(no subject)
Aug. 22nd, 2005 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vicarzI don't really have much to say or share right now, but I have virtually no work to do so I'm going to post anyway.
School starts today. I have some friends (mostly old friends!) that I want to spend more or some time with, but with my mandatory boxing and hiking added to work and school it gets pretty difficult. What are my priorities?
Detail - wow this is easy. I still haven’t been given any work since a letter 2 days ago. They have been busy on crises and lacked the time to train someone new. I’m making sure I’m 100% available, but I’m not fussing that I have nothing to do. It’s a nice break.
New job. So my interview is coming up and all my work thought has turned to this possibility. I'm probably the best qualified applicant (having 3.5 college degrees does have its advantages) and the only one recommended by an internal director. Add in my ten years gov time with a background in EEO and employee relations and I look pretty good. Big weakness - lack of basic HR functions: benefits, recruitment. My understanding is clerks typically handle those and the Dir doesn’t interact much with those issues.
I'm stunned it's taken them so long to schedule interviews. Does that mean it's an easy job, that they can leave unfilled for so long, or a disaster that needs fixing?
I know the filing system is a wreck and needs revamping. I also know that organizing and creating systems is something I am good at. I’ll also look good no matter what, if the outgoing person was as weak as I believe.
I know if I get the job I have some serious areas I need training in. I also know that the hardest parts of the job are the ones I am an expert in.
I know the raise I get will be offset by the increased cost of commuting and dry-cleaning as I’m going to have to wear a suit. I also know that when you enter a new grade the first few years get step increases, making it about 10k in 3 years plus COLA increases.
I know there is pending legislation to revamp the entire grade system with broad bands and “pay for performance.” This would be a great help to me if it goes through - I’d become an expert on the new system, making me very marketable, and my lack of knowledge of the old system would be a far less handicapping issue.
This is a great opportunity if I can pull it off. They are constantly hiring HR Directors at many GS and SES levels in the government, and Gov HR Dir are marketable to the private sector as well. Add in a law degree and we have employment security for life.
I’m amazed by how many people I know that don’t save for retirement. I’ve been plugging away at retirement funds since I was 25 or so. I might be more flexible with money if I had rich parents or owned property to fall back on - but I don’t. Do you have a retirement plan? If not, why? My plan is to own property and have 2mil in principal to draw interest-only from. It would leave modest to comfortable living in retirement, which seems a reasonable goal - not too skimpy, not too demanding either.
School starts today. I have some friends (mostly old friends!) that I want to spend more or some time with, but with my mandatory boxing and hiking added to work and school it gets pretty difficult. What are my priorities?
Detail - wow this is easy. I still haven’t been given any work since a letter 2 days ago. They have been busy on crises and lacked the time to train someone new. I’m making sure I’m 100% available, but I’m not fussing that I have nothing to do. It’s a nice break.
New job. So my interview is coming up and all my work thought has turned to this possibility. I'm probably the best qualified applicant (having 3.5 college degrees does have its advantages) and the only one recommended by an internal director. Add in my ten years gov time with a background in EEO and employee relations and I look pretty good. Big weakness - lack of basic HR functions: benefits, recruitment. My understanding is clerks typically handle those and the Dir doesn’t interact much with those issues.
I'm stunned it's taken them so long to schedule interviews. Does that mean it's an easy job, that they can leave unfilled for so long, or a disaster that needs fixing?
I know the filing system is a wreck and needs revamping. I also know that organizing and creating systems is something I am good at. I’ll also look good no matter what, if the outgoing person was as weak as I believe.
I know if I get the job I have some serious areas I need training in. I also know that the hardest parts of the job are the ones I am an expert in.
I know the raise I get will be offset by the increased cost of commuting and dry-cleaning as I’m going to have to wear a suit. I also know that when you enter a new grade the first few years get step increases, making it about 10k in 3 years plus COLA increases.
I know there is pending legislation to revamp the entire grade system with broad bands and “pay for performance.” This would be a great help to me if it goes through - I’d become an expert on the new system, making me very marketable, and my lack of knowledge of the old system would be a far less handicapping issue.
This is a great opportunity if I can pull it off. They are constantly hiring HR Directors at many GS and SES levels in the government, and Gov HR Dir are marketable to the private sector as well. Add in a law degree and we have employment security for life.
I’m amazed by how many people I know that don’t save for retirement. I’ve been plugging away at retirement funds since I was 25 or so. I might be more flexible with money if I had rich parents or owned property to fall back on - but I don’t. Do you have a retirement plan? If not, why? My plan is to own property and have 2mil in principal to draw interest-only from. It would leave modest to comfortable living in retirement, which seems a reasonable goal - not too skimpy, not too demanding either.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 02:51 pm (UTC)How does one one have 3.5 degrees? Are you counting the law degree as a .5? And what are the other 3? Inquiring minds (well, ok, mine) want to know.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 03:04 pm (UTC)2. MA in Industrial and Organizational Psyc
3. AA in Information Systems (when the MA turned out to be not-so-marketable, I was originally going to get a MA in information systems. It turned out the pre-reqs for the program were about the same as an AA, so I nailed the degree for the heck of it. By the time I got the degree, the tech sector had cooled significantly).
.5 - halfway through law school, as you guessed.
My whole resume is linked through memories.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 03:25 pm (UTC)Then again, we might just buy an RV when we retire and drive across the country robbing banks until we're taken down in a hail of gunfire.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-22 05:00 pm (UTC)I had a 401K and stocks bought through an ESOP plan. When the tech sector tanked, my ESOP purchases flatlined - I did manage to pull out 200% of what I put it, but that went to debts when I was laid off. As a matter of fact, my entire 401k went to bills, rent, and food while I was unemployed - and too proud/stupid to apply for unemployment. Now...when we sell the house, some goes into savings and some may be diverted into an investment plan, but I still haven't lined up a career that I won't go on a tri-state shooting spree 3 months into.
Bear in mind - yes, you've been thrifty over the years, but many people you know had some bad luck, a health emergency, or just never made that *extra* $25 a month to set aside. Some of us ma have bought into that whole "punk rock" thing and assuemd we'd be dead by 30. Others invested heavily during the stock rush and didn't guess the market correctly os lost everything. Some had drug or other issues.
All that said, I like your plan. If things go one way for me, I will be doing something I enjoy to make money that I can't be easily fired from. If that works, then the goal will be to have property in a growing market and a cash reserve and stock portfolio.