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Government employee thread! (Being a government employee is sweet) (1 Viewer)

Charlie Steiner said:
The issue that bothers me the most is that when a new commander comes in every two years, many times they want to make changes for the sake of making changes.  Half of the ones we've had in my tenure here have reminded me of CPT Stillman from Stripes.

Seriously, though, the providers and nurses who work in military healthcare have an added level of responsibility, since one of the carrots that recruiters dangle in front of potential recruits is great healthcare for life, which is where you come in. I always mention that to the new providers we get, hoping they'll cling to that personal sense of duty when they feel pushed to their limit with the bureaucracy.  The patients and staff are usually great, but sometimes you'll run into policies and procedures that don't make sense and slow you down.
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My job is a very personal thing to me. I'm passionate about it and pour every ounce of myself into being great at it. The private sector corporations have crushed most of my ability to provide proper care for my patients now, and it's so sad.  Medicare and insurance cuts have made it much more difficult as well, but it's the corporations that have made my life hell over the past couple of years. All I want is an opportunity to continue to grow in my profession and be the best I can be and make the biggest difference I can wherever I'm at. 

 
flapgreen said:
My job is a very personal thing to me. I'm passionate about it and pour every ounce of myself into being great at it. The private sector corporations have crushed most of my ability to provide proper care for my patients now, and it's so sad.  Medicare and insurance cuts have made it much more difficult as well, but it's the corporations that have made my life hell over the past couple of years. All I want is an opportunity to continue to grow in my profession and be the best I can be and make the biggest difference I can wherever I'm at. 
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I bolded the part you're going to want to hold on to the tightest, because military healthcare is striving to emulate what the private sector does, and whether anyone tells you directly or not, everything is about the money now more than ever. I understand the need for fiscal responsibility, but they're really putting the cart before the horse, so that actual patient care is about 4th on the list of priorities for those in charge, and some of them are/were providers themselves.

I don't know if you were ever in the military, so I don't know if this little personal story will help you or not.

Before the quarantine started, once a week I provided on-site support for the clinic on the post where Arlington National Cemetery is, and whenever I'm there, I feel more a part of the whole military 'world' than anywhere else, and that includes my 3 years at Bethesda, where Presidents, lawmakers and generals go for treatment, and celebrities come to visit. If the commute to Arlington wasn't so horrible I'd ask to work there every day.  I mention this because it's moments like that, when I get to see the bigger picture around me, that I feel my job has a little more significance than I see it having normally, and I feel more grateful that I get to be a part of it at all.

I really hope they hire you, the DoD needs all the motivated providers it can find. Plus another FBG.

 
flapgreen said:
Wife already looked up surrounding towns to every job I've applied to. Looks like Waynesville here
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Yeah. Rolla is not too bad but it's about 30 minutes away.

If you guys like outdoor life like fishing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, hunting....etc....that is a pretty awesome place to be. You are right in the heart of the Ozarks. Beautiful country down there.

Springfield is the closest decent sized city. Bass Pro has it's headquarters there.  And Arkansas is close too - even more great hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, etc..

 
belljr said:
Did they say what Step?
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No. I think that will be involved in the negotiation process, along with asking for a relocation stipend. Was told to ask for 6 hours of PTO every pay period instead of 4 to start with just to try. 

 
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flapgreen said:
No. I think that will be involved in the negotiation process, along with asking for a relocation stipend. Was told to ask for 6 hours of PTO every pay period instead of 4 to start with just to try. 
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Good luck.  In my experience they are stingy on upping time off to start unless you been there as a contractor.  I don't know if dod is different than other branches regarding time off but I sent you a pm

 
ChiefD said:
Yeah. Rolla is not too bad but it's about 30 minutes away.

If you guys like outdoor life like fishing, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, hunting....etc....that is a pretty awesome place to be. You are right in the heart of the Ozarks. Beautiful country down there.

Springfield is the closest decent sized city. Bass Pro has it's headquarters there.  And Arkansas is close too - even more great hiking, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, etc..
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Must have changed since I went to school there.

Congrats Flap but I don't envy your living location.  I hope you like hunting and fishing.

 
BassNBrew said:
Must have changed since I went to school there.

Congrats Flap but I don't envy your living location.  I hope you like hunting and fishing.
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I grew up in the country, so I'm fine with it. I don't plan on spending a decade there or anything. 

 
Can anyone explain the retirement package to me? Looks like they match 401k up to 5% but there's another part based on your highest 3 years of pay.

 
flapgreen said:
Can anyone explain the retirement package to me? Looks like they match 401k up to 5% but there's another part based on your highest 3 years of pay.
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You have a few days?

I think its 6% for 401K but I need to check.   The highest 3 year calculation is for your pension ...

Would you be FERS?

 
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flapgreen said:
Can anyone explain the retirement package to me? Looks like they match 401k up to 5% but there's another part based on your highest 3 years of pay.
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This will have everything: https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/fers-information/

Yes, TSP (gov 401k) matches up to 5%. 1% is automatically put into your TSP whether you contribute or not, then 1-for-1 match up to 3%, and then 0.5-to-1 at 4% and 5%. There's a traditional (pre-tax) and Roth (after tax) option. Matching funds always go to the traditional but you don't have to contribute to the traditional to get it. For example, right now, all of my TSP contributions are going to Roth TSP, but my traditional still gets additional funds because that's where the matching goes.

As mentioned, high 3 is about the pension. Yes, we still have a pension! The pension is a great deal for people like me who have been in a while because I only have 0.8% of each paycheck taken out. I think it's higher now for those entering fed employment. I'd guess it's still a good deal, though. Basically the way the pension works is that you get about 1% of the average of your 3 highest years for each year you work in the federal government. To get the pension, you have to reach a Minimum Retirement Age. So, for example, I'll have 34 years by the time I'm 57 (Minimum Retirement Age) so my pension will be 34% of the average of my three highest years of pay. It goes up to 1.1% if you wait until age 62 to retire.

Maybe one of the best parts of FERS is that you only need to work for the feds for five years to then carry your health insurance throughout retirement. Health insurance during retirement will work the same as if you are an employee.

Congratulations on the offer!

 
Once you get the tentative offer, is it pretty much a done deal and you just have to wait it out for a while? I'm not making any major changes until the that final report letter, but just making sure. 

 
flapgreen said:
Once you get the tentative offer, is it pretty much a done deal and you just have to wait it out for a while? I'm not making any major changes until the that final report letter, but just making sure. 
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I'm not sure what a tentative offer is. Was this just a call from the hiring manager - person who interviewed you - telling you that you're going to get an official offer from HR? Or was this actually from HR?

 
dgreen said:
I'm not sure what a tentative offer is. Was this just a call from the hiring manager - person who interviewed you - telling you that you're going to get an official offer from HR? Or was this actually from HR?
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From HR

Congratulations on this tentative offer of employment with U.S. Army Medical Command in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri as a Physical Therapist, GS-0633-12.

This position is a permanent position.

This offer is contingent upon your ability to successfully complete all pre-employment conditions of employment as stated in the Vacancy Announcement, to include a background investigation. You are required by law and regulation to have a background investigation conducted to determine your suitability for Federal employment and for national security purposes, if required by the position. This must be initiated prior to receiving a firm offer of employment.

This position requires the following Conditions of Employment. If you fail to complete or refuse to acknowledge these requirements, the tentative job offer will be withdrawn. If you are unable to obtain/maintain these requirements, you may be separated from the position and Federal employment. By accepting this tentative job offer, you are acknowledging and agreeing to these Conditions of Employment.

Annual Seasonal Influenza Vaccination

Basic Life Support (BLS)

Immunization Screening/ Hepatitis B

Physical

Childcare Background Check (CNACI)

Drug Testing (TDP)

Credentialing

If you have previously worked for the Federal government and received a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) in the last five years, you must notify your HR contact of this payment.

Your actual entrance-on-duty date will be established after all pre-employment requirements have been completed and met. Your full suitability/security clearance investigation, as applicable, may be completed after your entrance-on-duty date. Note, you will be submitting all suitability/security clearance forms through a separate Personnel Security Information Portal (PSIP) system.

 
flapgreen said:
From HR

Congratulations on this tentative offer of employment with U.S. Army Medical Command in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri as a Physical Therapist, GS-0633-12.

This position is a permanent position.

This offer is contingent upon your ability to successfully complete all pre-employment conditions of employment as stated in the Vacancy Announcement, to include a background investigation. You are required by law and regulation to have a background investigation conducted to determine your suitability for Federal employment and for national security purposes, if required by the position. This must be initiated prior to receiving a firm offer of employment.

This position requires the following Conditions of Employment. If you fail to complete or refuse to acknowledge these requirements, the tentative job offer will be withdrawn. If you are unable to obtain/maintain these requirements, you may be separated from the position and Federal employment. By accepting this tentative job offer, you are acknowledging and agreeing to these Conditions of Employment.

Annual Seasonal Influenza Vaccination

Basic Life Support (BLS)

Immunization Screening/ Hepatitis B

Physical

Childcare Background Check (CNACI)

Drug Testing (TDP)

Credentialing

If you have previously worked for the Federal government and received a Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) in the last five years, you must notify your HR contact of this payment.

Your actual entrance-on-duty date will be established after all pre-employment requirements have been completed and met. Your full suitability/security clearance investigation, as applicable, may be completed after your entrance-on-duty date. Note, you will be submitting all suitability/security clearance forms through a separate Personnel Security Information Portal (PSIP) system.
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Got it. I started way back in 1999. I first got a call from HR and then an actual paper letter in the mail. Don't recall if they used the word "tentative" in the letter or not. (I actually still have that letter at my desk, which I haven't been to since March!) 

I think it's just the wording they use because of the background check and Conditions of Employment. As long as you can meet those conditions and pass the background check, you should be good to go. I'd say it's a done deal.

I assume you'll get additional emails about how to complete the background check and other steps needed. But, if you have any concerns at all, you should definitely call or email HR.

 
flapgreen said:
Also had to fill out an onboarding form accepting the position. 
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I would call HR.  Like dgreen said they want to make sure you pass a couple checks, but you should have received some type of actual salary email.   I had to get finger prints done and once that passed I was officially hired. Although I didn't pass all cleareance until 6 months in.  But as far as I can tell the job is yours.

And just to change a little of dgreen said about benefits.  You need to have benefits for 5 years prior to retiring.  But you can't say do it your first 5 years then switch say to your wife the next 15.  When you retire you need to currently have them for 5 years.  I'm currently on my wife's company because hers are way cheaper. I'll switch 5 years before I retire :)

 
belljr said:
I would call HR.  Like dgreen said they want to make sure you pass a couple checks, but you should have received some type of actual salary email.   I had to get finger prints done and once that passed I was officially hired. Although I didn't pass all cleareance until 6 months in.  But as far as I can tell the job is yours.

And just to change a little of dgreen said about benefits.  You need to have benefits for 5 years prior to retiring.  But you can't say do it your first 5 years then switch say to your wife the next 15.  When you retire you need to currently have them for 5 years.  I'm currently on my wife's company because hers are way cheaper. I'll switch 5 years before I retire :)
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Yeah, I have a buddy who works on base in Florida and he said he didn't actually get the exact salary offer and other stuff for a few weeks after he got the job offer. Was a total of 6 months from time he got offered the job until the time he started. Said there was a couple months where he was wondering what the hell was going on and then received an email to report in 4 weeks. 

 
Gonna have to be patient now. Guy who interviewed said it would take a couple months before they could get me out there.  Grinding it out in a job I hate. 

 
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Filling out financial stuff now and all this paperwork. Very confusing. A couple of the things say to read and sign these forms, but the forms themselves are "read only" and have no way or area to sign, so I can't complete it. 

 
flapgreen said:
Filling out financial stuff now and all this paperwork. Very confusing. A couple of the things say to read and sign these forms, but the forms themselves are "read only" and have no way or area to sign, so I can't complete it. 
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Use the 'Save As' option to create a new copy of it and fill out that one.

 
Charlie Steiner said:
Use the 'Save As' option to create a new copy of it and fill out that one.
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OK. That worked on the I-9 form.  Have a couple remaining on the onboarding section that it won't let me do that on and I can't complete the section. 

APF/NAF - Complete SF 181, Ethnicity and Race Identification

and 

APF/NAF - Complete SF 256, Self-Identification of Disability

Sections 

 
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flapgreen said:
OK. That worked on the I-9 form.  Have a couple remaining on the onboarding section that it won't let me do that on.

APF/NAF - Complete SF 181, Ethnicity and Race Identification

and 

APF/NAF - Complete SF 256, Self-Identification of Disability

Sections 
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It's been so long since I filled those out I don't remember if you have any other option than to print them out and fill them out manually.

 
Charlie Steiner said:
It's been so long since I filled those out I don't remember if you have any other option than to print them out and fill them out manually.
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That may be right. Not sure who I would give them to after signing them or checking off that I completed that section. There's no option on that section to upload like on the I-9 section. For most of them, I just click on it and say read, and it says signed and completed. 

 
flapgreen said:
That may be right. Not sure who I would give them to after signing them or checking off that I completed that section. There's no option on that section to upload like on the I-9 section. For most of them, I just click on it and say read, and it says signed and completed. 
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I'd try the person that sent you the information and ask them.  Worse comes to worst I'd hope you could bring them with you and deliver them in person.

 
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