Hello,
In early February I voluntarily resigned from a competitive position after achieving career tenure. I have had a conditional job offer for an excepted position for over a year and a half now, but have been waiting for a billet to open so I can be brought on. I just received my Entry on Duty date for mid-June, and have a couple of questions stemming from email correspondence with the HR hiring team.
I sent my last SF-50 to help with determining salary, and received the response: “Please understand that now that you are considered an external applicant (outside of the 90 day window), your salary for this opportunity will be recalculated using a standard, “best offer” formula that eliminates the need to negotiate.” I have never heard of this 90 day window. Does anyone know what that means? This seems very unfair as when I applied I was a federal employee. It’s not my fault that it took them a year and a half to be ready to bring me on. Additionally, I thought that because I had career tenure, I would have the benefits of someone who is currently a federal employee when applying for federal jobs, even if I left federal service. Is this only the case for other competitive jobs, not excepted jobs? I’m worried I’m going to be cheated on my salary as a result of this. Is it possible for them to give me a salary below what was stated in the conditional offer? Does anyone have any insight on how to get the most out of this “best offer formula”? Should I include things like working as a peer tutor in undergrad for two hours a week? I initially hadn’t included that because I thought it wasn’t related to the job description and the amount of time was so small. Is there any chance that being an external applicant could actually help me?
I also got an email from them saying “As part of our compensation package, [Agency] offers a Special Leave Accrual Incentive for newly hired government employees.” The amount of leave they are giving me is 6 hours a pay period, but I thought I would be accruing that anyway because I had career tenure. Or does that not matter because that was in a competitive position, not an excepted position?
Any insight anyone has would be greatly appreciated.