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

[Anonymous]

I have received an offer of employment from the Federal Government. The salary offer is about a 5% increase over my current salary. I would like to try to negotiate a higher starting salary. My reasoning is (aside from the obvious--I want more money ): I have not received my salary review for the current year yet (done in July) but it is generally 3-5%, so I am currently due a raise. I haven't completely compared all the other benefits yet, but I do know I will receive less vacation days in the new job. My understanding with the current state of the Feds, I may not get an increase for a while once taking the job so I want to get more to begin with. Additionally there is some room in the pay range.

Can you give advice on negotiating salary with the Federal Government? If it helps, this is a direct hire position so I don't think there is a candidate right behind me if I decline the position, but I could be wrong. And I don't plan on declining the position. I would take it as is but I was really hoping for a little more money.

[Anonymous]

Here is what happened in my situation.

When I qualified...the stupid rating system they used qualified me for a position at a GS-12 step 1 and this was about $10k less than what I was making. So when I got the call with the offer I was told to basically decline but they would negotiate a new salary based on my new potential boss confirming he would put in a request to HR. I was very lucky.

I do not think you will be able to "negotiate" a new salary especially if it is above what you are making now. Unless your potential new supervisor confirms you should reject the offer from the HR rep and they will negotiate a new salary, you might screw yourself. There are no salary negotiations in the Fed and in qualifying for a position above your current salary you should just take it.

[Anonymous]

This varies a lot from agency to agency and a lot of other variables.

For example, I know sometimes in my agency if the position is a GS12-14 position they will refuse to hire at anything higher than GS12 step 1. Other times it will depend on whether you can show the specific experience that someone thinks is equivalent to a GS13, in which case they will start you at GS13/step 1 instead of GS12/1. Other times they will look at your current salary and try to offer you a step that is comparable, so you could end up at GS 12 step 5, instead of step 1.

Generally speaking, however, the HR people are the ones who decide and there isn't any negotiating with them (especially these days), so I would just take it.

[Anonymous]

hahaha... sorry is not going to happen.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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 .

[Anonymous]

You're not going to get the raise you want as an entry level salary IMO ... at my agency they will go to the step within your hiring grade that is closest to your current salary (reviews not done/upcoming are irrelevant). If you're lucky you may even get a tiny bump (I was lucky, the closest step to my current salary was about $300/yr. more than I was making), but that's about all you can expect.

[Anonymous]

OP - this will vary so much depending on pay plan and agency. Is it a GS position? If so, there is likely no negotiation - they hire at that grade and step period. You might have wiggle room if it's a different pay plan.

Incidentally, I'm a Fed and I recently was offered a job at a different agency (currently GS, new agency was pay banded). They offered me a salary that was too low to incentivize me to make the move, I counter-offered and they said they couldn't budge on the salary. So I turned it down. Their hands were tied. There's really not any negotiating at all I the cases I've seen.

Benefits for me to being a Fed are solely limited hours (I work exactly 40 hours a week and they can't really expect more) and flexible schedule (I can work 8-4:30 since that works for me, but many people do 6:30-3 or 10-6:30 or whatever). In my experience, thy tend to be more family friendly. Job stability too.

Other than that, I could def get paid more on the outside.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

PP here, and to add to what I wrote above, there are literally hundreds of applicants for those entry level positions. So consider yourself lucky.

[Anonymous]

Also, while there have been no COLA raises, there are still increases by moving up the GS level. So if you are applying for a job with a career ladder you will still get steps etc..just no COLA. The steps and grades are much more important than COLA. They do run out eventually but hopefully we will see COLAs again at some point.

[Anonymous]

Former OPM lawyer here ---

The pay regs REQUIRE that the agency start you at step 1 unless it is a hard to fill position or you have held a GS level that was higher that that in a previous position. For example.... if you were a GS 13 and you took a different job and had to start at a GS 9 (b/c that's what the position was graded for and/or you don't have experience in the area of the new position), you could in that case start at a GS-9 step 10 (b/c you had already been a GS-13).

If the position has been designated as a "hard to fill" position, (scientific and technical often fit in this category), then they could negotiate with you within any of the steps in the GS level that was offered to you.

OP, what how is your job classified for grade levels? Is it an 11/12/13? If they are bringing you in as a 12, the normal course is that you would bump to a 13 at the end of one year (or whatever the next grade level is). If you are at the top of the grade scale for your position (i.e. they are bringing you in as a 13 using my example), then you can only move up one step each year for the first three years, then one step every two years for steps 4-6, and then one step every three years for steps 7-10. The reason for this is that these are "career" positions... meaning that they stretch out the pay so that they can give you incentives for an entire 20 year career.

OP, unless you are in a hard to fill job, you aren't going to start higher than a step 1.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former OPM lawyer here ---

The pay regs REQUIRE that the agency start you at step 1 unless it is a hard to fill position or you have held a GS level that was higher that that in a previous position. For example.... if you were a GS 13 and you took a different job and had to start at a GS 9 (b/c that's what the position was graded for and/or you don't have experience in the area of the new position), you could in that case start at a GS-9 step 10 (b/c you had already been a GS-13).

If the position has been designated as a "hard to fill" position, (scientific and technical often fit in this category), then they could negotiate with you within any of the steps in the GS level that was offered to you.

OP, what how is your job classified for grade levels? Is it an 11/12/13? If they are bringing you in as a 12, the normal course is that you would bump to a 13 at the end of one year (or whatever the next grade level is). If you are at the top of the grade scale for your position (i.e. they are bringing you in as a 13 using my example), then you can only move up one step each year for the first three years, then one step every two years for steps 4-6, and then one step every three years for steps 7-10. The reason for this is that these are "career" positions... meaning that they stretch out the pay so that they can give you incentives for an entire 20 year career.

OP, unless you are in a hard to fill job, you aren't going to start higher than a step 1.

Pretty much everybody in my office (attorneys) who has any prior experience is not started at a step 1. They are started at a step 6 or 10. I was started at a step 1 and found this out after I started. I did ask for a higher step and was told that it couldn't be justified because I had been out of the workforce for more than 6 mos. However, I did receive a recruitment bbonus of around 35k. I don't think it will hurt to ask.