The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

Excuse me while I beat a dead horse...

guest wrote:Some people at my SF have negotiated successfully, but it is not always worth the headache. For example, a coworker with his PhD managed to negotiate himself up from a GS-11 step 1 to a GS-11 step 5, but the time to do that meant he started a month and a half later than the rest of us that year. Because GS-11s at our SF are automatically promoted to GS-12s after a year, the month and a half without pay were not worth the pay difference for the first year.

Actually, he came out ahead. He'll get slightly more than the same pay as an GS-11/1 for six weeks less work, and when promoted to GS-12, he'll be promoted to GS-12/2 while a GS-11/1 would advance to a GS-12/1. Don't forget important things like the two step rule.

So I successfully negotiated from a GS 11 step 1 to a GS 12 step 6, but it wasn't easy and I started a year before my hiring date, not once I got an offer. For reference I have a PhD. I was able to do it through a combination of threatening to fight tooth and nail for a transfer to another SF, and reading through OPM's website and pointing out that OPM has different requirements for "research" positions than normal positions. I had two other SF's provide letters stating that they would accept me and pay me at a GS 13 step 1 to start out. Also, I had them in an email stating that I would be doing research, thus it was very difficult for them to claim that mine wasn't a "research" position. Even after all of that it required them to write an entire new job description and that took months, so I'm not sure it's possible at this late of a stage. Fair warning though, many people at your SF will not be terribly happy since you will be making a lot of extra work for them so keep that in mind if you care.

you can always apply for another job within your agency after you get in. If you get an offer you can negotiate for things like tuition reimbursement and such

Some people at my SF have negotiated successfully, but it is not always worth the headache. For example, a coworker with his PhD managed to negotiate himself up from a GS-11 step 1 to a GS-11 step 5, but the time to do that meant he started a month and a half later than the rest of us that year. Because GS-11s at our SF are automatically promoted to GS-12s after a year, the month and a half without pay were not worth the pay difference for the first year.

Army_Robotics wrote:I am currently going through the hiring process with my Army SF and it seems that the negotiations advertised by SMART are non existent. My process has consisted of an offer from the SF and them refusing anything and everything I propose.

Has anyone else had any better luck?

From my understanding there are essentially no negotiations. I also tried with my SF when I was being brought on board after my master's and got rejected on every attempt. Honestly you are required to work for them for X number of years unless you want to begin repayments, which means the SF's don't need to and don't have a good reason to give you what you want. I have even heard of SMART scholars having issues negotiating start dates at my school when I was finishing up my degree.

I am currently going through the hiring process with my Army SF and it seems that the negotiations advertised by SMART are non existent. My process has consisted of an offer from the SF and them refusing anything and everything I propose.

Has anyone else had any better luck?