Getting your foot in the door with USA JOBS ???

That's a great question I'd like to know about too. I'm in the clearing process now for retirement. Will be available to work on 1 September but so far haven't been able to find anything. Really sucks especially with 23 years experience as a logistician.

The first thing you need to know about applying for a federal job via usajobs.com is this: a computer will look at your application first. It will consider how many key words from your resume/application match the job announcement. If the word 'instructor' is misspelled on the job announcement, you need to misspell it the same way on your resume. Why? Most resumes will not be forwarded to the hiring authority. If the computer does not send that person your resume, then there is zero chance of you getting the job.

Hopefully I can help shed some light on this for those of you asking, based on my experience. First thing is, USA Jobs is a HUGE cluster. And there are lots of things i have learned both in my application, and as a federal employee. I came in as a GS-7 last year, and made GS-9 in 6 months, and will be eligible for GS-11 in December.

I have so much information to relate that I am having hard time organizing it , so forgive me if I seem to jump around. I will try to answer the questions in the order I read them

Getting your foot in the door:

As a veteran you have veteran preference. Most people don't understand what this means. This is my understanding based on speaking with HR here at NASA. It means that once you pass the initial qualifications check, you (with everyone else) are sorted into three categories. The first is everyone who meats their wanted requirements. The second are those who meet the minimum requirements, and the third are those who made it past the prescreens by the system, but don't meet all the requirements. Each of these three groups are assigned a score. I don't know what it is but for simplicity lets call it group 1: 90, 2:80, and 3:70. As a 5 point preference veteran you get 5 additional points. as a 10 point preference veteran you get 10 points. You CAN NOT change your group however. So if you are a 10 point preference veteran in group 2, you will be looked at before anyone else in group 2, but after ALL group 1 applicants are considered.

That being said, try searching for job openings aimed at veterans. For me, I applied for the job opening "Opportunities for 10-point preference veterans" listed by NASA. What this does is basically throw your resume at every job opening that comes up with that particular organization. (which means you get a lot of rejection letters for jobs you never even THOUGHT you were qualified for haha)

If you are already a federal employee (NOT miiitary) you can select that in the options and the number of job postings pretty much quadruples.

Promotions:

Under the general rules of promotion, you are required to have at LEAST 12 months experience as the next lower grade AND at least 12 months from your last promotion (this includes steps).

Promotions within the GS scale are highly dependent on your job. My job was listed as GS-7, GS-9,GS-11, Promotable GS-13 . That means I could come in at a 7,9, or 11 level depending on my experience, and that I can become a maximum of GS-13 without competition. I can become a 14, but I will have to compete with others for that pay-grade.

Make sure you pay attention to this when you apply for a position. Also generally speaking your entry level pay GRADE is NOT negotiable, your step however can be.

Doing well and getting a grade boost each year is THE BEST way to go. Because of how Step promotions work, it would take you something like 18 years to go from GS-4 step 1 to GS-4 Step 10.


I hope this helps, and remember this is just my experiance and what I have learned after being a civil servant for 14 months, based of of reading of the OMP, and talking with HR. I am more than happy to answer any other direct questions.