Progression in federal government?

[sushitooth]

I was talking to the Heinz D.C. track director a week ago and she told me that it is not atypical for someone to be hired straight into the GS11 level after coming out of this track. More generally, she said someone would find employment at GS9 in a 2-year training program and then be promoted to GS11 or sometimes even GS13 upon its completion.

My question is... (And it would be great if someone spoke from experience or factual knowledge)... How do the salaries go up with these levels? I am aware of the salary range for each level, however, GS9 in D.C. is somewhere between 52k-68k (from the top of my head), whereas GS11 is something like 57k-82k. Well, what I'm afraid of is that while that looks nice on paper (from something like 54k first few years to somewhere like 67-70k a few years later), in reality, how do you think it works? I am afraid to start out at 54k at GS9, do two years of the training program, and then be "promoted" to GS-11 at a salary of 57k. Is that a legitimate concern? Or is it possible to be promoted to 70k or so?

Or, if it is unlikely to just be "promoted" (within the same position) up 2 levels, is it realistic to be at the GS9 level for 2 years at 54k or so, and then apply (and be accepted) for a position of 70K at GS11?

If anyone could offer ANY insight with relation to this, please do so! How does government promotion work? Is it realistic to expect to move up and have the salary move up from the median of each grade level (so, say, from 57k in GS9 to 67k in GS11), or is the government set up so that, even though the GS level goes up, the salary would rise only 3-4k?

Thank you!

[flyers29]

With a master's you will come in as a GS9, step 1. Depending on the promotion potential of a position (This can be seen on the specific vacancy announcements you apply for), you will generally go to a GS-11, step 1 after a year and a GS-12, step 1 a year after that. Some positions will even allow going up to a GS-13, step 1 after another year (so after 3 years of service total). If you look at the pay scale you'll notice that you can only go up to GS-15 (and then there is the Senior Executive Service, but that's something else altogether), so you're probably going to plateau at a GS-12 or 13 for awhile (you can of course move up after a year of service at the next lower grade technically, but in reality you're going to have to bide your time at 12 or 13 since people with more years of experience at that grade will be competing for higher positions, also). It is then when the other steps come into play--if you're not going to go up a grade, you go up another step every year or two. The important thing here is the actual GS grade, as that's tied to your position and is based on the kind of responsibility your job entails. Now I'm only speaking to someone with no job experience before their master's...if you came in with a few years of job experience you might be able to come in at a higher step to match what your prior salary was. Hope this isn't too confusing, if you want to invest some time into how this all works you might want to check out federalsoup.com.