Just had job interview

[RedRocket44]

You found a government job that has a base pay of 45k and maxes out at 100k? That sounds like a wide margin for one position/classification. Do you need promotions to get to 100k?

In regards to op, figure out what your pension options are. Is there a minimum retirement age? Would you retire with full benefits? Plan it out to where you can retire with a pension and benefits but still gives you time to hit the private industry. Just a thought.

Depends on where OP lives. I can tell you in Ontario, Canada some government jobs are like this. Teachers start out 50-60k a year and in less than 10 years are just under 100k, but basically plateau there. Nurses are very similar.

My buddy is a cop. He wen't thru the cadet program in my city, which is a 3 year program. He was basically doing the work nobody else wanted to do, a lot of paperwork, transporting court documents and occasionally prisoners/evidence to/from court for trials. The cadets aren't armed, it's basically a step above an un-sworn civilian working in a police dept.

The cadet program paid like 36 or 37k a year. Once you graduate that you become a patrol officer, which bumped him to like 55k. After 4 years on patrol they are making something around 80k, even without increasing in rank. Supervisors are making close to 100k.

Ontario has what's called the "sunshine list". A list of all government / public sector employees in the province every year who earn more than 100k/year are published, along with who they work for / job title. It's supposed to give transparency to how taxpayer dollars are being spent on public sector wages/jobs. Over 200 firefighters in my city earned over 100k, which is over 66% of the force. Over 20% of police earned more than 100k.

It's crazy, because as far as I'm aware, police / firefighters in the US don't make that kind of money. Our soldiers serving make about 50k a year, while some policeman driving around in a relatively peaceful country is making double that.

 

[Chuck Todd]

I wish you all the luck. I myself have an interview for a healthcare consulting position in Austin tomorrow. I have always wanted to live in Austin. I want this god damned job so bad

Good luck man. I've lived in Austin for four years and its amazing.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

If you like accounting I say stick with that. There are actually a lot of things you can do with that degree beyond being a CPA. And if you stick through the grind of becoming a CPA it opens you to a lot of executive positions.

 

[platfox]

Depends on where OP lives. I can tell you in Ontario, Canada some government jobs are like this. Teachers start out 50-60k a year and in less than 10 years are just under 100k, but basically plateau there. Nurses are very similar.

My buddy is a cop. He wen't thru the cadet program in my city, which is a 3 year program. He was basically doing the work nobody else wanted to do, a lot of paperwork, transporting court documents and occasionally prisoners/evidence to/from court for trials. The cadets aren't armed, it's basically a step above an un-sworn civilian working in a police dept.

The cadet program paid like 36 or 37k a year. Once you graduate that you become a patrol officer, which bumped him to like 55k. After 4 years on patrol they are making something around 80k, even without increasing in rank. Supervisors are making close to 100k.

Ontario has what's called the "sunshine list". A list of all government / public sector employees in the province every year who earn more than 100k/year are published, along with who they work for / job title. It's supposed to give transparency to how taxpayer dollars are being spent on public sector wages/jobs. Over 200 firefighters in my city earned over 100k, which is over 66% of the force. Over 20% of police earned more than 100k.

It's crazy, because as far as I'm aware, police / firefighters in the US don't make that kind of money. Our soldiers serving make about 50k a year, while some policeman driving around in a relatively peaceful country is making double that.

Good points. Same here for cops and firefighters. I guess you can retire with a lot highet pay than your starting pay. Our teachers only make a fraction of what your teachers make though and our nurses aren't gov't employees.

 

[kahiljabroni]

I understand that part but most of the government jobs I've seen don't have pay that goes from 45k to 100k for one classification. Usually each classification only has about 20-25k range from base to cap. Thats why I asked if it was the same position or if it was multiple positions in the same series.

Technically there are two different titles but you make the jump in year 2 and its actually a reqirement.

 

[kahiljabroni]

Watch that tone with me boy..jk

Yea, mostly likely its a mult positions in that same series..

I'm a SV-H and my range is $61,000-$84,000. The next step which is a SV-I is in the range of $71,000-$94,000 but i have to apply for them

What's a sv-h?

 

[kahiljabroni]

I wish you all the luck. I myself have an interview for a healthcare consulting position in Austin tomorrow. I have always wanted to live in Austin. I want this god damned job so bad

Right back at ya...I hear austin is bawse

 

[kahiljabroni]

If you like accounting I say stick with that. There are actually a lot of things you can do with that degree beyond being a CPA. And if you stick through the grind of becoming a CPA it opens you to a lot of executive positions.

Problem is id have to aquire another 30-40k in debt and earn just enough to live for next two years.
And even then there are no guarantees...looks like 45-50 is starting pay for cpas round here and I see craigslist ads offering 65-85 for 4-5 years experience in the field. How typical is it to make 6 figures as a cpa?

 

[BulldogWrestler]

thats funny because I have a job interview tomorrow and have been thinking of studying accounting online while I work full time. Don't know if I should do a post-bacc certificate or a 2nd BS in Accounting.

 

[kahiljabroni]

What's the interview for?

 

[Lone Coyote]

This ones just over the phone, maybe I can promise a bukkake party for upper management if they fly me in

Wut? Second super random comment in less than 12 hours, lol

 

[Dogstarman]

The fed is good but TSA sucks as a department.

 

[kahiljabroni]

Not tsa bro

 

[RoninJin]

What's a sv-h?

Its a pay band system for TSA. Included in it is locality pay

http://www.tsa.gov/careers/pay-bands

 

[RoninJin]

The fed is good but TSA sucks as a department.

Depends on what department in tsa. I current work in Office of Security Operation as an inspector and loving my jobs. What you typically see on the news about screeners at airport is on a small fraction of what TSA is. They got positions in Watch command in HQ, K9 division, Air Marshal, liaison etc

Office of Global Strategies is something I wanted to get into. In this dept you represent TSA abroad in other countries (Jordan, Singapore, Germany, ) and they pay for your house, plus per diem, plus salary of course.

 

[Oblivian]

I would take the job and revisit the situation within 2 years. If you can see yourself staying with the job for the rest of your life, stick with it. If you can't and want to go the school/CPA route, do it. It's not an opportunity that I would pass up without trying it.

 

[kahiljabroni]

Just got the call this morning offering me fed job.shits gettin real bros, need to make a decision

 

[kahiljabroni]

Thanks

 

[Bukowski82]

Some of you may have heard me lament on here about making decisions for future career prospects and that I returned to college last year. My original goal was law school but have since changed to becoming an accountant/CPA.

Anyway about a month ago I received a call about a federal job that I applied to...I don't want to go into details but it's transportation related. I passed the initial test and the physical and just had my first interview. I think it went well though I was pretty nervous. It's the typical federal job with great pay and benefits but could become very monotonous. You basically start out at 45k, 55k by 2nd year, and 75k-100k when maxed out...its a union job so it's guaranteed.

So now if I get the job I will have a decision to make. I'm one year away from a BA in accounting and 2 years away from taking the CPA exam. The federal job is extremely stable, but the hours are sporadic and it involves a lot of travel at all times. I'm basically choosing between the comfort and stability of a less fulfilling job(federal), and the uncertainty of the job market as well as two more years of school and all the loans that come along with it.

Pretty much just venting but if anyone has had a similar decision to make and wants to add some insight that'd be cool.

Not to blow up your spot, TS... But I'm curious. When and why did you decide to become an Air Marshal? And what did you do in the Military?

 

[kahiljabroni]

Not to blow up your spot, TS... But I'm curious. When and why did you decide to become an Air Marshal? And what did you do in the Military?

Nah..the jobs not as cool as air marshall..id take that fo sho.