The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

I was very fortunate to make it to semifinals and then have two facilities call me for an interview. What confuses me is that neither of these facilities are from my list and neither have an emphasis in what I was hoping to research/focus on. I do not know whether I will be nominated (though one of the interviewers said they would forward my name, whatever that means), but I am hesitant because I do not know if I will enjoy the jobs I am given.

Here's my question: how much will we know before we have to make a decision? Will we know what pay to expect/hours and such? Is there a job description of sorts we can see before signing the dotted line? Is there any way I can get a feel for what I would be doing besides the 30 second elevator pitches?

I know this is a great opportunity, but I am hesitant to commit for a job I might hate for two years.

SJ wrote:I was very fortunate to make it to semifinals and then have two facilities call me for an interview. What confuses me is that neither of these facilities are from my list and neither have an emphasis in what I was hoping to research/focus on. I do not know whether I will be nominated (though one of the interviewers said they would forward my name, whatever that means), but I am hesitant because I do not know if I will enjoy the jobs I am given.

Here's my question: how much will we know before we have to make a decision? Will we know what pay to expect/hours and such? Is there a job description of sorts we can see before signing the dotted line? Is there any way I can get a feel for what I would be doing besides the 30 second elevator pitches?

I know this is a great opportunity, but I am hesitant to commit for a job I might hate for two years.

As I'm aware, interviews conducted in the last 6 weeks are for agencies to get a better sense of what it is you're studying and how technical the work you're doing is. Basically providing you an opportunity to clarify what your degree(s) entail and gauging your technical interests. Were either of your interviews along these lines, or were they more universal and covered different facets of your background/experience/interests?

And it sounds like finalists will have their salary and job title indicated on their offers. Either way, I would ask those questions if/when you're interviewed next week. Hope this helps :)

I, too, was interviewed by a facility that was not one of my top 3 choices (nor in my favorable areas). I spoke several times with the facility since my initial interview and was able to figure out goals/potential job duties/etc. If you are offered an award, I would suggest contacting the facility to further discuss.

Although not all facilities follow the GS scale, I would suggest searching for regional pay scales following GS guidelines. It will give you a rough idea of pay. Again, if offered a reward, I would list it as another question for the sponsoring facility.

I do find it interesting that a majority of contact posted on this board was from facilities that were not listed as the top 3 choices. I'm secretly holding out hope that one of my top 2 facilities selected me without an early interview.

As part of the award process you are required to contact a POC given to you at your sponsering facility. You are supposed to nail down those kinds of things with them. Then if you accept the award you have to sign and return the contract package they send you.

SJ wrote:I was very fortunate to make it to semifinals and then have two facilities call me for an interview. What confuses me is that neither of these facilities are from my list and neither have an emphasis in what I was hoping to research/focus on. I do not know whether I will be nominated (though one of the interviewers said they would forward my name, whatever that means), but I am hesitant because I do not know if I will enjoy the jobs I am given.

Here's my question: how much will we know before we have to make a decision? Will we know what pay to expect/hours and such? Is there a job description of sorts we can see before signing the dotted line? Is there any way I can get a feel for what I would be doing besides the 30 second elevator pitches?

I know this is a great opportunity, but I am hesitant to commit for a job I might hate for two years.

One thing to remember is that you have to work for the federal government for one year for each year of school, but I don't think that it specifies that it has to be at the org that sponsored you. Unless they put money into you while you're at school (salary, etc), If you get to the facility that sponsored you and you really can't stand it, you can apply to work at other facilities.

Also, network - keep in touch with people you meet who are in the program, if you run into somebody at a place you want to go to who wants to go to the facility that you're being sponsored by, you may be able to arrange a trade, before or after.

Similarly, if you really want to go to another facility, get in touch with some people from there and get in touch with them when you finish school.

The big thing to remember is that you're getting your degree done and getting two years of work experience as an engineer. At a minimum, that will give you a serious leg up if you decide to back to the civilian sector after you complete your required federal service.

If you're still in your early twenties, the two years will blow by and what you get out of this will pay out very well in the long run. I'm 36 and this is pretty much my only chance of being able to go to engineering school in-residence this late in my life. Even if I make the final selection, convincing an organization to pay my salary for 3 or 4 years when I won't be around to work for them in this budgetary environment is almost laughable.

So, take advantage of it and take whatever they give you now - this is a situation where you'll only come out ahead on the other end.

Good luck.

J_M_S,

I am in the same boat... I make a good living doing what I do but I hate it. Without this scholarship I will be hardpressed to find a way to survive and go to school at the same time...

J_M_S wrote:One thing to remember is that you have to work for the federal government for one year for each year of school, but I don't think that it specifies that it has to be at the org that sponsored you. Unless they put money into you while you're at school (salary, etc), If you get to the facility that sponsored you and you really can't stand it, you can apply to work at other facilities.

Unfortunately I think we do have to work only at the place that sponsors us. From page 57 of the 2010 Handbook:

All Participants are required to complete internship and post‐graduation commitments with their assigned SF approved by the SPO. Participants may not choose to complete their service commitments with a facility other than their assigned SF approved by the SPO.
Only the SPO may reassign a Participant to a new SF. It is extremely unusual for the Program to assign a Participant to a facility other than the original SF for completion of the service commitment. In the rare case that a change of SF is considered, it is done on a case‐by‐case basis and at the discretion of the SPO. If the SPO determines that the match between the SF and Participant is not viable, the SPO will work with the SF and attempt to find alternative placement for the Participant.

And then on the next page:

A Participant may not ask his/her SF to initiate a request with the SPO to reassign him/her to a new facility, contact other DoD facilities in search of a new sponsor, or take other acts intended to circumvent this policy. Facility requests to reassign Participants are extremely rare and fully investigated by the SPO. If the SPO learns that the SF has lost interest in sponsoring a Participant due to his/her purposeful actions intended to circumvent this policy and/or that the requested change was actually initiated by the Participant rather than by the SF and based on circumstances the SPO does not consider exceptional, the Participant will be considered to be acting in bad faith and may be dismissed from the Program.

I agree that this is a good opportunity, but my concern is that I will be pigeonholed into something I really don't want to do. Two years will only go by quickly if you enjoy yourself, and how much would it suck to spend two years doing something you don't like, and then get turned down for jobs you would enjoy because you have this experience.

SJ wrote:I agree that this is a good opportunity, but my concern is that I will be pigeonholed into something I really don't want to do. Two years will only go by quickly if you enjoy yourself, and how much would it suck to spend two years doing something you don't like, and then get turned down for jobs you would enjoy because you have this experience.

So, you're stuck with whatever you get in terms of facilities.

But, any experience you get is good experience, even the bad or seemingly unrelated stuff - it will all be valid experience on what you do and don't want to do, how to do things and especially how not to do things (one of the most important types of experience you will get).

I have been a technician for almost 18 years. In 2008 and 2009, I was involved in the planning and execution of a flight test and then I did the test planning for and directed a flight test. I drew very heavily on my previous experience, even though it didn't have anything to directly do with flight test.

As to how well you will like it, you will hear this many times: your life, your job, etc will be what you make them. If you think that you're being pigeonholed, that's exactly what you'll be and you will never get anything useful out of anything in your life as long as you have that attitude.

I spent four years in a job that I wasn't really thrilled with, but what I learned from there was invaluable. I was working as a technician, but we were getting (free) classes (while getting paid) on switching power supply design from one of the graduate engineering students at the college associated with the place I worked.

Wherever you end up, you will have opportunities to go to conferences, classes, network, etc.

Don't worry about what jobs opportunities that you could get, worry about the ones that are presented to you and in the mean time, take advantage of everything offered to you that will increase and broaden your knowledge and experience.

That is what will get you into the jobs you want - showing that you have the personal desire and drive to learn more than you need to and the willingness and ability to work outside your primary speciality. A supervisor doesn't want a turd who's going to sit at his desk all day and do only what is required within his narrowly defined job description. A supervisor wants(needs) people who will contribute to the success of the whole mission even if it means going outside their job description.

1) You will be handed a full job description, including salary, at orientation if your POC does not give you one beforehand. You will be able to back out without consequence once orientation is over.

2) The program office is full of nice people and is not out to screw you. If you are not happy where you are, there is a viable opportunity somewhere else, and everyone agrees that that is the case, you have a good chance of getting a move approved. <-I'm just making all of this up, but it is the impression I've gotten over the years. However, they will not consider a transfer if you have not even started working yet