There Was No Guidebook for Vets Joining the Federal Government. So, I Wrote One

What perfect timing for me.  My recent SHRM training gave me the background that I needed to win them over and I was offered the position. For the next two years, I assisted the USAID mission in the overhaul of their personnel system, building a new merit-based approach to compensation.

This process had me immersed in every detail of the federal government’s human resources policy, and more specifically with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and USAID websites. 

As we custom-built a structure that aligned organizational goals and properly incentivized the local employees, I learned a lot. But I also learned something about myself: I didn’t want to work in HR. There are just too many policies and rules, and managers were allowed very little discretion when applying them.  

Again, life intervened. This  time it was COVID, and in early 2020 all nonessential personnel were evacuated back to the U.S.  Unfortunately, my position with USAID was eliminated.

We landed back in Virginia in a temporary accommodation, and I immediately started applying for positions with the federal government. Even with two years of HR experience behind me, I was unprepared for the challenges that I would encounter. 

With each application, I combed through the OPM website again (and again), and slowly began to understand the federal government’s hiring process from the ground up. 

As I defined and dissected each policy and step in the hiring process, I was taking notes and constantly refining options. Most importantly, I mapped how and when to request each of the benefits I believed that I might be entitled to, based on my active-duty service and/or my disabled veteran status.  Many of these perks were not previously known to me (or even the manager who hired me — also a veteran).

At the time, another veteran and friend was applying for positions on usajobs.gov and I emailed him, with some tips and tricks that I thought I should share. 

After my third email, suggesting he ask for recognition of “superior qualifications” or “enhanced leave” consideration and “disabled veterans leave,” he replied, “This is really good, you should write a book!” 

So, I did.

My book A Veteran’s Guide to Transition: Active Duty to Government Service is a comprehensive but manageable 57-page guide to the federal hiring process, written in plain English and specifically for veterans.

I’ve earned a modest amount from the book, but not enough to cover the free copies that I continue to give away, or allow me to give up my day job as the NATO policy specialist on the Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe, Africa and Sixth Fleet staff in Naples, Italy.  But with each download or copy that disappears from my desk, I’m proud to be able to help veterans cut through the bureaucracy so they can serve their country again — as a civilian.

The number one thing that I learned throughout this process is that everything is negotiable, surprisingly, even when dealing with the federal government. This includes your salary (by requesting recognition of superior qualifications) and your leave (by requesting enhanced leave accrual), your start date, working hours and ability to telecommute.

But remember that this flexibility is only available to you before you’re hired. It never hurts to ask, and the U.S. government — like all employers today — is in a battle for talent. 

There are literally tens of thousands of jobs available every day on usajobs.gov. That extra time on my hands during COVID meant I was able to understand exactly how the process worked and create this guidebook to share that knowledge with all of you. Come join us in your second career, Uncle Sam needs you! Again!

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