I applied earlier this year to the NSA. To my surprise, I received an interview for HireVue and completed that in April. Last week I got an email saying I was selected to move forward and information would be forwarded to the recruiter. I haven’t heard anything yet, so I am wondering what timeline I should expect to get a CJO.
It probably varies, I assume you have already sent back the forms they sent you and sent them your transcripts. I’m in process with the same agency. My timeline for this particular part, for reference:
12/20/23 - Interviewed
1/4/24 - Submitted various forms (SF-144, OF0306, P2771) and transcripts
1/8/24 - CJO and SF-86 submitted
Interesting. I submitted everything (transcripts, etc.) the next day, but still no contact from the recruiter. Hopefully it comes soon. I have a 12-5 TJO but no FJO yet, should be soon. Hopefully my NSA offer compares because I would much rather be there.
In my experience, NSA lowballs more than other agencies. I have CJO’s from other IC agencies in the high 12, low 13 range. My NSA one is low 12. Hopefully, you grade better than I did with them.
What kind of experience did you have? As well as degree?
I have a Masters with 10 years experience, but no Federal jobs. Honestly, I am hoping for a 13-1.
Masters with about 9 years experience in private industry that includes a couple top 100 Fortune companies, 5+ relevant certs. Maybe it’s just me being lowballed, they would not negotiate at all. Not even to match my current pay, which would have been a couple steps higher. Pretty disappointing, especially since the cost of living there is ridiculous.
It seems to vary with time, one year an agency is giving out decent offers but a couple years later they have throttled back. One thing I can offer is a couple of reports of people getting an offer from NSA with like a GS-9 step 7 or a GS-11 step 5 rather than coming in at the higher grade (11 or 12 in this example) but at a lower step. It seems like you’re getting the same money, but you’re in the part of the pay scale where you don’t get a step increase every year.
Also make sure you ask about how promotions work. I don’t think any of the IC agencies have “ladder” positions where you get automatic promotions up to 13 or something. I’ve heard some agencies are trying to “streamline” promotions up to a certain grade, but not up to 13.
The other buzzword lately seems to be “STEM Pay.” Everyone is trying to pay more to attract people with technical degrees… but not all positions or degrees qualify. Be sure to ask about this.
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I worked with one agency during my time in the military that had the “opportunity” to get to 13 in every position, but you did have to apply every year and put together a package that would show you were performing at that grade. I had quite a few 13’s on my team that were content where they were because they were all non-supervisory. I definitely will not qualify for STEM pay though. My degrees aren’t really relevant to that, just my 10+ years IC experience.
Also, as an update, I still have not heard from a recruiter.