Need help regarding GS pay systemI applied for a GS-13 job, and on the job announcement it stated a pay range of between $83K - $107K. I believe there are 10 steps within each grade which are commensurate to a pay amount/increase. I have not held a GS position before, but I' m a retired military, and have all the experience and specialized skills for this job. My question is whether or not the steps within the grade are negotiable. Do they factor in your prior experience, education, latest salary, etc... I think one of my major considerations in accepting this job (aside from the close proximity from my home) is how close they can meet my current salary in the support contractor field. I' m concerned that if they offer me a Step 1, I' m going to lose almost $20K/year. If the steps are negotiable, are there limits as to the number of level of steps you can negotiate? I appreciate any inputs regarding my questions. Thanks in advance. How much (or if) you can negotiate varies of course, but if Step 1 (I' m going to assume that' s the bottom of the range around $83K) is $20K less than you' re currently making, you' re not going to get the top step (which I assume is the $107K). Employers just don' t start new hires at the tip top of ranges (rarely anyway). And if they do, then you' re stuck with no place to go for even a cost of living raise. At most you might be offered mid-point if you' re a perfect match for everything and thensome ($95k) So, when you do get an offer, (I' m betting between $83 and $95) you' re going to have to carefully consider whether there is a reason to take this job or not. Of course with any government job you do get a lot of stability and security, great benefits and access to post for other government jobs that may come up. The contractor job pays more but can come and go on the whim of whether they get or keep their contracts. Believe me I' m weighing the options. The company I work for offers benefits that is one of the top 10 in the US. I' m not only losing out about $20K a year if I accept this government GS-13 step 1 job, I' m also going to lose out about 25K a year in pension benefits. So that' s almost 50K a year I' m going to lose. Dang, that' s a major demotion. I' m now thinking of just sticking it out with my current job. It' s an excellent company, great people, the only downside is the distance from where I live. Driving the distance with traffic daily takes me in the average 4 hours on the road everyday. Our contract is good for several years, we just competed and won again. Don' t get me wrong, this government job opportunity at the grade of GS-13 doesn' t come along often. Especially for someone who hasn' t been in the GS, just coming in. I' m really weighing the pros and cons hard. But, I have a feeling there will be little wiggle room as far as negotiating the grade steps. We' ll see. I guess if it doesn' t pan out I' m just going to suck it up with the daily long drive. Thanks for your inputs. My general impression with government jobs is that before an offer is made they will factor in things like experience, skills, training, education and so forth. Then the offer will be made based on the Step that most closely matches what you bring to the job. It' s also my impression that once an offer is made, that' s pretty much it...that there' s very little negotiating that ever goes on. That does not mean, however, that you can' t ask if the offer is negotiable and see what sort of response you receive. If the offer isn' t negotiable and it' s considerably less than you' re earning now, however, you may have to pass. I can' t imagine why anybody would be willing to take a $20K cut in pay if there was any other option. I hear you about the commute. My husband has commuted for years & years, with the longest one being 1 1/2 hours in the morning, and 2 hours at night. That did NOT last long. He' s currently commuting 35 minutes, which is one of the shortest drives he' s ever had (the last one was almost an hour), and most definitely very workable. The years of driving really can wear on you, and if you have a family, you never see them, and you end up not having a life. I' ve often felt like a single parent, and my kids suffered from a shortage of time with their Dad. One of my friend' s husband, who has been commuting over 3 hours round trip every day for years recently "dropped out" of the rat race to take a job closer to home. It did come with a pay cut, but they decided it was worth it. Certainly the loss of pension increases and terrific benefits was something they struggled with, too. So, I think if you are looking at a small pay cut, it may be worth it to you, as long as you can live on the amount, and you can continue to save for retirement, and/or have "enough" to do the things you want. One of the dilemmas we often face is that when we can afford to live our lives the way we want, we don' t have the time (due to working all the time and/or driving all the time), and when we have the time, we don' t have the money (lower-paying but more convenient job, voluntary erduction in work hours, etc.) That being said, it doesn' t make sense to, as Paul says, take a $20k cut in pay. Hey, I can see taking even $10k less, but a much bigger bite than that doesn' t seem to be in your best interests at all. Maybe you' ll be surprised & get an offer higher than you think! Best of luck! | |
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