How to Zoom Up the Federal Career Ladder - GovLoop (2024)

FAQs

How to Zoom Up the Federal Career Ladder - GovLoop? ›

Once a fed's initial grade on the GS career ladder is set when s/he is hired into his first federal job, advancing further up the GS career ladder usually requires: 1) Climbing up higher grades sequentially without skipping any grades; and 2) Spending at least one year at each grade to become eligible for a promotion ...

Within-grade step increases are based on an acceptable level of performance and longevity (waiting periods of 1 year at steps 1-3, 2 years at steps 4-6, and 3 years at steps 7-9). It normally takes 18 years to advance from step 1 to step 10 within a single GS grade if an employee remains in that single grade.

You can jump a grade (to GS 14 or GS 15) by taking on additional responsibilities (usually management related) or, rarely, as a way to retain you against outside offers.

As a GS employee, you have to wait one year to increase to a step 2, 3, or 4. You must wait two years before increasing to step 5, 6, or 7. Lastly, you must wait three years before increasing to step 8, 9, or 10. This means that if you join TTS at step 1, you'll proceed to step 2 the following year.

To qualify for a position at the GS-14 level, you must have a minimum of one year of experience at the GS-13 level. Depending on the position, candidates may be able to substitute education for some of the required experience. Job titles for GS-14 employees include the following: Administrative officer.

Under the government pay system, it can be difficult to negotiate a higher GS level—as the pay grades are called under the government's General Schedule—than the one listed in the job description. But each grade has 10 steps that come with a higher salary and career advancement, and those step levels are more flexible.

GS Within-grade increases

General schedule employees are eligible for within-grade increases, unless they are denied for poor performance, after the following waiting periods: 52 weeks for advancement to steps 2-4; 104 weeks for advancement to steps 5-7; and 156 weeks for advancement to steps 8-10.

While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $64.18 and as low as $36.54, the majority of Government Gs 13 wages currently range between $43.27 (25th percentile) to $60.10 (75th percentile) across the United States.

The estimated total pay range for a GS 12 at United States Federal Government is $56K–$93K per year, which includes base salary and additional pay. The average GS 12 base salary at United States Federal Government is $72K per year.

The GS-1 through GS-7 range generally marks entry-level positions, while mid-level positions are in the GS-8 to GS-12 range and top-level positions (senior managers, high-level technical specialists, or physicians) are in the GS-13 to GS-15 range.

Can a GS 7 apply for a GS-11 position? ›

Applicants need 1 year of experience equivalent to at least the GS-5 grade level to qualify for GS-7, 1 year equivalent to at least the GS-7grade level to qualify for GS-9, and 1 year equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level to qualify for GS-11.

The two-step promotion rule states that a GS employee promoted to a position in a higher grade is entitled to basic pay at the lowest rate of the higher grade that exceeds his or her existing rate of basic pay by not less than two step increases of the grade from which promoted.

After one year at the GS-11 grade level, Fellows are generally minimally eligible for promotion to GS-12. GS-13: After one year at the GS-12 grade level, Fellows are generally minimally eligible for promotion to GS-13.

As of May 4, 2024, the average hourly pay for a Gs 14 in California is $20.86 an hour. While ZipRecruiter is seeing salaries as high as $51.55 and as low as $10.12, the majority of Gs 14 salaries currently range between $13.65 (25th percentile) to $32.01 (75th percentile) in California.

The SES application process would appear to be the next natural career move for a government employee at the GS-14 or GS-15 career level, but there's a sizable threshold to be crossed. Competition for SES jobs are steep and the application process is rigorous.

In order to qualify for positions at grades GS-13 and above, you must possess a bachelor's degree AND at least 24 semester hours of coursework in certain business-related fields.

If the position is announced as a GS-7 target GS-12, the incumbent may be non-competitively promoted from the GS-7, to the GS-9, to the GS-11, then to the GS-12.

For example, a GS-5/7/9 career ladder enables a recent graduate to move from a GS-5 to a GS-7 to a GS-9 in as little as three years.

How do I get a promotion to GS-14? Within the GS scale, promotions between grades (like a promotion from GS-13 to GS-14) come from advancing up the "career ladder" associated with a position, or by moving to a job with a higher starting pay grade then your current GS grade.

The basic requirements for advancing to the GS-15 paygrade are: At least 1 year experience at GS-13 or equivalent.