If You Are Looking for/Interested In Working With The Federal Government...Come In. Positions Availa

I was wondering if you guys could give advice. I have a friend. She got a bachelors in communications/marketing/PA. She currently works outside that field as a manager at Old Navy.

I recommend she pursue a job with the government. I gave her the link to usajobs. Any other leads?

I have an IT background so my network is mostly those types.
 
Was actually checking this out at work today...

For the IT cats, is it possible to land those civilian contractor positions with no time spent in the military?

Coming up on 3 years relevant corporate experience as well as my 4-year degree and I've been giving this thought some spins..
 
Yes, I haven't served a day in the military. Been a govt contractor almost 4 years (including my internship). Majority are prior military but it's not a requirement just a big jump in pay and they already have the experience.
 
Yall seen these FEMA listings? They throwing bags like the NBA in the summer. I know OP, JS34, used to work for FEMA. I wonder how hard it is to get in. I might even pull a @sladewilson and apply for things I am not even versed, much less well versed, in. I have been around the Government long enough to know it's plenty of people in high dollar high power jobs who have not a clue what they are doing #likeourPresident. Look at https://fema.usajobs.com and just click search with no search parameters to load all 46 of them. Some are in DC, some in Cali, some in TX, CO, AL, a few different places.
 
So the same thing that happened to me a year and a half ago happened again. New company comes in and cuts everyone's salary, this time by literally $20k. We had the onboarding today and they blamed it on the Government (it is the fault of the C.O.R who wrote the PWS though and who agreed to let them win the bid) and said they will try to do something but maybe or maybe not it won't change anything since its already funded.

I got another interview that would be a career step back, to my previous job, but for more money even though its lower tier helpdesk they are short and said they could pay me up to "X" (which would be more than anyone else on that contract is making including the team lead) and I don't want to be that guy either but I have bills to pay
 
datznasty said:
So the same thing that happened to me a year and a half ago happened again. New company comes in and cuts everyone's salary, this time by literally $20k. We had the onboarding today and they blamed it on the Government (it is the fault of the C.O.R who wrote the PWS though and who agreed to let them win the bid) and said they will try to do something but maybe or maybe not it won't change anything since its already funded.

I got another interview that would be a career step back, to my previous job, but for more money even though its lower tier helpdesk they are short and said they could pay me up to "X" (which would be more than anyone else on that contract is making including the team lead) and I don't want to be that guy either but I have bills to pay
Click to expand...

Sounds like the new company beat out the incumbent.
 
Not quite. This whole Government contracting **** is such a sham, I wish they had just made us GS like the rest of the people who are on our team and do the same duties (GS11s and 13s with 2210 designation). But there's this huge parent company, has 115 companies underneath them all LLCs.

So what happens is the Government somehow decides they want this contract to be fulfilled by a black owned company, disabled vet owned, women owned, Alaskan owned, etc. "small business" and whatever other qualifications they put on it. So the company that held it prior had become too big because this time they wanted it rebid by a small business, disadvantaged, 8a, and I forget some of the other criterion but basically the huge parent company just reaches into their bag and says ok, need a black owned, here take this company headed up by Mr Williams as the ceo, need a woman owned ok we're bidding with this subcompany of ours that Jane is the ceo, etc.

In the end, i guarantee literally the same people are getting their pockets fatter regardless on the higher end and the CEO of the now black owned/vet owned/woman owned whatever company gets a massive raise/bonus because now they have another contract their division is in charge of. They all use the same HR, legal, procurement, accounting, people because again all 115 is still essentially the same company.

The contracting officer on the Government side, they're GS15 2210s so their pockets dont change regardless, write the contracting offer and put it out there for bid and in this case she either wrote it wrong and/or allowed them to bid it under the lowest Department of Labor category involving helpdesk, like Tier 1 as if we just answer phones so the wage determination for that level is $23.99. They gave us like an extra dollar and some cents to account for already having a clearance and required certs (since we're all incumbents).

You can budget a 5k pay cut probably, maybe even 10. But 20k lost instantly is just insulting for one but that's impossible.

There are plenty of GS opportunities that come around but because of priority placement with vets and spouses and disabled, I can't even apply to most and the ones I can they have to take those people before me

TLDR:
This is where being a contractor instead of GS sucks
20k paycut starting next week
Same job
 
datznasty said:
Not quite. This whole Government contracting **** is such a sham, I wish they had just made us GS like the rest of the people who are on our team and do the same duties (GS11s and 13s with 2210 designation). But there's this huge parent company, has 115 companies underneath them all LLCs.

So what happens is the Government somehow decides they want this contract to be fulfilled by a black owned company, disabled vet owned, women owned, Alaskan owned, etc. "small business" and whatever other qualifications they put on it. So the company that held it prior had become too big because this time they wanted it rebid by a small business, disadvantaged, 8a, and I forget some of the other criterion but basically the huge parent company just reaches into their bag and says ok, need a black owned, here take this company headed up by Mr Williams as the ceo, need a woman owned ok we're bidding with this subcompany of ours that Jane is the ceo, etc.

In the end, i guarantee literally the same people are getting their pockets fatter regardless on the higher end and the CEO of the now black owned/vet owned/woman owned whatever company gets a massive raise/bonus because now they have another contract their division is in charge of. They all use the same HR, legal, procurement, accounting, people because again all 115 is still essentially the same company.

The contracting officer on the Government side, they're GS15 2210s so their pockets dont change regardless, write the contracting offer and put it out there for bid and in this case she either wrote it wrong and/or allowed them to bid it under the lowest Department of Labor category involving helpdesk, like Tier 1 as if we just answer phones so the wage determination for that level is $23.99. They gave us like an extra dollar and some cents to account for already having a clearance and required certs (since we're all incumbents).

You can budget a 5k pay cut probably, maybe even 10. But 20k lost instantly is just insulting for one but that's impossible.

There are plenty of GS opportunities that come around but because of priority placement with vets and spouses and disabled, I can't even apply to most and the ones I can they have to take those people before me

TLDR:
This is where being a contractor instead of GS sucks
20k paycut starting next week
Same job
Click to expand...

Each office has small business goals. Small business office will say hey "you guys are slacking on this demographic" thus creating a criteria. My office sees this often the incumbent becomes to big for the NAICS code or the new requirement has a different NAICS. Are you saying the incumbent is performing as the sub? If so thats why your pay was cut. My office wouldnt let that fly due to excessive pass-thru.
 
Get a different job, honestly you should have seen it coming. Nature of the game now is low bids...lowest bid wins, especially if a new company is coming in and taking over pay cut is usually standard. I only heard of one person get a raise when a new company came in and I think hes lying lol.

This a dog eat dog industry. GS don't make anywhere near contractors unless they are GS-12,13,14,15 and the average person isn't seeing 13+ ever.
 
~$20,000+, well over 25% closer to 30, is standard. Been doing this almost a decade and never seen that. They came in lower than when it happened the last time and that was closer to tier 1 work. They bid us and cut us like we just answering phones and escalating tickets. I don't see how the PWS would ever change if the job stays the same. The COR would have to have intentionally put it out there with less bullets. They're both blaming each other, the new company blaming the Government and vice versa.

It is an SCA contract, wage stayed the same the entire existence of the contract. They did have a few of us on exempt and a few on salary, but it all amounted to the same money. It's right there on the DOL page so they just go by that, when the contract has changed hands the new companies bidding always know, 14102 labor code iirc. $26.99+$4.26h/w or something like that.

And yes since they changed the requirements for the contract, that it had to be a small business, the incumbent wasn't even allowed to bid on it because they're too big.
 
Last edited:
datznasty said:
~$20,000+, well over 25% closer to 30, is standard. Been doing this almost a decade and never seen that. They came in lower than when it happened the last time and that was closer to tier 1 work. They bid us and cut us like we just answering phones and escalating tickets. I don't see how the PWS would ever change if the job stays the same. The COR would have to have intentionally put it out there with less bullets. They're both blaming each other, the new company blaming the Government and vice versa.

It is an SCA contract, wage stayed the same the entire existence of the contract. They did have a few of us on exempt and a few on salary, but it all amounted to the same money. It's right there on the DOL page so they just go by that, when the contract has changed hands the new companies bidding always know, 14102 labor code iirc. $26.99+$4.26h/w or something like that.

And yes since they changed the requirements for the contract, that it had to be a small business, the incumbent wasn't even allowed to bid on it because they're too big.
Click to expand...

Yes, pay cuts are standard...I didn't say a percentage or amount just paycuts in general. Like I said low bids/low pay is the name of the game now, a new company taking over expect a paycut it helps their bottom line. My dad has been through it twice as well, both times he had opportunities to leave and keep his pay/get a raise elsewhere but decided to stay. This is very common in the dmv area.
 
I got another job, well pending them sending me this offer letter in the next few days. It's crazy because it's career step backwards, going back to Tier 1, but they are keeping my pay closer. A 5k paycut or something you can manage, make some slight lifestyle adjustments. $20,000 is just ridiculous though. They are pretending like they might do something for us, but not making any promises.
 
jesusshuttlesworth34 said:
I took a job with FEMA for a position in Sacramento, but the clearance process was taking so long for me that I swerved over to Arizona and worked for the VA :smh:



I did some tryouts/trainings with them down in Anniston, AL a couple years back.
Click to expand...

Whatever happened to OP? It says he hasn't been on NT since July. I can't even @ his screen name. I think he deleted his IG, or just hasn't posted in over a year. Weird
 
Jumpman I'm going to hit you up. I'm more qualified than anybody but even with the strongest resume, going to be hard with the vet preference, disabled preference, spousal preference, relocate pref, etc.

Just started a new spot on Monday and it is MISERABLE. I literally think about quitting and living off my tax return everyday until I find something else. It's HelpDesk Admin but it's a CALL CENTER. Not about this life at all. Miserable employees who are always trying to get each other in trouble, bosses nitpicking everything to the second to the point they literally created a button in our Cisco Finesse interface for bathroom breaks so they can run reports
 
datznasty said:
Jumpman I'm going to hit you up. I'm more qualified than anybody but even with the strongest resume, going to be hard with the vet preference, disabled preference, spousal preference, relocate pref, etc.

Just started a new spot on Monday and it is MISERABLE. I literally think about quitting and living off my tax return everyday until I find something else. It's HelpDesk Admin but it's a CALL CENTER. Not about this life at all. Miserable employees who are always trying to get each other in trouble, bosses nitpicking everything to the second to the point they literally created a button in our Cisco Finesse interface for bathroom breaks so they can run reports
Click to expand...

Why do employees try to get others in trouble?

I work at a call center tier 3 as a contractor. My work environment is super positive. Colleagues are cool and my bosses are cool too.
 
It was like that at Fort Sill too, super relaxed, nobody ever checked up on anybody about anything as long as we were getting our work done.

This place I don't even get it, we're all the same level so it's not even like it's a try to get someone else's spot thing. But since I just started I was spending some time with the Site manager getting my paperwork in order, showing me around,etc. Kats are literally coming in to tell him soandso was 5 minutes late, Johnny smokes when he goes to the bathroom, Omar is just telling people BS to get them off the phone and get his #s up. It was sickening how much snitching over nothing went on. And their overemplasis on metrics from the top down plus them being the same way I'm sure fosters that. There's a job fair Wednesday, guarantee I can get any of a few of these jobs I just dont know if they want to lowball me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

The ultimate sneaker enthusiast community.

NikeTalk was created as a way of giving back to both the sneaker enthusiast community and to the greater global community of which we are all a part.

NikeTalk is NOT affiliated with Nike Inc. in any way, shape, or form. All opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Nike, Inc.

© 1999-2024 NikeTalk.com

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom