If you get pushed out, how good are your exit opportunities?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OPM is implementing a forced rank system for career SES.

OP here- are t they doing this overall as well? I’ve been told only 30% of the work force can get 4s and 5s and 70% have to be at 3 and below. Which is categorically insane. Why in the world would world would we want a workforce where more than 2/3s are mediocre? I’ve gotten 5s for many years now and they are arbitrarily just going to bust me down to a 3?

They are only encouraging it for the GS so far. And the answer is they will fire more people.

To be fair there is terrible grade inflation at my agency. It would not be hard for me to rate people lower if I had to.

OP here- I don’t feel that way at mine, where we are majority very specialized attorneys. It’s not easy to get a 15. Our journey level attorneys are 12-14, but many never get beyond the 14, or if they do, it’s long into their careers. If they keep me acting long term, I’m going to feel awful rating anyone lower than their current evaluation since we lost more than half our office and the remaining people, including me, are running ourselves ragged trying to keep things going.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OPM is implementing a forced rank system for career SES.

OP here- are t they doing this overall as well? I’ve been told only 30% of the work force can get 4s and 5s and 70% have to be at 3 and below. Which is categorically insane. Why in the world would world would we want a workforce where more than 2/3s are mediocre? I’ve gotten 5s for many years now and they are arbitrarily just going to bust me down to a 3?

They are only encouraging it for the GS so far. And the answer is they will fire more people.

To be fair there is terrible grade inflation at my agency. It would not be hard for me to rate people lower if I had to.

Anonymous wrote:OPM is implementing a forced rank system for career SES.

OP here- are t they doing this overall as well? I’ve been told only 30% of the work force can get 4s and 5s and 70% have to be at 3 and below. Which is categorically insane. Why in the world would world would we want a workforce where more than 2/3s are mediocre? I’ve gotten 5s for many years now and they are arbitrarily just going to bust me down to a 3?

Anonymous wrote:If you are already a comfortable GS-15? Generally no. Comp increase is negligible.

But it really is agency/role dependent.

OP here. I’m a maxed out GS-15. Someone earlier asked, I am an attorney. My SES has never had to testify in front of Congress. I’d be surprised if the role was on anyone’s mind to fill with a political. I’ve never actually seen a smaller office that has an SES heading it. We are sub 10 people when fully subscribed. Currently down to 4. Think all special counsels reporting directly to an SES.

If you are already a comfortable GS-15? Generally no. Comp increase is negligible.

But it really is agency/role dependent.

Anonymous wrote:Can you even apply? Have you been to charm school? I actually thought I heard the ses school got shut down by this admin?

I personally wouldn’t want to be an SES. Even a GS15 is hell at my agency. They have so much responsibility and barely get paid any more. Ours testify in front of Congress yearly. The only benefit would be if you had a deputy and no direct reports. Supervising other managers is easier than supervising non managers too. I love what I do but you couldn’t pay me to be SES. It’s not worth 80k more.

First, at most agencies you do not have to attend "charm school" to apply for SES. (Maybe this poster is DoD - even there you used to attend charm school after you make SES, not before. Maybe that has changed or maybe you mean executive leadership training.). Second, what SES school? There isn't a single SES school. Third, not all SES testify in front of Congress. Though, you should assume it could happen, it depends on a lot of factors. Additionally, SES have direct reports. You may be thinking of ST (perhaps SL) which do not supervise. However, not all agencies have ST or SL. Finally, if only there were an $80 pay bump. For most agencies, the difference between GS-15, Tier 10 and SES is about $20k.

No.

Sorry a week to take it or quit - that's the decision.

What agency? At DHS, I'm aware of SESes being assigned to ICE in a different state and having a week to decide So no absolutely not.

As an SES, I would not.

I think it is very challenging for career ses. Definitely not at dhs, dod or doj

If career civil service, then yes. Otherwise, no.

I would not, given the new SES rating distribution system. You might wind up earning less than you do now, depending on what your GS level is.

They may not even fill the slot with a career employee. They’ve effectively given themselves infinite political slots.

We already know they want to convert many career SES slots to political and are trying to eliminate the cap on politicals at that level. Even if they don’t, they changed the SES hiring process to ensure only politicals make the decisions. They’re also working on “Schedule G” to give themselves unlimited politicals at the GS level.

But they don’t even have to do that to get what they want now. At my agency, a career SES was forced out and replaced with a political. They didn’t make the political the acting, though. They gave them a brand new title that wasn’t in the org chart and layered it between the deputy and the now vacant SES slot. I think they never plan to fill the SES.