Federal Employment (Civil Service)?

Antonia Quinnett: If you take a GS-9 that is targeted to a GS-12, you would be able to move to a GS-11 in one year and to a GS-12 one year later. You can't skip grades unless you take an appointment at the GS-9 and later are selected for a GS-12 from a DEU certificate (from an announcement that is open to all U.S. citizens). If you're a 10-point vet, and it's a non-professional/scientific degree, you would float to the top category, so applying with the public doesn't lower your chances of being selected. If the position is not targeted to a GS-12, you would have to compete and be selected for any further upward movement. And there are a few positions that start at GS-9 and move through 10 and 11 to get to 12. Those would take you an additional year to get to the 12. An additional consideration is that if they are announcing a GS-9/11/12 T12 position, most of the time, they pick all of their selections off the GS-9 certificate and return the others unused, so if you say! that the lowest grade you will accept is a GS-11 or GS-12, you may possibly be referred, but you are less likely to be interviewed. That's because one expects to have to train a GS-9 in what the job entails and how to do it. A GS-12 is expected to be able to walk in the first day and perform to standards, which is unlikely from anyone who hasn't been performing a particular position. As a side note, federal employment is not capitalized. It's not a title or an agency....Show more