Pros and cons of taking a federal job as a direct hire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The major issue is if you want to move to another federal job, you don't count as a current, competitively-hired federal employee. That's partly why offices that rely heavily on direct hires have such low attrition rates - people stick around, or they leave the federal government entirely, because it's much harder for them to switch. Also, a lot of direct hire appointments are also term hires. You might find a way to be brought on permanently, but it's less likely than if you were brought on not in a term appointment.

This. It's hard to move to another fed job if you're a direct hire. I did have mine converted, but I was hired into a special program that offered that. And the second I was converted into competitive service, I started applying and left.

I have never heard of this. My office did direct hires for many years and IT and Economist positions. People move around all the time. We do not have term limits either.

Same. We usually do direct hires for technical jobs. You convert to a career employee in all circumstances I've worked with. Check that's the case with this job.

Regarding your questions about benefits, it really is standard for all government so that's why you are getting that response. Matching up to 5% to your TSP (Fed version of the 401k), look at the links regarding pension. In some agencies, that stuff goes through another group that's not HR, or at least that's how it is at my agency. Relocation expenses is job by job. We very seldom do it at my agency and the one time I did as a hiring manger, I had to do a lot of justification. It was my decision, not HR's. So you will need to ask for that up front. It's probably unlikely that you'll get relocation unless you have a very special skill set that's hard to hire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Federal Hr specialist here. There are no downsides to being hired as Direct Hire if it’s your first appointment in the Federal Service.

Direct Hire is simply a hiring flexibility authorized by OPM for certain positions that are deemed hard to fill, essentially. It allows for the hiring manager to have a faster certificate of candidates because the candidates all only have to meet the specialized experience statement (there are no assessment questions, rating, or Veteran’s preference rules applied). The hiring official can then select from the list, and from there, the normal hiring rules apply about setting pay.

The PP above who was told that he couldn’t get step 7 because of direct hire - I don’t see how that’s how related at all. Federal pay is always set at step 1 of the grade under GS, though new appointments can try to argue that their superior qualifications are enough to bring them in at a higher grade. Some agencies allow this a lot, others never do, and a lot of it depends on HR strictness because it has to be approved by Hr, not just the hiring manager.

If you are coming from one federal position to a direct hire position, note that you may have to redo your probationary period, since this is a different kind of appointment.

I am the step 7 PP. they said as a competitive hire they would have approved step 7 given my qualifications, but wouldn’t do that as a direct hire. In their mind, the standard was different, or at least they applied it differently in those two contexts.

It is hardly the only time a Fed HR has either been outright wrong, or at least had odd interpretations of the rules.

[Anonymous]

as the HR specialist said, direct hire is just a special authority.

Do check to see if it's a regular fed job or one with a limited term.

[Anonymous]

Was your position advertised??

[Anonymous]

I was a direct hire and came in as a 13 step 10.

My initial offer was 13 step 1, they have authorization to match current salary via step increase.

90% of Fed HR are absolutely worthless, you need to press to make things happen.

It’s hard to realize this, because the hiring process is so broken. But once you are talking to a person and have the offer they can/will do a lot to get you in the door.