Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Professional-Can1385 t1_iylciwe wrote

I wonder if the pay is good; I would like a different job.

4

jackanape7 t1_iylemui wrote

For gov jobs it's usually not the pay that's the draw. It's the job security, benefits, and pension. Some are tough to get into, but once you're in, you're in.

17

asdaaaaaaaa t1_iylkfwp wrote

> It's the job security, benefits, and pension.

Don't count out connections/advancement. Getting your foot in the door even with a "dumb" job like security in a government position can be enough to have people consider you for something when they never would have before. As you said, it's rarely pay directly, but everything combined isn't a bad deal, especially when you consider government jobs are very hard to get completely fired from as well.

Some of the benefits can be pretty nuts too. Depending on organization, you can get paid $1,000 more per year, per language, provided you can pass a proficiency test. Doesn't matter if you use it or need it for your job ever again, they literally will (would?) pay you simply for "knowing" another language. Again, not amazing, but if you put in some work and play it smart, government work isn't terrible. Now, you want to talk the politics of government jobs, that's sometimes a very good reason to avoid it, although not like private companies don't have issues with that as well.

6

fvb955cd t1_iymo6gm wrote

I used to interact a with a lot of customs officers and the big two exit options seemed to be

  1. A more prestigious, or desk law enforcement job, like FBI or HSI agent, IG investigator, or like intelligence analyst roles in the government

  2. Get into the trade side of things, and then get either a federal office job doing that kind of work, or go to the private sector for a shipping or logistics company to do that kind of work

That said, there did seem to be an attitude that the trade side was fairly clogged up with old officers, and that a new officer was looking at 5-10 years of passport stamping before that path opened.

3

Data-Hungry t1_iyo6inb wrote

The language needs to be used something like 15% of your time to receive 5% pay boost. It also needs to be a language of usefullness, such as terrorist related languages.

2

Professional-Can1385 t1_iymifom wrote

For sure! Gov jobs have other benefits, though not all have pensions these days. My brother and his wife have fed gov jobs, but the equivalent of a 401k not pension. However, the job security and pay make their jobs worth it. Bonus: they are both doing what they like. My job is the exact opposite hahaha!

6

Data-Hungry t1_iyo668w wrote

Fed jobs receive a pension AND 401k and social security. Pension is around 25-45k a year depending on your high 3 pay years and what GS level. Add it to your 401k and SS and sitting pretty good though

3

Data-Hungry t1_iylfjr7 wrote

Yes it's good. 130-150k a year with overtime and night diff plus pension..

4