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What Determines Where You Stand On The GS Scale?
Having trouble figuring out which "grade" you are in on the GS Scale? Use this information to understand: 1) Levels of Qualifying Education or Training 2) What Officially Defines An "Academic Year" 3) The Benefit From College or University Education 4) The Boost From "Superior Academic Achievement" Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions GENERAL POLICIES AND INSTRUCTIONS Part E.4.(b) - E.4.(h) ... -
Federal Wage System: Introduction
The Federal Wage System (FWS) was developed to make the pay of Federal blue-collar workers comparable to prevailing private sector rates in each local wage area. Before the FWS, there was no central authority to establish wage equity for Federal trade, craft, and laboring employees. In 1965, President Johnson ordered the former Civil Service Commission to work with Federal agencies and ... -
12 Biggest Mistakes of Federal Job Seekers
If you are a first-time federal jobseeker, feeling desperate for a good, stable job, read this list of mistakes and avoid them. You will waste valuable job search time, energy and enthusiasm if you are doing it all wrong. In the current job market, it is better if you slow down, read the announcements for the qualifications, carefully review the questionnaires, ... -
The Best Entry Level Government Jobs
There is a lot of discussion about how government-sector jobs are more stable than others in our faltering economy and about how government hiring trends are predicted to be more resistant to the economic downturn than other sectors. Unfortunately, this doesn't do you a whole lot of good, if you've got no idea of where to start in order to get ... -
Selling Yourself in a Job Interview
Every job interview is different--but there are some general principles that can guide you in just about any interview, for any job. When you're talking about yourself and your experience, keep the following six points in mind. 1. Be the Solution Companies fill or create positions because they have problems they want to solve--for instance, ineffective advertising or long customer-service lines. ... -
How to Turn a Stranger into a Network Contact
Whether you're looking for a job or trying to advance your career, networking is very important (in a recent HotJobs poll, 57 percent of respondents said that networking was a factor in landing their most recent job). And networking shouldn't end when you log off of LinkedIn or head home from a conference. Valuable contacts are on the perimeter of your ... -
Creative Ways to Improve Your Resume
Career experts are unanimous on the importance of customizing our resumes for each new job we apply for. But for many of us, when it comes to revising our resumes, the first question is "How?" It's easy to get stuck in rut when you're working with material you know so well. So here are some ways to take a fresh look ... -
GS Pay Scale FAQs
While we're constantly working to improve our guide to the GS Pay Scale, it can still be a confusing system. We created this page in order to answer any specific questions you might have about the Pay Scale. Since many users seem to have similar question, we'll continue to post the questions we receive here, along with the best answers we ... -
Much Good is Done by Government Workers
Anti-government sentiment has been prevalent across the country, fueled in part by the acrimonious health-care debate, anger over the Wall Street and auto industry bailouts, anxiety over high unemployment rates, and worry over increased spending and ballooning budget deficits. These feelings of distrust and resentment, seen in public opinion polls, vocal town hall meetings this past summer and during various demonstrations, ... -
Your Federal Benefits Guide
The federal government is well-known for the wide array of lucrative benefits that it provides for its employees and their families. These incentives start early with recruitment and relocation benefits and continue to reap benefits for government employees throughout their lives. While this package is impressive, comprehending it can seem highly daunting because government websites are often difficult to maneuver. This ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Aerospace
Hundreds of government-funded American companies, along with NASA and other federal agencies, are in serious need of quality Aerospace and Defense Sector workers. Government aerospace workers often work collaboratively with major sectors of the aerospace industry, including commercial air, space exploration, national defense, and research and development. U.S. aerospace employment currently totals over a million professionals working in good-paying jobs. With ... -
30 Fastest Hiring Federal Agencies of 2009
Federal agencies fill job openings like the private industry: most agencies are responsible for their own hiring actions, and often deploy "hiring sprees" in order to fill a large number of essential positions rapidly. Important tip for federal job seekers: keep on track of the agencies that hire the most, and what positions they are hiring for. Since the federal government ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Automative
The automotive industry is one of the largest industries in the United States. It creates 6.6 million direct and spin-off jobs and produces $243 billion in payroll compensation. Due to the large amount of automotive workers in the private sector, many government agencies are looking to hire automotive workers. Many jobs in the automotive industry high-tech and challenging as well as ... -
4 Steps to Understanding the Federal Hiring Process
Applying for a federal career in the same fashion that you would apply for a private-sector job is not going to get you very far. There are some stark differences between the public and private sector, and that includes the way you submit a resume and application for a federal job. The Partnership for Public Service - an organization dedicated to ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Biotechnology
Life sciences, technology, manufacturing - it's all a part of biotechnology. With new discoveries being made every day, and the threats of evolving bacteria and pandemic diseases looming on the horizon, there is a lot of incentive to rise to the call. Because the biotechnology industry is experiencing such rapid growth, biotechnology jobs often expect workers to be more skilled than ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Education
Employment of preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers is projected to grow as fast as average jobs in the US. Job prospects are expected to be favorable, with particularly good prospects for teachers in high-demand fields like math, science, and bilingual education, or in less desirable urban or rural school districts. The employment of school teachers is expected to ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Energy
A large and growing part of the government work force in the United States - and across the world, for that matter - is involved in keeping energy available day in and day out. These jobs involve things like finding oil and natural gas, extracting and delivering them to their end uses, whether it is heating a home with gas or ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Homeland Security
Represtenting the centralization of hundreds of smaller US Government industries, Homeland Security emerged as a new, extremely important industry after Sepember 2001, and has been growing very rapidly ever since. Homeland Security encompasses a broad range of activities and occupations including: - Emergency preparedness and response - Border and transportation security - Infrastructure protection - Information analysis - Homeland defense Many ... -
Growing Federal Jobs: Health Care
Government health care jobs are incredibly varied, and anyone considering this field has a vast array of positions to select from. But so many jobs can make it tough to decide which position best matches your interests and aptitude. Many health care positions serve patients directly, working with individuals, their illness or problem and their family. Yet, taking a job in ... -
Transition: Hottest Jobs, Majors and Agencies
When President-Elect Barack Obama gave his Acceptance Speech, Kathryn Troutman immediately began to analyze his recently published "Blueprint for Change: Obama and Biden's Plan for America". This publication outlines the next administration's plans for future jobs, college majors, industry training, and federal agencies with new and expanded missions. Essentially, this plan attempts to get America's economy back on track by creating ...

















