Uncle Sam is hiring civilian employees — and when the federal government hires it offers both good pay and great benefits. There are full and part-time jobs as well as jobs for entry-level workers and for experienced professionals. Oh, and to make things better, the application process is quick and easy, there’s no charge or fee and you can locate jobs online.

Living as I do outside Washington, I see people everyday who work for the government. The range of jobs is remarkable, from doctors (research at the FDA) and lawyers (pick any federal agency) to letter carriers and Park Service employees at the Antietam National Battlefield. There are jobs available from New York to California and everything in between — and the pay scale runs well into six figures for those with experience and training. In addition, of course, the benefits package is among the best available.

The great beauty of government jobs is this: The government has entered the modern era. You can post a resume online, search for a job online and even get a job which allows telecommuting.

How To Apply For A Government Job

“Many Federal agencies fill their jobs like private industry by allowing applicants to contact the agency directly for job information and application processing,”  says the Office of Personnel Management. “But, while the process is similar, there are significant differences due to the many laws, executive orders, and regulations that govern Federal employment.

“Many years ago, applicants who passed the civil service test were placed on standing registers of eligibles maintained by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In addition, applicants had to complete a standard Federal employment application form, the SF-171, to apply for all jobs.

Now, however, the OPM no longer maintains registers of eligible job candidates.

• Applicants can mail, fax their resume, or apply online using their resume.
• An optional application for Federal Employment, the OF-612, is available for those who do not have a resume.
• Job seekers do not need a rating from OPM to enable them to apply for non-clerical vacancies.
• Only a few positions require a written test.
• The old SF-171 is obsolete.

Post A Government Resume

So how does the system work? In basic terms there are two steps required to get a government job interview.

First, you post your resume online. In fact, you can post up to five different resumes online, each oriented toward a different skill or job field. To post your resume you must first create an online account. This is done by going toUSAJobs.gov.

Once on the page you will see that creating an account is a two-minute job — name, address, citizenship and veteran’s status, if any.

Search Federal Job Listings

Second, the government has an online jobs search engine. In just a few minutes you can get search by agency, occupation and location; see featured jobs and employers; and find out which jobs are in demand.

To search for a federal job go to this link at USAJobs.gov. You can search by keyword, location, job category and salary range.

Types of Federal Jobs Online

There are two classes of jobs in the Federal Government:

Competitive Service jobs are under OPM’s jurisdiction. These jobs are subject to the civil service laws passed by Congress. These laws ensure that applicants and employees receive fair and equal treatment in the hiring process. They give selecting officials broad authority to review more than one applicant source before determining the best-qualified candidate based on job-related criteria. A basic principle of Federal employment is that all candidates must meet the qualification requirements for the position for which they receive an appointment.

Excepted Service agencies set their own qualification requirements. These agencies are not subject to the appointment, pay, and classification rules in Title 5, United States Code. However, they are subject to veterans’ preference. Some Federal agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), have only excepted service positions. Other agencies, may have some divisions or even specific jobs that may be excepted from civil service procedures. Positions may be in the excepted service by law, by executive order, or by action of OPM.

How Government Job Candidates Are Selected

In filling competitive service jobs, agencies can generally choose from among three groups of candidates:

1. A competitive list of eligibles. This record lists the applicants (in rank order) who meet the qualification requirements for a specific vacancy announcement.

2. A list of eligibles who have civil service status. This list consists of applicants who are eligible for noncompetitive movement within the competitive service. These individuals presently or previously served under career-type appointments in the competitive service. They are selected under agency merit promotion procedures and can receive an appointment by promotion, reassignment, transfer, or reinstatement.

3. A list of eligibles who qualify for a special noncompetitive appointing authority established by law or executive order. Examples of special noncompetitive appointing authorities include the Veterans’ Readjustment Appointment (VRA), the special authority for 30% or more disabled veterans, and the Peace Corps.

Agencies in the competitive service are required by law and OPM regulation to post vacancies with OPM whenever they are seeking candidates from outside their own workforce for positions lasting more than 120 days. (Agency, in this context, means the parent agency — i.e., Treasury, not the Internal Revenue Service.) These vacancies are posted on OPM’s USAJOBS and in America’s Job Bank (AJB). Excepted agencies are not required to post their job announcements in USAJOBS. To learn about their job opportunities you must go to their websites.

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There’s some truth to these claims. The Internet has made the process of finding a job very much faster and easier than in the past if only because so many options are available. That said, going online to find a job is not a sure thing, as a job seeker you have to do your part.

Setting The Right Criteria

The first step toward successful online job hunting is to figure out what you really want to do. What is the right job description? What are the buzz words that an employer would use to find someone like you?

Next, what about a job title? What do we call people who do what you do? This is important because we pay people differing amounts depending on their titles, even though their actual job skills and responsibilities may not be much different or different at all. The classic example concerns people who want to be freelance writers, technical writers and consultants. These are terms without any standard definition, but it’s likely that the freelance writer is paid least.

Is there a company that’s especially attractive to you? Because of the work it does, the location, folks who work there, the pay scale, benefits? If you have a particular company in mind you might want to check their website to see if they have an online job application.

Location is a key issue. Long commutes are tiring and can be expensive in terms of gasoline, fares and tolls. There’s a real value in “living above the store” — or as close to it as possible.

If you can telecommute then location because an issue in a different sense: If you can work by wire then by all means work where you want — the city, the country, the mountains, by the sea, whatever.

Pay, of course, is crucial. You want what you’re worth. Notice that what you “need” does not concern employers. What’s important to them is to get the best possible person for the least number of dollars.

In addition, you want benefits. The most-important is health insurance because a trip to the hospital can cost thousands of dollars without coverage. If health coverage includes dental and optical, so much the better. Other major benefits include vacation time, life insurance, severance pay, sick leave, disability leave, personal leave and retirement contributions. If you can get all of these you’re in luck — employers have been cutting back on such benefits for the past decade, but you can still find such packages, especially in government positions.

Keywords

If you look at print newspaper classifieds you can see that they are static, arranged in a set order. If you don’t see a listing because it is filed in some obscure location, you lose. Online the deal is different, most job sites have a search function which allows you to search by keyword and location.

You can get your keywords by considering the criteria above. Try different search and see what results come up. As you do this write out the keywords in the ads which seem most attractive to what you want, then search using the revised or expanded list of terms.

Cautions

In working with job site search systems there are several limitations to consider.

First, if you put in a location does the system just bring up jobs in a particular community or ZIP code? If so you may be missing out on a job that’s 20 feet over the line in the next county and six minutes from your house. Look for systems that allow you to search not only a particular location but also jobs within a given radius.

Second, about those keywords — the more you use the smaller your list of responses. This may be good in the sense of narrowing your search to a few hits, however you may also be missing good opportunities which do not include all of your keywords. To overcome this problem conduct a number of searches, some with a few keywords and some with a longer list.

Check The Company

If you find a job that sounds promising, go to the company website and check out who they are and what they do. Usually you can find good information on the “about” and “media” pages.  For a capsule look at the firm, check out the news releases on the media pages — often they have a short description of the company at the bottom.

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For instance, a garage is built over a property line. The property owner never complains for 20 years. Then, one day, the property owner tells the garage owner to move the garage or pay rent. The garage owner refuses, saying that he, in fact, now owns the land.

Depending on state rules, the garage owner may be right. How do you protect yourself against claims of adverse possession? Get a survey.

For specific information regarding title issues, please contact an attorney or legal clinic.

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In recent years many property records offices have gone online. For a good list of such offices, see The Property Assessment Directory.

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But — and here’s the catch — you cannot do you own title search as part of the loan undwriting process. Lenders and title insurance companies want qualified, third-parties to review records to assure that all information regarding the property — such as ownership and liens — is known and that the title is good and insurable.

Can I do my own title search? is a post from: OurBroker.com -- Refinance, Home Mortgage Loans & Rates, Home Equity Loan

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