That was normal at my first fed job. I had to beg for work. A couple times my supervisor asked me to go photocopy something for him after I begged long enough for something to do. I was hired as an attorney. I eventually stopped asking.

When I first got there, my position was eliminated and they didn't know what to do with me, so shuffled me between 3 departments in the span of 6 weeks. Eventually I landed in a cubicle in a corner where no one talked to me for months unless I sought them out.


I finally connected with a supervisor in yet another department who needed assistance and I got transferred to his group. That was 6 months in. After 8 months a new opportunity at another agency came along and I jumped at it because I had such a bad taste for where I was after everything. My new job was not all like the first, I was thrown head first in on major projects and never once lacked for work.

Would love to do that, but I won't get access to our learning module for two weeks (I found out because I googled around looking for it and then called their customer service myself). Honestly, I can make up stuff to do and read to fill the time, that's not the issue. I guess I'm just venting and asking if there's some way I can get my supervisor to be more engaged? Or is this somewhat normal for fed jobs? Or what?

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, they all seem to be chatting. I've gone around and introduced myself since my supervisor clearly wasn't going to do it and I said to everyone "please let me know if I can assist with anything." I really want to work... Seriously. I've been rearranging my desk, getting my accounts all set up because no one told me what accounts I needed or how to do that, reading every single policy and website related even marginally... Guess I'll keep bugging my supervisor until she makes time for me.

What was your job description and what did your supervisor say in your hiring interview that you would be doing? Are there skills that you could improve that would apply for your job? Are there on-line tutorials for skills that would complement your skill-set to help you do your job? Are there software packages that were in the job description that were "not required, but would be nice to have" that you could try to teach yourself to use? Most federal agencies have some form of on-line training material, for example where everyone has to take the annual ethics, violence in the workplace, discrimation, etc courses. Find out the address for the training site, get your user account for that and start browsing. Most of them have hundreds of optional courses that can be taken, everything from technical courses, to supervisory or leadership training to personal improvement courses that you can read and take. Also, through the training portal, you may also find that your agency has access to Books 24x7 which has some great on-topic and off-topic titles to read. Both my agency and my wife's agency have access to Books 24x7 and in addition to technical resources, it also has courses on balancing work-life, handling stress, how to improve sleep, etc. Lots of useful courses that can be accessed through the training portal.

She interviewed me, selected me, and called me with the offer.

Did your supervisor have a say in your hiring? I know someone who was ignored by his supervisor at a new job. His co-workers said the manger wasn't too thrilled because he didn't have a say in picking his employees.

What job series?

Honestly, they all seem to be chatting. I've gone around and introduced myself since my supervisor clearly wasn't going to do it and I said to everyone "please let me know if I can assist with anything." I really want to work... Seriously. I've been rearranging my desk, getting my accounts all set up because no one told me what accounts I needed or how to do that, reading every single policy and website related even marginally... Guess I'll keep bugging my supervisor until she makes time for me.

Welcome to the federal government!! Or at least a typical Fed agency. Basically your supervisor has no motivation to make sure you are occupied and integrated into the team. This is because there is no profit motive. You were probably just hired to make sure all FTEs were filled so that she didn't lose any resources.

What are your coworkers doing? Sounds like you're going to have to be proactive and find your own work. That's going to be the only way to stay sane.

If it's 10:30 during the work day, what the heck are you doing posting on DCUM while on your first week in the job???

And you are a Fed too?

Thanks for wasting our tax dollars.

Find something to do please, even if it is just rearranging your desk or reading more training manuals. Ask someone if they need help.

Anonymous wrote:This is my first week. My supervisor (federal position) has literally given me nothing to do, nothing to read, doesn't come say hi in the morning. I have been finding and reading policies myself, but after four days, I'm pretty much done with that. Tuesday I asked her if we could meet to talk about expectations. She scheduled an hour for me Wednesday and I asked questions and she answered. Since that wasnt really much time, I asked her to let me know when she had more time to chat and she said sure, but I never saw her again. She's nice when I'm right in front of her, but if I didn't make an active effort to go say hi or ask questions, I would never have seen her.

Suggestions on what else I could be doing? Why might this be happening? I've never had this happen in a job before and it's flipping me out a bit.

Sounds about right. When I started my Fed job my boss was on vacation for more than a week. It took two weeks to get email, so I was so bored.

There is also the possibility that you were hired for work expected to come in sometime in the near future, but that the work is not available for you yet, although it is odd that your supervisor did not mention something like this. Do you know any of the other people in your department or in your supervisor's group? If you know who they are, go and introduce yourself, and let them know that you have just come on board and if there is anything that you can do to help them, to let you know. In most places in the federal government, most peoples' task loads are so overwhelmed because of attrition and budget cuts that everyone is doing at least 2 full-time employees worth of work. Someone is sure to have something that has been languishing on their desk that they can hand off to you until your supervisor takes a direct hand in assigning you work.

It is similar to my last job in terms of area, but it's a new agency and I'm sure a different set-up. It's a journey level position, so obviously I know enough about the subject toget going, but I don't know specifically what to work on or what my expectations and priorities are.

OP, what is the job? Maybe she thinks you should know what is expected. It is odd though that she is not meeting with you a lot. Perhaps there is a lot going on in the office and she is preoccupied.

Just keep trying. I've had jobs like that where I sat, no training for months and then they threw me into it full force with no support. It sucks. It probably isn't going to get any better. Good luck.

This is my first week. My supervisor (federal position) has literally given me nothing to do, nothing to read, doesn't come say hi in the morning. I have been finding and reading policies myself, but after four days, I'm pretty much done with that. Tuesday I asked her if we could meet to talk about expectations. She scheduled an hour for me Wednesday and I asked questions and she answered. Since that wasnt really much time, I asked her to let me know when she had more time to chat and she said sure, but I never saw her again. She's nice when I'm right in front of her, but if I didn't make an active effort to go say hi or ask questions, I would never have seen her.

Suggestions on what else I could be doing? Why might this be happening? I've never had this happen in a job before and it's flipping me out a bit.