Anyone a Civilian employee for the Navy (or other service)?

[mrsv98]

DH is changing jobs after 20 years - not his idea - and he has found several possibilities as a civilian employee of the Navy. He is also looking at Homeland Security and the CIA, who knew math geeks were in such need?

Anyway, we are wondering if anyone has any insight as to the process and how long it all takes. If you need a security clearance, does that add weeks or months to the process?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Christine]

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[starann]

My DH used to be a firefighter for the DOD on an Army base in MD. He had the job long before he met me, but said the security clearence he had to get was CRAZY....they even questioned his high school teachers (he was well out of school when he got he job).

That all being said, he had TOP clearance due to the fact that as a FF he would have to be able to get into every building on base (she it be on fire), some of which held things that, lets just say, we wouldn't want any oldbody getting their hands on it. He could never tell me specifics.

 

[Christine]

Most employees get just a SECRET clearance but it does depend on the office spaces and type of data that you are handling. My husband is not a government employee but is an electrician for commercial buildings. Right now (and for the last 3 years) he's been on a big job in the Executive Office Building where the VP is. He had to get one of the highest clearances to work there. Many of his coworkers could not obtain the clearance and they had to be moved to other jobs. It took months of questioning and they went all the way back to his high school days for it. It was kind of nerve-wracking.

My clearance was fairly easy to obtain--just a basic background check.

 

[mrsv98]

Thanks so much for the replies!

DH has been an Actuary and QA tester for 20 but was RIFed last month. He got decent severance and between that, savings and unemployment, we have the time to look for something he really wants to do and that has meaning as opposed to what he was doing.

We found some really interesting (well to my darling math nerd anyway ) jobs in Homeland Security, Secret Service, Immigration, the Navy and the NSA but just from the incredible length and detail of the applications, I had a feeling we were in for the long haul!

I guess my biggest question is how are they in terms of communicating the process and where an applicant is? We can be patient if we know that the wheels, however slowly, are turning. We can't sit around and wait without hearing anything though, I mean, he does have to shave and get a job at some point! (I only kid, the poor man is busting his hump looking)

Any tips on the process? Do we email and check in or let it go on its own time? Anything you can relate will be a big help!

Thanks again!

 

[Cindy B]

Hiring within the federal government takes time and lots of patience. I had a four month turnaround, which is lucky. I applied to the position in early March, interviewed late May, and my first day on the job was July 5th. I was a civilian employee.

Don't get overwhelmed by the verbage on usajobs.gov. Understand your acronymns and do the best you can on the application. If it helps, some of the forms you can and will use later.

Check out www.federalsoup.com There is a forum titled New Hires or looking to be hired which helped me a lot. There is also another forum about clearances and such.

 

[Christine]

I guess my biggest question is how are they in terms of communicating the process and where an applicant is? We can be patient if we know that the wheels, however slowly, are turning. We can't sit around and wait without hearing anything though, I mean, he does have to shave and get a job at some point! (I only kid, the poor man is busting his hump looking)

My experience is that communication is poor unless you *know* one of the people in the office that is doing the hiring. At that point, they can tell you where the process is. If you are going in cold, you have no idea what is going on. You will usually get a letter from the HR area stating that you made the certification (means you qualified for the job). They will have a POC on the letter (maybe) but that HR person is usually very far removed from the office doing the actual hiring. For instance, I am in D.C.; however, our notification letters and HR handling is done in the state of Washington.

Any tips on the process? Do we email and check in or let it go on its own time? Anything you can relate will be a big help!

Thanks again!

The one thing I say to everyone is be prepared to totally tailor your resume to the job announcement. And do it in a very detailed fashion. The resume that you prepare in response to an announcement isn't going to be anything that you'd every want or be able to show to another employer. To me, it's just a bizarre process. The big thing to remember is to make sure that "key" words are in your resume. The resume goes through a computerized selection process first, before the HR person gets it. A computer is going to compare the job announcement to your resume so you need to ensure that you use many of the same words that are in the announcement. If you don't, it won't make it through. After that, an HR person is going to look at each statement in the announcement to see how well you match up against the statement. You will also get a point rating or score based on how extensive your experience is. The HR person has a matrix provided by the hiring official that states what gives you a 70 point rating, what gives 80 points, and what gives 90. So it is very important to be specific about what you've done. For instance, in our latest announcement, one of the requirements is that you've participated in some fashion in meetings/presentations with the client. If you've just shown up as part of a team, you get 70 points, if you have prepared material and participated, you get 80 points. If you actually led the meetings and were in charge of them, you get 90 points. So it's important to make distinctions about your role in the tasks. But, again, each job annoucement is different.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

And a very important thing is not so much the pay (which could easily be much better elsewhere) but the benefits at retirement. You get a pension based on 1.1% times your number of years services times your high three year average salary. Plus Social Secuirty. Plus Thrift Savings (which is similar to a 401(k) plan. And if you had carried health insurance for at least five years including the date you retire you can carry your health insurance into retirment at the same price an active employee will pay.

 

[MelanieC]

My husband is a Civilian Govt Employee with the Air National Guard in Pennsylvania. My husband has worked there since 1993 though, so he hasn't had to go through the hiring process in a while. His unit is losing their planes though so he just applied to another unit a week or so ago. I'm assuming its going to take a while for the whole process.

 

[MelanieC]

And a very important thing is not so much the pay (which could easily be much better elsewhere) but the benefits at retirement. You get a pension based on 1.1% times your number of years services times your high three year average salary. Plus Social Secuirty. Plus Thrift Savings (which is similar to a 401(k) plan. And if you had carried health insurance for at least five years including the date you retire you can carry your health insurance into retirment at the same price an active employee will pay.

Thanks for the info on the health insurance. I have to remember to have DH pick up insurance prior to him retiring which we is hopefully in 10 more years. Right now we get insurance through my company because its a lot less expensive.
The TSP program (Thrift Savings) is great!! He has done pretty decent with it over the years!!

 

[Christine]

Thanks for the info on the health insurance. I have to remember to have DH pick up insurance prior to him retiring which we is hopefully in 10 more years. Right now we get insurance through my company because its a lot less expensive.
The TSP program (Thrift Savings) is great!! He has done pretty decent with it over the years!!

Me too on the health insurance. We use my husband's insurance because it is much cheaper, but I will be picking it up through the government at least 5 years prior to my retirement.

 

[olena]

So do they actually consider candidates for these civilian jobs that have no prior military experience? DH doesn't bother with applying for those jobs, because he was told he didn't stand a chance if he had never served before.

 

[mrsv98]

So do they actually consider candidates for these civilian jobs that have no prior military experience? DH doesn't bother with applying for those jobs, because he was told he didn't stand a chance if he had never served before.

DH has no military service but he is applying since these are purely civilian jobs. There are some that give "points" for service people or retired military but there are many that are open to everyone. There are a TON of federal/military jobs so have him apply! (just not the ones DH is going for! )

 

[olena]

DH has no military service but he is applying since these are purely civilian jobs. There are some that give "points" for service people or retired military but there are many that are open to everyone. There are a TON of federal/military jobs so have him apply! (just not the ones DH is going for! )

Will do!

I'll tell him, but he's so discouraged anymore. He's easily applied for at least 50 jobs with the feds and he hasn't even gotten a nibble. One of his applications was even flagged by someone very high up who recommended him for the job, but it seems to have come to naught. Those applications are so tedious, too, which doesn't help his eagerness to muddle through them.

I just got excited today when I saw a new opening here in Atlanta with DHS, so that will be another application.

 

[mrsv98]

Will do!

I'll tell him, but he's so discouraged anymore. He's easily applied for at least 50 jobs with the feds and he hasn't even gotten a nibble. One of his applications was even flagged by someone very high up who recommended him for the job, but it seems to have come to naught. Those applications are so tedious, too, which doesn't help his eagerness to muddle through them.

I just got excited today when I saw a new opening here in Atlanta with DHS, so that will be another application.

Tedious is putting it mildly! DH easily spent 3 or 4 hours on the Naval one alone! He has more forms to fill out for DHS and there was a really interesting one with the NSA so he is tackling that today.

Good luck to your DH too, it is nasty out there!

 

[olena]

Tedious is putting it mildly! DH easily spent 3 or 4 hours on the Naval one alone! He has more forms to fill out for DHS and there was a really interesting one with the NSA so he is tackling that today.

Good luck to your DH too, it is nasty out there!

Thanks...you, too! Sorry your DH got RIFed. They did those before the meltdown at my DH's company, so when this latest downturn came, they were lean, mean and doing OK. But DH went to school with the goal of federal service and now he's ready and it stinks. The latest job he actually heard back from thanked him for his application and said he made it past the first culling and there were over 650 applicants.

 

[Cindy B]

Here's a few tips from my own federal job search:

Match the KSA's to the announcement.
Follow the directions of the announcement carefully or your application will be rejected because you didn't know to attach a file

I personally did not need clearance to apply but I did get fingerprinted on the interview and a longer more tedious clearance application was required when I was offered the position.

Be willing to relocate or get a reasonable distance. I would have preferred a job in my own state, but I did get one a state over (the distance isn't terrible)

Research the GS pay scale carefully before applying, you don't want to waste anyones time before the application. You can google that information-- don't forget about locality pay as well.

Some of the federal forms you can reuse on similar applications. I can't remember which one it was, but I was able to reuse a few.. I just typed them and scanned them in so I could resubmit.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think it would depend on his job.

My DH is a civilian and works for a civilian company but he has security clearances b/c he has to access facilities that require it (he just rode on a sub this summer!)

My friend's husband is a manager at the Exchange (or whatever the Air Force calls it on base)--he was hired too quickly (probably a 2 month turn around) so that tells me that he probably didn't need a clearance for his job.


I know it took several months for my husband to get his b/c of all the interviews that took place and the level of detail involved. I believe he has a secret clearance, but I don't recall.

I know that you don't want to get it inactivated--so when he got a job offer for another company where it wasn't needed--he used a contact to see if he could do some part-time work to maintain it. Well that led to a different full time offer and he couldn't be happier (though on some days you wouldn't know it.)

They'll want to know all the places he has traveled and for what reason--he had several personal references.

People applying for jobs who already have the clearance sometimes get a few extra "points" if you will b/c the hiring company could save the expense. However, lack of a clearance doesn't make him ineligible for hire. It just means he has to be that much more competitive and spot on in his interviews for a company to be willing to go to the effort and expense of hire AND the security clearance process.

 

[LittleMermaidsMom]

I work for DHS - getting into the federal government can be a long process. It took about 2 years of applying before I finally got my first offer. Once I received the offer, it took another 4 months until my background investigation was complete and I could start working. Even now, I'm waiting to transfer to DC to another position that I was offered back in June (I applied for it last October!). I'm waiting to have my security clearance upgraded and it's taking forever!

A great website for information is www.federalsoup.com. They have a career planning forum that can answer a lot of questions about the federal hiring process. I wish your DH good luck and tell him to hang in there!!