Joining SEC from another agency on GS pay scale

[Anonymous]

If you are not a lawyer, steer clear of the SEC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are not a lawyer, steer clear of the SEC.

Everyone, from HR to IT and everyone in between, gets the pay bump. Not sure why people should steer clear of that. Accountants make the same as lawyers, even though private sector salaries are usually lower, so not sure why they would avoid it either.

[Anonymous]

I can imagine that some prior Big Law folks would be turned off by the SEC's salary structure and bureaucracy, for it's a big bump for almost any current Fed who is coming from a GS structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can imagine that some prior Big Law folks would be turned off by the SEC's salary structure and bureaucracy, for it's a big bump for almost any current Fed who is coming from a GS structure.

PP - Meant to say that, "but it's a big bump..."

[MagicBeans]

OP here. That was way faster than a couple weeks, but I can now confirm the offer is higher than my current pay, even if just a bit. I was admittedly hoping for a massive pay bump due to the SK-14 pay band having such a higher limit, but I am extremely relieved I won't have to take a paycut. Thanks for everyone's feedback.

[Anonymous]

MagicBeans wrote:OP here. That was way faster than a couple weeks, but I can now confirm the offer is higher than my current pay, even if just a bit. I was admittedly hoping for a massive pay bump due to the SK-14 pay band having such a higher limit, but I am extremely relieved I won't have to take a paycut. Thanks for everyone's feedback.

Congrats. I have never heard of SEC HR doing anything faster than expected. It took them an incredibly long time to get the formal offer, even though they knew I had another offer that I was considering.

[Anonymous]

Congrats - just curious your field? I've long desired a move to a federal regulatory agency, but I'm an admin/HR type, and my applications never get a whiff. I sometimes don't even know why they post Federal-wide as I suspect a lot of hiring actually within.

[MagicBeans]

Don't want to dox myself. I can tell you that I definitely did not know anyone in the agency and just applied via USA Jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are not a lawyer, steer clear of the SEC.

Everyone, from HR to IT and everyone in between, gets the pay bump. Not sure why people should steer clear of that. Accountants make the same as lawyers, even though private sector salaries are usually lower, so not sure why they would avoid it either.

I wasn’t referring to the salary. It’s just if you’re not a lawyer, you will have no clout at the SEC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are not a lawyer, steer clear of the SEC.

Everyone, from HR to IT and everyone in between, gets the pay bump. Not sure why people should steer clear of that. Accountants make the same as lawyers, even though private sector salaries are usually lower, so not sure why they would avoid it either.

I wasn’t referring to the salary. It’s just if you’re not a lawyer, you will have no clout at the SEC.

Depend on the office. Accountants do ok in the Office of the Chief Accountant. I don’t think HR or IT people have any less clout at the SEC than they do elsewhere. They have clout in their spheres and not elsewhere.

The SEC has more lawyers and more legal focused offices, but that’s just the nature of the work. There aren’t legions of program officers like in some places.

Finally, although you weren’t talking about money, I was. Even if you are right that non-lawyers have less clout, the significantly increased pay salves a lot of wounds. Most people aren’t going to “steer clear” of a big pay bump because of less clout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are not a lawyer, steer clear of the SEC.

Everyone, from HR to IT and everyone in between, gets the pay bump. Not sure why people should steer clear of that. Accountants make the same as lawyers, even though private sector salaries are usually lower, so not sure why they would avoid it either.

I wasn’t referring to the salary. It’s just if you’re not a lawyer, you will have no clout at the SEC.

Depend on the office. Accountants do ok in the Office of the Chief Accountant. I don’t think HR or IT people have any less clout at the SEC than they do elsewhere. They have clout in their spheres and not elsewhere.

The SEC has more lawyers and more legal focused offices, but that’s just the nature of the work. There aren’t legions of program officers like in some places.

Finally, although you weren’t talking about money, I was. Even if you are right that non-lawyers have less clout, the significantly increased pay salves a lot of wounds. Most people aren’t going to “steer clear” of a big pay bump because of less clout.

If you want to feel valued and you’re not a lawyer, the SEC is a nightmare. It’s run like a law firm.
I’m leaving.

[Anonymous]

Good! More opportunity for others who want to be there!

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind the raises run on a different schedule than for the GaS scale- April rather than January.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind the raises run on a different schedule than for the GaS scale- April rather than January.

That was the case this year as we moved to the new system. I don’t know is it permanent or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are not a lawyer, steer clear of the SEC.

Everyone, from HR to IT and everyone in between, gets the pay bump. Not sure why people should steer clear of that. Accountants make the same as lawyers, even though private sector salaries are usually lower, so not sure why they would avoid it either.

I wasn’t referring to the salary. It’s just if you’re not a lawyer, you will have no clout at the SEC.

Depend on the office. Accountants do ok in the Office of the Chief Accountant. I don’t think HR or IT people have any less clout at the SEC than they do elsewhere. They have clout in their spheres and not elsewhere.

The SEC has more lawyers and more legal focused offices, but that’s just the nature of the work. There aren’t legions of program officers like in some places.

Finally, although you weren’t talking about money, I was. Even if you are right that non-lawyers have less clout, the significantly increased pay salves a lot of wounds. Most people aren’t going to “steer clear” of a big pay bump because of less clout.

I'm going to second this and say that economists do very well at the SEC. DERA is truly the darling of the SEC and they seem to be treated very well. Accountants in Corp Fin also do very well from what I've seen. Not only that, it's truly the best of all available opportunities to make that kind of money and have work life balance.