My sister works for the Forest Service. Her description of what it takes to travel somewhere sounds painful to me. The travel approvals then she did all the expense claims for the office at her last job assignment. The Federal per diem rates are a lot higher but their salaries are very low, at least out here.
My approval is a short talk with my supervisor, either he tells me or I tell him I need to go to A, then I log onto the internet based expense program to get an advance (I never finance travel, I??m not the Bank of Dave) then the same program to submit the expenses so 1) I don??t have to payback the cash they advanced me and 2) they almost always owe me a few dollars at the end.
The way the state advance works is I can get up to $1000 at a time. I have to spend it all or pay it all back before I can get more. So if I spend $800 (all approved through the expense system) then I owe them $200. I can travel another week then they will wind up owing me $300. I don??t like that. So I say just give me 1000-200=$800. They won??t do that, it??s against the rules. I have to write them a check for $200 and deliver it to accounting then they will give me a $1000 check. If they owe me money then it??s direct deposit. Getting the $200 deducted from my paycheck is a paperwork nightmare, easier to write a check. So I always try to make sure they owe me money at the end of travel.
one time I got sent to a big fire for several weeks. When I got back I was tired, long days with no days off wears on you. I accidentally put down 10 hours too much overtime on a straight time day. I just blundered. They have people that audit the incident accounting (volumes of electronic ledgers). He caught it, I said oops and immediately notified our HR person. I had to hound them to take the money back out of my paycheck. It took 3 months. I didn??t want it to get caught 10 years from now and I owe a huge interest bill. Seriously they audit ten year old travel expenses. They probably spent 1000s catching a $10 overcharge on parking (there??s a limit if you don??t have a receipt), the guy was retired but he gave them their money. Big story in the local scandal sheet.
Remember the government runs on rules, not logic.
Remember the God of government finance is the fiscal year.
God forbid you should spend this year??s money next year.
We always joke that we can??t use a lath or nail bought last year this year, what if the Governor found out? We??d be in big trouble.
What kind of appointment will you get? Permanent/part time, or Permanent? The Federal Government uses a lot of Permanent/Parttime positions to avoid hiring limitations. If a layoff come, it never did in my career, the Permanent/Temps are the first to go. Early on I did have to take a week off without pay.
Thanks everyone I really appreciate the helpful replies and insights. Some of the stuff I haven't thought about like the possibility of being furloughed due to the nature of the political budgetary process. That is something I'll definitely have to pay more attention to in the future and prepare for accordingly. Also, the position will be a permanent full time position. Seems they are using top of the line equipment which would be a huge benefit for me for where I'm currently at in my career. The projects they work on seem like they will be challenging and interesting. And the benefits and retirement are another bonus. My start date isn't for a few more weeks, so I'm just looking forward to getting those first few day over with at this point. Going watch, listen and learn everything I can and put my best foot forward from Day 1!?ÿ
I was hired in Pittsburgh as a 10 month/seasonal in 1980. I thought that was great...they would lay me off for two months in the winter. Never happened. I worked 12 months every year.?ÿ
Tell Kristen you heard that Mack over in LRH had it going on and that you would like an opportunity to learn everything you can from him to better her organization. She'll like that and you may get to do something cool with Mack's team.?ÿ
I knew a Surveyor that worked for USACE in the KC Office. He left as it wasn't great working as a Surveyor in an Engineering organization like USACE. He got tired of the nonsense.
