Bump.
I was having a discussion with the office manager yesterday and he mentioned that he had just completed a round of reviewing applications for a recent announcement for a entry level ASIP position in the OKC office.
In the announcement it mentions a salary range and lists something along the lines of FG-11/12 or FG-11/13. In the explanation further down in the announcement I believe it says something on the matter of 'advancement is available on a
non-competitive basis to FG-13.'
Now mind you I am not looking at an announcement right now to get this verbiage 100% correct, but going off memory and the discussion yesterday - so bear with me. You will see that there is always a salary range on the announcements and it has been asked why such a wide range. In the case cited above, it would mean that you come in as a FG-11 Step 1, and if you spent 20+ years in the FAA, then you would likely promote to a FG-13 Step-10 without ever having to bid for another job (like FG-14 PIC positions).
The manager told me that in the application process a question is asked [What is the lowest level pay grade that you will accept] and people are looking at the FG-11/12 and answering FG-12 **of course**!
Well.....these applications are being immediately set aisde because you don't come in any higher than a FG-11 Step-1 initially. So what I heard was that people's application are being unnecessaryily disregarded because of a poorly written announcement and unclear definitions and requirements! I specfically asked the manager if he could address this with the HR point-of-contact as this reportedly affected nearly 95% of the applications received!
The pay rates are posted on-line (Google GS pay scales) and they are discussed in-depth in this thread and others, but let me reiterate that a new hire would only stay as a GS-11 for a short period of time (currently until the end of Part135 Indoc class) before they would be promoted to GS-12 to begin with and in my case that was 1.5 months. So people are
NOT even getting a look at being selected for interviews because they are asking for starting pay above the regular entry level where they would be getting that promotion in about 1-2 months in any case.
Also - as discussed in previous posts - the competiton is still high enough that the hiring pool all have at least the 10 pts vet's preference on this bid, though I have heard different stories for other office specific bids.
I've heard stories of other people, in other gov't jobs, being able to negotiate a higher starting pay grade and such, but I am advising those who are applying for the FAA ASIP/2181 positions that they should NOT put that on their resumes/applications on-line.
In the end I hope I heard all of this wrong, or misunderstood what is happening, but I don't believe so. Take it for what your think it is worth. Sequestration is obviously affecting all parts of the gov't too and it is said that if it takes affect on March 1st that we will be under a hard hiring freeze.