As you will be told many times during your transition, federal service is a good option post military. After all, there are a lot of federal employee-specific benefits which just do not exist in the private sector. Some federal benefits are exclusive to veterans and those serving in the Guard and Reserve.
Here are 8 major benefits of federal service after the military:
Veteran-Specific Benefits
- Veterans Hiring Preference – 5 or 10 points
Veterans applying for a federal position may eligible for a point boost on their application score. Veterans who served 180 consecutive, non-training days in a campaign for which a campaign medal or badge was authorized, earn 5 Point Preference
Veterans who have a service connected disability or were awarded the Purple Heart earn 10 Point Preference.
You can read the fine print at FedsHireVets.gov.
2. Veterans Hiring Preference – Veterans Recruitment Appointment
Veterans may be eligible for a federal direct hire program called Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA). A direct hire means the agency can hire you without posting the job on USA.gov and making you compete with other applicants from across the nation. This is a huge benefit.
Most Veterans with an honorable discharge are eligible for “excepted service” appointments up to, and including, GS-11, and after two years of service, may be converted to a “competitive “service position.
Veterans with a 30% or higher disability rating are eligible for appointment to a term, “competitive” position. The agency retains the option to may make your appointment permanent.
The catch here is the agency you want to work must already know you and want to hire you for the skill you bring to the office. This may happen through networking, although I think your best bet is to find a government contracting position in the agency—or even office—for which you’d like a federal appointment.
You can read more at FedsHireVets.gov.
3. Credible Military Service Buy-Back for FERS
Now if the federal retirement benefits are the driving factor in seeking a federal position post-military, know that federal employees who joined after 2014 are part of FERS (Federal Retirement System). FERS employees have a mandatory 4.4% contribution to the federal pension fund out of every paycheck.
This may not seem like a lot, but 20-30 years of compound interest on your personal contributions will more than likely equate to 50%–or more!—of your total federal pension compensation. To read more on this topic, check out my “The Federal Pension is Dead” article.
Regardless, a major benefit for veterans in federal service is the opportunity to “buy-back” your years of military service. This means for a fee, the federal government will add 1% of your highest base salary (averaged over the highest 3 years) for every year of qualifying military service. So, if you were active duty for 10 years, then transitioned into federal service for an additional 15 years, and you “buy-back” your military service, you may qualify for a federal pension equivalent to 25 years of federal service.
This is not automatic! You must complete and submit an SF 3108 (Application to Make Service Credit Payment) to your HR. I recommend meeting with your HR as soon as you are hired, because there may be some additional limitations, like a time statue, for taking advantage of this program.
Additionally, military retirees who are already collecting a retirement pension may not be eligible for this benefit—since they are “already collecting a federal pension.”
You can read the fine print at FedsHireVets.gov.
4. Credible Service for Leave Accrual
Veterans who join federal service are eligible to count their military service toward their credible service for the purpose of leave accrual.
This means that if you served 4 years in the military before joining federal service, you are entitled to accrue 6 hours of paid leave for every pay period. This equates to about 156 hours (or 20 days) annually your first year. The next big jump is at 15 years of credible service.
If you’re already retired from the military, there is some nuance to calculating credible service. Read more at OPM.gov.
5. Disabled Veteran Leave Entitlement
Disabled Veterans hired as federal employees are entitled to up to 104 hours (equal to 13 days) of medical leave to receive treatment for their disability. This entitlement is only for the first year of federal service and any unused leave hours must be forfeited at the end of the year.
Although a small benefit, speaking from personal experience, all of the initial VA appointments can really add up, especially at 2-3 hours each, including travel time.
Read the fine print on OPM.gov.
6. Military Leave (Guard or Reserve)
Federal Employees who are also members of the Guard or Reserve are eligible for 15 days of paid military leave a fiscal year. This is primarily designed to cover your Annual Training. Federal employees must have an appointment greater than 1 year in order to qualify.
Read the fine print at OPM.gov.
General Federal Employee Benefits
7. Thrift Savings Plan Matching
Federal employees have access to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)—the federal government’s 401K plan. Similar to the military’s Blended Retirement System. under FERS, federal employees earn an automatic 1% employer contribution and are eligible for an additional 4% match for every 5% an employee contributes to their TSP. This equates to an employer match of 5% for every 5% you contribute.
It should be noted that nowadays many private employers offer a 401K match—usually in the absence of a pension—but the TSP is admired for its low management fees.
Read more at TSP.gov.
8. 104 Hours Annual Sick Leave
All federal employees accrue 4 hours of paid sick leave for every biweekly pay period. This works out to about 104 hours (13 days) of paid sick leave per year. The major benefit here is there is no cap to the sick leave you can accumulate, and your sick leave never expires. This is a completely separate benefit from the Disabled Veteran Leave Entitlement and general Leave Accrual.
Read the fine print at OPM.gov.
Conclusion
It’s not a surprise that federal employment is heavily advertised to transitioning service members. There are a lot of benefits to federal service regardless of your Veteran status.
The major potential downside to federal service is capping your potential earnings. Each federal position usually has a grade cap, which, once reached, will prevent future pay raises outside of cost of living increases. Therefore, if you want to continue to earn more, you’ll have to find a new federal job. If you don’t live in a major federal sector like the National Capital Region, a new job at a higher GS level may not be available in your city.
You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons. Every short term decision is dependent on your long term goals.
Before you leave, I want to point out any and all federal jobs vacancies are posted on USAJobs.gov. If it’s not on USA Jobs, it’s probably not a federal position.
If you’ve found a job which sounds like it’s in a federal office, but it’s not on USA Jobs, you’ve probably found a government contractor position. Government contracting is also a great option post-military—this was my route—but know it’s not a federal position and therefore won’t have the federal benefits discussed in this post.
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