Get a fed start p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

President Obama’s promise in November to make the federal government a model employer of veterans should become more tangible this spring, as 24 agencies are due to establish Veterans Employment Program Offices and submit their Veterans’ Employment Operational Plans. But you don’t have to wait until those plans take shape to start a federal job hunt.

Some tips to get you going:

• Explore all options. Most agencies — including those in the Defense, intelligence and Foreign Service communities — sponsor dynamic, well-paying internships and training programs that fast-track young professionals into management. However, most of these programs are announced only on agency Web sites, not on USAJobs.gov. For example, the Army Material Command's Fellows Program is announced under civilian careers at www.amc.army.mil, and many Defense Department programs are announced at www.dodvets.com.

• Use federal hiring programs for veterans, as appropriate. The programs include reference, veterans’ recruitment appointments and programs for disabled. For more information, visit the Office of Personnel Management Web site, www.opm.gov.

If you think that your rights under special hiring programs for veterans were violated, consider submitting a written complaint to the head of your target agency and the Labor Department Veterans’ Employment and Training Service — www.dol.gov/VETS — within 60 days of the alleged violation. But while doing so, keep applying for other jobs.

• Remember that federal agencies are not all the same. Federal agencies (and often, federal offices within the same agency) differ as much from one another as do private-sector organizations. Also, each of your federal applications will almost certainly be judged by different hiring managers who know nothing about your other federal applications. So don’t give up on a federal job if you get a poor impression or a rejection from one federal organization.

• Apply to temporary and contracting staffing firms that place security-cleared professionals in government. Temporary assignments provide ideal opportunities for networking, gaining federal experience and earning income while you job hunt. Plus, many temporary and contract employees eventually segue into permanent federal jobs. Your target firms may include Kelly Government Solutions, ClearanceJobs.com, and ClearedConnections.com.

• Negotiate your salary. Your target agency will probably base its offer on your military salary, so be sure to explain how your military salary underestimates your true income by excluding bonuses, overtime pay, or benefits such as housing allowances and child care. And if accepting the job offer would require you to move to a location that would increase your cost of living, say so.

The most important question in salary negotiations is usually, “Is this offer negotiable?” Just asking for a better offer is frequently all it takes. The time to initiate salary negotiations is after you receive an offer and before you respond to it; once you accept a job, you lose your leverage.

If the human resources’ contact for your target job is unwilling to negotiate your salary, ratchet your request up to your target job’s hiring manager. Support your request with an explanation of how your education or military experience exceeds the basic qualifications for your target job.

By using these techniques, one of my clients who transitioned from a military weapons specialist to a federal weapons analyst increased his salary offer by more than $25,000.

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Useful Web sites:

Veteran's Employment Resource Center

Intelligence jobs

CIA careers page

Homeland Security Department's veterans outreach

Defense Department opportunities for veterans: www.dodvets.com and www.godefense.com

Defense Logistics Agency

Labor Department transition resources:

Office of Personnel Management’s Government-wide Veterans Employment site

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Lily Whiteman is a public affairs officer at the National Science Foundation and author of "How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job." She is a columnist at Military Times’ sister publication, Federal Times. Her Web site is IGotTheJob.net. The views expressed in this column do not necessarily represent the views of the National Science Foundation.