Getting your first federal job sucks but so worth it in the end if this is really where you want to work. So let me help by sharing my experience of how to search and apply for a federal job. Since this is based on my experience, I will be talking about General Schedule (GS) jobs, which are also the most common.
Position Classification Code
Let’s say you already have qualifications and know what kind of work you want to do. The first step is to figure out what the terminology and job code the feds use for what you do. Before heading to USAJobs.gov go instead to the Office of Personnel Management or OPM.gov.
A key item to understand about federal jobs is that no matter who you work for, in which state or country, or in what capacity, there is consistency in how people are hired, how they are paid, how they are promoted, how they are reprimanded, and so on. All of this is done out of OPM.
To figure out what the federal government calls the work that you do, you need to find the job description that is a best fit. What you are looking for is the Handbook of Occupation Groups and Families. This document is jobs clumped together into groups because they are similar and then broken down into various series. Each position has a four-digit number to identify it as unique and different from other jobs.
If you really want to get into the weeds of the job classification system, that document is Introduction to the Position classification Standards which is 73 pages long.
In the handbook, somewhere, you will find either your job or the best fit to your job. For example, I am an Industrial Hygienist which means I am in the 0600 – Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group because the Feds always structures my position under Public Health. When I am working as a Safety Specialist that job is in the 0000 – Miscellaneous Occupations Group (Not Elsewhere Classified). Now even though Industrial Hygiene and Safety Specialist are two sides of the same coin, the jobs are grouped differently. Moral of the story, the job you want to do may not be in the group you think it should be.
Once you identify your group and series, take a read through the details on that job. The handbook has a paragraph summary of each job and a link to a pdf with all of the details for that job. The Position Classification Standard is the document you are ultimately looking for. Find this document for each job code that you are interested in and refer back to it during your job search. See if you can’t find at least 2 job codes that work for you to broaden your search.
In general, the Position Classification Standard is what every agency, department, office, detachment, etc. has to abide by when creating a job position and then hiring for it. No matter where you go, if the job is advertised on USAJobs.gov with this four-digit code, then that job has to meet the standards set forth in the Position Classification Standard for that job code.
I think taking the time on the front end to find the right job code really helps with finding and applying for the best fit jobs. For example, I have often found that the job title is spelled differently (Industrial Hygiene vs. Hygienist) or misspelled so if my search is based on job title, I’m missing all of the ones that do not fit the exact wording I used in the search. And guess what, an agency will sometimes advertise the job you want under the right four-digit code but use a completely different job title. That’s always fun.
GS Grade
Before you go much further, you’re going to want to figure out the Grade you will be aiming for. The Grade is like your Rank in the military. It’s the level you are being hired at which is both about the complexity of the work you are expected to do and the amount of pay you will be receiving. Higher Grades have higher complexity of work, higher education requirements, and higher compensation.
Go to the Position Classification Standard and in there is a Grade Conversion Table. You get points based on what you can do for that job and how well you can do it. Your points determine where you fall on the Grade scale. How do you figure out your points? It’s complicated. You can spend some time going through the pdf to try and score yourself. Or you can apply for a bunch of different grades that are offering the pay you are willing to accept and see what sticks.
To see what the pay is for the different Grades, google GS Pay Scale and look for the current year. The first thing you will notice is that there are different charts for different locations. That is because of locality pay, which is base pay plus cost of living expense for an expensive area. Look for your location, and if it's not on the list, use the base pay chart.
To read the chart you have the Grade along the side and the Steps along the top. Again, the Grade is like your rank with the Steps being your seniority. A person can be a GS-11 for years with no promotion. But their Steps and their pay will increase based on how long they have been a GS-11. For those just starting out, assume you will come in a Step 1 of the Grade you are aiming for.
However, there is a way to come in at a higher Step. For me, I was able to prove that I would take a pay cut if I came in at Step 1 so that job matched my pay by bringing me in at a Step 7. This is negotiated after the Tentative Job Offer. This is also where gender inequality will occur.
Even though there is a lot of standardization in the jobs arena of the federal government, determining that step level at the time of hire is critical. And men generally get placed higher. So women, advocate and negotiate for yourself a higher Step.
Resume
With the Position Classification Standard saved and handy, now you head over USAJobs.gov and create your account. A part of the account creation is going through a resume wizard where you put into a web field all of your experience, education, certifications, awards, etc. Remember, whatever you claim in the resume will need to be verified with documentation, so ensure to have certs, transcripts, etc. scanned and uploaded to your account.
For describing your experience, I suggest using the Position Classification Standard to help with choosing terminology and phrasing. For good communication, it is helpful for everyone to be talking about the same thing in the same way. Example, my experience is about going into the workplace to inspect for violations of the OSHA standards. Or I can rephrase it to say evaluations of occupational hazards. They both say the same thing but to a lay person relying on the Position Classification Standard or Position Description, one is clearer than the other.
Is it time to Job Search Yet?
Almost. After your account is set up, you need to figure out if you have a special hiring path open to you. Not every job is open to the general public because there are various rules about prioritizing people for jobs based on all kinds of reasons. If you can apply to jobs that are restricted, then you have more options.
Go to the home page of USA Jobs and scroll down to ‘Explore hiring paths’. Click each one to see if you have those qualifications. Some examples and reasons why they have preference includes:
· Veterans, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps – these are folks who have served their country and are being given an opportunity to apply first as a way to say ‘thank you’
· Military spouses – active-duty members have to move frequently which is hard on the spouse. Giving the spouse a first chance at jobs in their area is a way to ease their burden.
· Student’s and recent grads – some jobs are set up to be entry level with career development built in. Using this search criteria is an easy way to find those jobs.
With the job series number, the grade you want, your hiring paths, and any other criteria you have in mind such as location, go ahead and set up your saved searches. Make sure to get daily emails, this is really important. If you’re getting spammed, then set up an inbox rule to filter those emails into a folder. But keep the daily email report if you are actively looking. The reason is that some of these jobs are here and gone. I don’t know why, but the good ones are only posted for a short period of time, like days. The ones that are posted for a long period of time have never, ever panned out for me.
What I mean by ‘posted for a period of time’ is that there is an opening and a close date on the job announcement. You don’t want to miss out on applying for the job because you miss the closing date. Once that announcement is closed it is gone.
Apply to Everything
After all of that now you are ready to start actually looking at job announcements. The job announcement on the website is going to seem to be kind of overwhelming at first. But as you start to read through lots of them, you can get a feel for where you need to look for the site-specific information and where is the verbatim information that’s in each announcement.
Each announcement starts with a job title which is made up of three elements.
Name – Series – Grade.
The announcement page will have at the top of the page the different sections, which is the same for all announcements.
Summary, This job is open to, Duties, Requirements, How you will be evaluated, Required documents, and How to apply.
Feel free to skip all of this and click the great, big, blue ‘Apply’ button and just start in on that. Do this if your already confident that yup, you qualify. Remember, there is no penalty for applying to a job you don’t qualify for, except your time.
The way it works is that when you apply for the job you will then have to go through a lengthy process of inputting a lot of information on the front end. Get comfy. You’re probably going to be asked a whole bunch of questions where you need to rate yourself on a particular skill or knowledge needed for the job. Everything you say you can do needs to be backed up by experience in the resume.
Apply for everything you think you qualify for and looks good to you. Don’t worry about too many applications because there is no such thing. Be honest about your skill level, but don’t second guess yourself either. And never undersell yourself. Humility will get you nowhere.
I’ve applied, now what?
You can view all of the jobs you have applied for in your account. And there is a status bar next to it to tell you at what stage the process is. Received by Agency, Reviewed, Referred, etc. However, in my experience this is hit or miss on how well the status button in updated.
The steps after application are basically HR reviews and checks you have the required background, ranks you against the other applicants, and then send to the hiring manager the most qualified candidates. The hiring manager then reviews and selects which ones they want to interview.
While that is happening, you are waiting (on pins and needles in my case) for that all important email that says, “you have been referred to the hiring manger.” Once you get referred to a hiring manager you should either be selected for an interview or not. If you are selected for an interview, first of all, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Bad Ass!!!
Second, the interviews are always conducted by phone. There will be about 3-5 people conducting the interview who are all related to the position and will be in your potential chain of command somewhere. They all have the same set of questions that they came up with before the interview. Each person will take turns asking a question, you answer as best you can, and each interviewer then grades your answer. The group of interviewers then submits their grades for each candidate to the hiring manager who then tells HR which person they want.
Now, I'm gonna say a thing that is absolutely true but can potentially get me into trouble. I am allowed to speak about this because I am not in a position where I am required to keep confidentiality; however, that won't matter much to someone if they get into trouble for what they did due to what they did coming to light from me speaking out.
I have heard first hand a senior officer instructing the hiring manager on which of the top two candidates he wants to get the job, in part, based on that senior officers google search of the candidate. The senior officer did not like the appearance of the candidate and cited their extensive tattoos as a reason for declining them the job.
Moral of the story, the system is only as fair and impartial as the people in it.
A second interview is possible, but not something I have experience with. Once the hiring manager gives HR their pick, HR then informed the selectee. Again, things fall through the cracks here and I have been offered the job from a live HR person after getting the auto email from USA Jobs saying I was not selected. So, hope never dies, right?
And that’s it. Sooo EASY, right?
The next steps of what happens between the tentative job offer and the formal job offer, I cover in a video on my YouTube channel. The channel is JIM Kendall, and the video is Between Tentative and Formal Job Offer. If you get offered the job and want to see what could be coming your way, I suggest giving that a view.
And that’s it. Good luck!!!
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