r/usajobs

Recently got offered a job at the Westeren Area Power Administration as an Accountant. I start as a gs-7. It’s a non competitive gs 12 promotion potential.

I’m a very recent graduate with a master’s in accounting. Haven’t been able to get a private sector job at all after applying since basically the start of my masters.

Looking at the subreddit, it seems right now is a bad time to get a federal job. Saw a few posts months ago about layoffs being still a thing so now I’m concerned. And people saying that federal jobs are just bad now. The fact that I have to basically move to another city for the position makes it so that getting laid off would be problematic.

I do have an offer from my state government to be a tax auditor in my city but haven’t really considered it because the salary is low (around 13k lower starting salary). The position is remote (not really a huge plus for me and all my peers and past professors have told me starting you career remote is not the best idea). And the salary progression is abysmal to the point that it’s barely livable (rises by 5k in a year, and then 13k in another year, afterwards I will have to apply for the higher position in order to get a 6k rise). Being able to live at my parent’s house would help but… kinda don’t wanna be with them forever.

If I do get year by year gs increases, the state salary when including their increases would be 20k lower in a year and 22k lower in two years. I guess my home city is more of a MCOL and the city the federal position is in a HCOL (although looking at the prices, the gap doesn’t seem that significant). But even after factoring COL (rent, groceries, etc), the federal position is still better salary wise.

Only way I see taking the state position working out for my future is if I work for a year or two and apply for the private sector (probably gonna have to be a tax position) after getting my CPA (which is not a guarantee). Feels like my whole career if I take the state job will hinge on passing the CPA.

Just wanted some advice from y’all since I’m having a minor panic attack about my future.

I know it isn’t a huge step or even guarantee anything, but both jobs I applied for with the NPS just sent me a notice of referral. I know it could stay at that status forever, but I am least happy that I passed the initial screening. Even small victories count!!

Had interview recently that was scheduled for 45 minutes (half dozen or so questions) and time for me to ask questions. Ended up going close to one hour as ran into 45 minutes voids I got chance to ask questions. Have no idea of it went well or not. No hint either way than nice to meet you at end of call.

TLDR: I accepted TJO in June with an expected August start date. I completed every document I received before July 4. I just learned they were waiting on a form that was never sent to me, which may delay my background investigation and start date. If I receive another offer and withdraw from this one, could that blacklist me from the agency or fed. contractor in the future?

I recently graduated and have been unemployed since May. In June, I accepted a contingent offer for a federal contractor position supporting an agency (Not HR or IRS), with an anticipated August 31 start. I completed my fingerprinting and submitted every form and document I received as before 4th of July.

Well! I found out today that they are still waiting on another form (eAPP) from me to initiate my background check. The issue is that I never received it. I checked my spam, deleted messages, and everything else I could think of. There is no record of it ever being sent to me. They are going to resend it, but now I am concerned that this could delay the background investigation and push my start date beyond October if the background check has not even started yet and I cannot realistically remain unemployed indefinitely. What makes this harder is that I turned down another job offer about two weeks ago because I felt confident that this position was moving forward and that I would be starting in August.

If I receive another good offer, and this position is still delayed, would withdrawing at that point hurt me with the agency or potentially blacklist me from future opportunities? I would not be withdrawing because I am playing companies against each other or because I suddenly changed my mind, but I do need to make the financially responsible decision if another employer can give me a confirmed start date.

I am a formal VA from Texas, and I am pcs’d to a new location. I have applied for several jobs in the past six months, received 4 interview invitations, and got three job offers. I decided to choose the USACE Army fellow career ladder. I completed the fingerprinting, onboarding, SF 312, and SF 86 security clearance is currently being processed. I believe my clearance should not take long. I am a military spouse, a former VA employee, with no debt, no criminal record, and no history of drug use. My question is, today I received a phone call from the FBI to schedule an interview for the OST position. I forgot about this because it has been 6 months since I applied. Should I withdraw from the FBI process? I have already withdrawn from three positions and declined two others. Also, these positions cannot transfer during my next pcsing, except for USACE. I need some advice. Thank you y’all in advance.

I’ve been waiting for the firestorm of hiring to begin at my old agency, and it looks like it’s begun but with mostly internal only positions not open to former Feds.

I’m surprised by this. Are they first doing promotions and then opening up lower jobs to the public? I see many jobs at my old org that would do well as public postings but are internal only and I’m surprised they made that decision. Folks will just be burdened with double work as their old jobs are left vacant. Maybe that’s by design so they can finally get paid for doing the work of their old bosses?

Or is it an easier hiring pathway to make things internal only? Or some other policy?

Currently a GS9. There is a position in my organization I would be perfect for that is GS11. I do not meet the time in grade but the position is open to public. From my understanding that means I can apply externally and use external experiences to show I qualify for the 11 position. Most of my experience was active duty, does this count for external experience? Additionally does anyone have documentation for being allowed to do this? Thanks for the help.

For HR folks and hiring managers, do you have a strategy for hiring at this time of fiscal year? For example, do you rush TJO/FJO packages before the end of September or do you wait until the start of October where you’ll have a better idea of FTEs?

I work for the USDA and we are being offered the opportunity to relocate to one of their hubs at their cost. It seems they are prioritizing NCR first. Has anyone dealt with this and is it worth it?

I am in limbo waiting to hear about a job I submitted and application for and had an interview, references and everything. Two weeks ago I checked to see about the references and was told they were very good and that my paperwork was being forwarded to HR.

I have never worked with the government and in private companies things may move slowly but I don't know that they move as slow as the government. This application went quick because I contacted the manager privately and that got things moving quickly. Still, these different jobs seem very chaotic and disorganized in general and while this one seemed a lot better I am still just left hanging indefinitely. The Director said it 'would take a few days' with HR but I think that really means weeks.

Anyone have any ideas? For all I know they could have just found someone else and I would never hear back.

Hello! I see many suggestions to send a follow up email on an application after some amount of time with no response. How would I find the contact info for the position I’m applying for? Thank you!

Agency selected me and sent the selection to OPM for review. OPM said there are veterans on the certificate of eligibles for the position. Therefore, the agency informed me they are unable to continue with my selection unless "the veterans are no longer interested/available".

What are the chances of this happening?

Applied for 0950 Paralegal Specialist (GS-11) at NLRB. Former contractor but first Fed job.

Applied 7/21

Referred 7/28

Interview invite -7/28 afternoon

Interview 7/31

References called 7/31 & 8/3

TJO - 8/5

Requested step increase - 8/11

Step increase approved - 8/12

FJO and informed security cleared - 8/14

EOD - 8/24.

Honestly was shocked by how quickly it moved, but this is my *dream* agency and I could not be more thrilled with it. I just moved to the city for school and landed the first Fed job I applied for here.

I just graduated with a Bachelors this summer with a gpa of 2.97. I read on OPM’s website if you have gpa of 2.95 or higher that must be rounded to one decimal place. In this case that would be 3.0. Does this makes me qualify for Gs-7 based on SAA? Please let me know. Thanks

i applied for a health system specialist job at WBAMC. job posting closed on 7/29 and i was referred to hiring manager on 8/6. i know federal job hiring can be super slow, but just wanted to know if anyone has input or advice regarding the timeline?

I was referred to the hiring manager for a GS-12 position, interviewed, was offered the job, and accepted the TJO. Unfortunately, the offer was eventually withdrawn because HR determined that I didn’t meet the qualifications on my resume and previous job history.

Now, the exact same position has been posted again.

If I make the necessary changes to my resume to better demonstrate that I meet the qualifications, do you think HR will remember my name and prevent me from moving forward? I’m worried they’ll see that I already had an opportunity for this position and assume I’ve already had my chance, rather than allowing me to move forward again.

Anybody have experience getting the same job twice after your application was withdrawn the first time?

Hello!

I interviewed for the VSR position last August 7 and have been waiting to hear back, but I still haven’t received any updates from the HR whether I got the job.

Just wanted to ask if anyone else is in the same boat 😅

The waiting is sooooo agonizing!

Question, I’m a former federal employee going back into a federal position. The new job wants my SF-50 from when I was promoted to a GS-10 Step 1 so they can match my grade. Who will I contact to get that information from? I already provided them with my SF-50 when I left federal service but that’s not enough.

I just graduated college this May with a BA in history. I applied for a direct hire 1102 position at USACE in May and got referred at gs7 exactly one month later, on June 3rd. That same day I received an email from the district chief of contracting asking for a confirmation of continued interest, which I sent. I’ve seen on LinkedIn over the past few weeks that this district is hiring again, so it seems like they’re having an easier time with the process than others. Since it’s now august, I’d assume that means that the 90 day window for the direct hire certificate is due to expire relatively soon. If they don’t get a 30 day extension, what does that deadline actually mean? If the expiration was for example September 1st, would that mean they would have to have sent out a TJO notification before that date, or is it possible that the person they select won’t even receive a notification until later? Any advice at all is appreciated, thanks