly you f-up. the pay isnt what youd get at say a major accounting/law/lobbying firm but you may keep your sanity.

This

[Anonymous]

I negotiated but the best I could get was step 2 (GS-13). Better than nothing. It was a 50% pay cut (coming from a firm) so there was no way they could match my salary, obviously.

I also tried to negotiate accumulating more leave hours from the get-go (6 per pay period instead of 4), but they said no. I had heard of other people doing this at other agencies -- might be worth it to give it a try.

[Anonymous]

You bring it up, as in other situations, and your potential boss will tell you if it is impossible or not. You pretty much need an outside offer.

It is NOT required that you start as a Step 1. It may be the case that the office trying to hire you needs to defend why it is more than a Step 1, but that is for them to worry about, and not you. If it can't be done (or they don't want to), they will tell you.