Month: November 2014

Using USAJobs to Your Advantage – Apply Early and Frequently

Posted on by Dennis Damp

Jean Kapala Brown, Executive Director of the Chicago Federal Executive Board, advises that, “One way to hear about federal job openings FIRST is to have USA jobs send you email alerts.” She goes on to state, “this will be critical with the limited number of applications the system will now accept. As of December 2014, FEMA will limit the number of job applicants to 200 applicants per job announcement across all job categories, in order to expedite the hiring process.”

Previously most agencies accepted applications up to the closing date of the federal job announcement. To streamline and fast track the hiring process agencies are experimenting with closing the job announcement after receipt of a specific number of applications. A single job announcement can easily generate thousands of applications in today’s automated environment and the more applications you have the longer it takes to hire.

Agencies can achieve the same results by limiting the time the bid is open. Some announcements are only open, available, for a week or less. Whether or not they limit the number of applicants or choose to shorten the time a job announcement is advertised applicants must be prepared to reply immediately to any job announcement of interest. Sign up for www.USAJobs.gov email alerts as Jean suggests and visit the site frequently so you won’t miss out on a job opportunity in your area.

Some feel this is unfair and limits the application pool. My personal opinion is that it is generally a good thing because too often agency HR departments gets bogged down with the administrative burden of having to review, assess, and evaluate thousands of applications for a single opening. By limiting the number, the HR departments can thoroughly review and assess each application received so that the most qualified are properly identified. Without these limitations it can take months to fill a critical position.

I experienced this firsthand during my career. I was a certified rating official with the Federal Aviation Administration for technical specialties in the 2100 series. When announcements closed I would travel to the regional office in New York City to evaluate and rate applicant’s packages. It was tedious and very time consuming. Even with today’s advanced automation HR specialists still make the final determinations and with the new Category Rating System supervisors and staff must be more involved throughout the hiring process.

The old saying that the early bird catches the worm still applies and is true in most venues; you have to be prepared and with today’s automation it’s easy to do. I always recommend completing your federal resume/application off line on your desktop computer before you copy and paste it into the USAJobs’ resume builder. This gives you the opportunity to take your time and compose a thorough application that you can easily update as you gain new experiences, education, and complete new assignments. This applies to employees as well, not just to job seekers. I kept my application updated in real time on my desktop throughout my career so that I was prepared to apply for any job of interest that came my way.

When applying for a job, review the job announcement thoroughly. This document guides you through the application process, lists required experience and/or education, and provides an HR contact for you to call or email if you run into problems. You must tailor your application to each job announcement and many make the mistake of submitting the same application for all jobs they apply for. Even within the same job series qualification and required knowledge, skills and abilities can change and if you leave these out you more than likely will not make the best qualified list.

USAjobs allows you to store up to five resumes and ten candidate documents that you can use to submit for vacancies as they occur. You can easily revise any of them as needed before applying for your next job.

How to Get Started on USAJobs.gov

  • Visit www.USAJobs.gov
  • Click on “Create an Account” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen
  • Enter your email address (required)
  • Create a username
  • Agree to the USAJobs terms and conditions
  • Copy and paste your resume into their resume builder
  • Search, apply for jobs

Seek out all jobs that you qualify for in your area of consideration and apply. If you don’t find anything in your primary search look for related occupations that you can meet the qualifications for to get your foot in the door. One of the keys to success is finding viable openings to apply for and to do this today you have to be proactive and constantly searching available listings for opportunities. Sign up for job email alerts and visit USAJobs frequently to make a connection.

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The information provided may not cover all aspects of unique or special circumstances, federal regulations, and programs are subject to change. Our articles and replies are time sensitive. Over time, various dynamic human resource guidance and factors relied upon as a basis for this article may change. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation and this service is not affiliated with OPM or any federal entity. You should consult with school counselors, hiring agency personnel offices, and human resource professionals where appropriate. Neither the publisher or author shall be liable for any loss or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Are Federal Procurement and Acquisition Jobs Right for you?

Posted on by Betty Boyd

Throughout my federal career, I was involved in acquisition functions. I was a Contract Specialist and a Program Analyst for the Department of the Army. Acquisition functions are found in all of the agencies and branches of the military.

Acquisition Functions

Congress is responsible for the passing of the federal budget and the appropriation of funds. Once these funds are appropriated, the federal government can acquire goods and services to include real property.

The procurement process is initiated through the use of contracts. Government contracting is heavily regulated and subject to many statues and other regulations including the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). All procurement activities must follow the FAR that deals with the federal contracting process.

Each branch of the military and all federal agencies have implemented additional regulations, which are derived from the FAR, and unique to that particular branch or agency’s procurement practices.

Government contracting agents are required to obligate funds, through contracts, for the procurement of goods, services, or real property. Federal employees are assigned agent responsibilities and many contract types and solicitations are used in the procurement process. The federal employee (agent) can negotiate contract terms and conditions and this is strictly controlled by the FAR and other statues.

Once a contract is negotiated, and awarded, the funds are allocated for payment. The contracting officer has signing authority as government contract agent. The agent’s authority is granted by a warrant and the agent cannot deviate from it in any way. The warrant gives the Contracting Officer authority to sign a contract up to a certain dollar amount.

Funds can’t be obligated unless funds are authorized. The Anti Deficiency Act, states that no one can obligate money to make payments on a contract unless the funds have already been authorized. The contracting officer must sign off that funds are available and authorized. They legally obligate the government for the expenditure of funds.

Acquisitions Careers

The contract specialist is the most prevalent job category in the Acquisition career field. The job classification is GS-1102. Other procurement jobs under the GS-1102 series include contractor administrator, contracting officer, and procurement analyst. The salary range for grades GS-05-15 is $31,628.00-$149,333.00. These salaries depend upon the grade level, location, and if it is a non-supervisor or a supervisory position. You can also explore several related occupations including Purchasing GS-1105 and Procurement Tech GS-1106 jobs.

Contract Specialist Requirements

The contract specialist acts a business advisor and assists in the planning to acquire needed goods and services. Contract specialists are in high demand, especially after 9/11. The majority of the procurement activities have become technically complex and of longer duration. Contract Specialists must constantly keep up-to-date with the laws that govern procurement processes.

The contract specialist prepares the proposal package, negotiates the contract if applicable, and awards the contract. Only the contracting officer is authorized to sign and administer the contract once it is awarded. You must be a U.S. citizen to be a contract specialist.

Typically, the entry grade is at the GS-5 level, which is considered a journeyman/training position. At the GS-5 level, you can have either a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. Contract Specialists above the GS-5 level, have the same basic requirements of a Bachelor’s degree. Within that degree an applicant must have at least 24 hours in business-related courses in the following fields: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, or organization and management. (This requirement can be obtained within the degree or in addition to the degree).

At the GS-07-15 levels, you will need additional specialized experience that includes providing business advice and performing all pre-award and post-award job functions. This additional job experience must be at least 52 weeks in length, is at the previous grade level, and depends upon what grade you are applying.

The contracting officer position starts at a GS-12 level and all the other specialized experience applies. An additional requirement for a contracting officer is a warrant. The warrant gives the contracting officer signing authority (at certain dollar thresholds) to obligate funds for contracts.

Review the related qualification standards for additional information.

Contract Administrator

The contract administrator starts at a GS-11 level and are assigned to the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). DCMA is located all across the United States and overseas.

The main functions include monitoring of contractor’s performance and delivery schedules. Negotiate supplemental agreements for the contracting officer’s signature. Close out contracts once final delivery has been made. A contract administrator should have a broad knowledge of estimating costs, pricing systems, financial policies, and cost control procedures are monitored, analyzed, and evaluated in accordance with financial and contract administration requirements.

Procurement Analyst

The procurement analyst starts at the GS-12 grade level. They still must meet all requirements of the GS-1102 job series. The applicant requires good decision making and analysis skills. They must have customer service experience to resolve difficult contract issues and they often coordinate procurement management reviews. Additionally, they should have a mastery of acquisition concepts, principles, practices, laws, regulations, methods, and techniques.

Challenges of the Acquisition Professional

The acquisition professional is a very specialized job category. The contract specialist must have an understanding of procurement laws and acts as an agent for the federal government to obligate funds. The acquisition process can be very long and tedious due to complex regulations that must be followed. The federal government is constantly reviewing and addressing the acquisition process to make it more manageable.

The acquisition professional plays a vital role as steward of the taxpayer’s dollars. They work to get the best price, timely delivery of services, and ensure the integrity of the procurement process.

Helpful Career Planning Tools 

Visit our other informative site

The information provided may not cover all aspects of unique or special circumstances, federal and postal regulations, and programs are subject to change. Our articles and replies are time sensitive. Over time, various dynamic human resource guidance and factors relied upon as a basis for this article may change. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation and this service is not affiliated with OPM, the postal service or any federal entity. You should consult with school counselors, hiring agency personnel offices, and human resource professionals where appropriate. Neither the publisher or author shall be liable for any loss or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Electronic Technician Jobs With the U.S. Postal Service

Posted on by Nancy Ledgerwood

There are over 2000 occupational codes in the Postal Service’s Position Directory. A number of these positions are in the maintenance field. I use to think of “maintenance” as just being the “cleaning crew”. But it is so much more than that. The USPS has area maintenance technicians, building equipment mechanics, thousands of custodians, electronics technicians, auto mechanics and technicians, and general maintenance mechanics just to name a few of the available maintenance positions.

Fortunately there are promotion opportunities in these departments. A person that works as an automotive mechanic for example could move up to a technician position. They could also be promoted to lead technician or a supervisory position if available and if they meet the qualifications for the promotion.

There are many opportunities for electronic technicians due to the considerable amount of electronic equipment that has to be in full working order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Electronics Technician
Electronics Technician

In 1982, the Postal Service deployed its first flat sorting machine (FSM), the FSM 775. Previously, all flats had been processed manually. With four operators keying in part of the ZIP Code, the FSM 775 could sort about 6,200 flats per hour into 100 bins. The FSM 881, introduced ten years later in 1992, could sort about 10,000 flats per hour with four operators. These were the machines that I worked on at the Kansas City KS General Mail Facility, when I was a PTF clerk. The ET’s had to be available to keep these machines operational so the mail could keep moving and be ready for dispatch at 4:30 am. You can see why ET’s are so valuable to the postal service; the mail could come to a complete halt if the machines like the FSM and Delivery Bar Code Sorters were unable to operate.

I’ll cover a number of the maintenance positions in my column starting with electronic technician. The salary range for an Electronic Technician – PS 10 is $56,150 to $67,156.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Carry out all phases of maintenance, troubleshooting and testing of electronic circuitry used in equipment and systems requiring knowledge of solid-state electronics. Instructs and provides technical support on complex systems and on combinational (hardware/software) or intermittent problems.

  • Performs the testing, diagnosis, maintenance and revision work requiring knowledge of solid-state electronics.
  • Observes the various equipment and systems in operation and applies appropriate testing and diagnostic methods and procedures to ensure proper operation.
  • Locates source of equipment and system failures, rectifies trouble in involved cases or provides instructions to be used by maintenance employees performing repair work.
  • Makes or participates with contractor representative or electronic technician in installing or altering equipment and systems as required.
  • Makes reports of equipment and system failures, which require corrective action by contractor and follows up to see that appropriate action, is taken.
  • Makes preventive maintenance inspections to discover incipient malfunctions and to review the standards of maintenance.
  • Recommends changes in preventive maintenance procedures and practices as found to be necessary.
  • Programs scheme and/or scheme changes into memory units as requested by management.
  • Furnishes pertinent data to superiors and contract employees on operation and testing problems.
  • Participates in training programs: classroom, on-the-job, and correspondence, at postal facilities, trade schools and manufacturer’s plants as required. May assist in developing and implementing training programs. Instructs equal or lower level employees as required.
  • Observes established safety regulations pertaining to the type of work involved.
  • May drive vehicle or utilize other available mode of transportation to work site when necessary.
  • Provides technical support to other electronic technicians to resolve complex, combinational (hardware/software) and/or intermittent failures.
  • Performs such duties as may be assigned

If interested in any Maintenance position or any other position at the United States Postal Service visit our USPS Job Search Guide and follow the link at the end of the guide to the official USPS jobs site to find job vacancies in your area.

Good luck in your job hunting endeavors.

Helpful Career Planning Tools 

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The information provided may not cover all aspects of unique or special circumstances, federal and postal regulations, and programs are subject to change. Our articles and replies are time sensitive. Over time, various dynamic human resource guidance and factors relied upon as a basis for this article may change. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation and this service is not affiliated with OPM, the postal service or any federal entity. You should consult with school counselors, hiring agency personnel offices, and human resource professionals where appropriate. Neither the publisher or author shall be liable for any loss or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Alternative Work Schedule (AWS)

Posted on by David Scholl

Over the past three decades, the expanding variety of available workplace flexibilities has provided potential applicants with an added incentive in seeking Federal agency positions. The Alternative Work Schedule (AWS) is the longest tenured flexibility initiative, tracing its origin to 1978. Since that time, the availability of AWS programs has become a key recruitment and retention tool along with the student loan repayment program that agencies can now offer to fill critical vacancies.  In addition to reviewing the available AWS options, this post will also seek to provide some insight into the current usage of AWS across the government.

Description of AWS

The term “Alternative Work Schedule” encompasses two general types of work schedules, flexible work schedules (FWS) and compressed work schedules (CWS), each representing a variation to the fixed-schedule 8-hour, 5-day work week.

A FWS consists of workdays with (1) core hours and (2) flexible hours. Core hours are the designated period of the day when all employees must be at work. Flexible hours are the part of the workday when employees may (within limits or “bands”) choose their time of arrival and departure. Within limits set by each agency, a FWS can enable employees to select and alter their work schedules to best fit personal needs and help balance work and family responsibilities. There are various types of FWS arrangements that provide different degrees of flexibility regarding starting/stopping times and core hours. These include flexitour, gliding, variable day, variable week, and maxiflex schedules. OPM’s Handbook on Alternative Work Schedules defines each of these terms and provides a detailed analysis of each option.

If authorized by agency policy or a collective bargaining agreement for unionized employees, an employee may have the option of earning credit hours. These are hours worked in excess of an employee’s basic work requirement (e.g., 40 hours a week), which the employee elects to work in order to vary the length of a workweek or a workday. An employee may carry a maximum of 24 credit hours from one pay period to the next.

As a result of the flexible start/stop times, the overtime rules under an AWS are slightly different from those that apply to a fixed work schedule. When working under an AWS, overtime work consists of hours of work that are officially ordered in advance and in excess of 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. However, overtime does not include hours worked voluntarily, including credit hours, or hours an employee covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act is “suffered or permitted” to work that are not officially ordered in advance.

A CWS meets the basic work requirement of 80 hours in less than 10 work days. Arrival and departure times and non-workdays are fixed. There are no provisions for flexitime or gliding schedules under a CWS program, and credit hours are not permissible. Depending on the applicable agency policy or applicable collective bargaining agreement, employees may be able to select one of 3 CWS options:

  • 5-4/9 Plan: Employee works 8 9-hour days and 1 8-hour day each pay period.
  • 4-Day Workweek: Employee works 4 10-hour days each workweek.
  • 3-Day Workweek: Employee works 3 days of 13 hours and 20 minutes each work week.

A CWS cannot be established among non-unionized employees unless a majority of those employees vote to adopt it. In a unionized organization, only those employees in the bargaining unit are bound by the negotiations establishing the CWS program. Also, any employee for whom a compressed work schedule would impose a personal hardship may be excluded from the program.

AWS Participation

Despite a dearth of historical data, available reports indicate that as much as 40% of the Federal workforce has participated in some form of AWS. The recently issued Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Results for 2014 indicates that AWS is the single most popular work/life flexibility: 33% of responding employees participate in AWS. Employees consistently cite the scheduling flexibilities that AWS programs facilitate as a primary reason for increased morale and job motivation. Moreover, the Obama administration recently reinforced its support for AWS and other workplace flexibilities by requiring agency heads to make them available to the “maximum extent practicable.”

From a personal perspective, as both a former Office of Personnel Management attorney exposed to numerous agency policies and long-time AWS participant, I found that some form of AWS is widely available to Federal employees in the Washington, D.C. area. Moreover, employees occupying a broad range of clerical, professional, and supervisory job categories take advantage of AWS options where available.

Helpful Career Planning Tools 

Visit our other informative site

The information provided may not cover all aspects of unique or special circumstances, federal regulations, and programs are subject to change. Our articles and replies are time sensitive. Over time, various dynamic human resource guidance and factors relied upon as a basis for this article may change. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation and this service is not affiliated with OPM or any federal entity. You should consult with school counselors, hiring agency personnel offices, and human resource professionals where appropriate. Neither the publisher or author shall be liable for any loss or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.