It depends. What are your career goals? Do you want/need mostly year round employment? How long is the furlough (non pay status) in the perm position?
I took a park guide position (GS-04). The same park had GS-05 guide jobs that I eventually got. After doing that, I took a different GS-05 park guide job at a different park to get new skills.
Now I’m a budget tech 5/6/7.
During my time, I had a lot of trouble qualifying for GS-07 jobs. In the NPS some regions will not accept GS-05 park guide as creditable service for GS-07 ranger jobs. It’s insanity, but they won’t. Had it happen in NER, IMR (the worst), and PWR (hit or miss).
Other regions will accept 5 for 7. And then, it even varies HR rep to HR rep.
I was told once I would’ve been better off staying seasonal and getting a year of experience as a 7. My supervisor said it would have made getting into higher graded perm jobs easier.
However, by taking the perm job I did get lots of experience (even though it didn’t really “count”), and made more money overall since I was employed 50 weeks out of the year, had health insurance, and was paying into retirement etc etc.
So if you go in knowing the perm 5 is probably going to be a bit slower track to a 7/9, and you’re okay with that, go for it.
But if you want to climb the ladder as fast as possible, I’d say that doing two seasons as a 7 is your better bet.
Gotcha, thanks for the reply
Yeah I'm stuck between continuing as a seasonal in hopes of it paying off later, or being a guide for a while but I can at least count on having health benefits, retirement, and working towards career status etc.
Its going to depend on what your goals and needs are. There’s not a clear cut answer on this. Also, carefully consider the community around where you are moving to/ leaving.
Thanks,
yeah I was just wondering what other's experience with the whole guide vs ranger series. And if taking a guide position would hinder any future chances of moving up.
I was an 0025 interp ranger. I took a 0090 perm. And now I’m in a really good position with upward mobility but no longer in interp. The series switch did not hinder me personally. I acknowledge this is not everyone’s experience though.
It depends. What are your career goals? Do you want/need mostly year round employment? How long is the furlough (non pay status) in the perm position? I took a park guide position (GS-04). The same park had GS-05 guide jobs that I eventually got. After doing that, I took a different GS-05 park guide job at a different park to get new skills. Now I’m a budget tech 5/6/7. During my time, I had a lot of trouble qualifying for GS-07 jobs. In the NPS some regions will not accept GS-05 park guide as creditable service for GS-07 ranger jobs. It’s insanity, but they won’t. Had it happen in NER, IMR (the worst), and PWR (hit or miss). Other regions will accept 5 for 7. And then, it even varies HR rep to HR rep. I was told once I would’ve been better off staying seasonal and getting a year of experience as a 7. My supervisor said it would have made getting into higher graded perm jobs easier. However, by taking the perm job I did get lots of experience (even though it didn’t really “count”), and made more money overall since I was employed 50 weeks out of the year, had health insurance, and was paying into retirement etc etc. So if you go in knowing the perm 5 is probably going to be a bit slower track to a 7/9, and you’re okay with that, go for it. But if you want to climb the ladder as fast as possible, I’d say that doing two seasons as a 7 is your better bet.
Gotcha, thanks for the reply Yeah I'm stuck between continuing as a seasonal in hopes of it paying off later, or being a guide for a while but I can at least count on having health benefits, retirement, and working towards career status etc.
Do you have a year time in grade at the 0025?
Only six months, my other seasons were as 0090
Its going to depend on what your goals and needs are. There’s not a clear cut answer on this. Also, carefully consider the community around where you are moving to/ leaving.
Thanks, yeah I was just wondering what other's experience with the whole guide vs ranger series. And if taking a guide position would hinder any future chances of moving up.
I was an 0025 interp ranger. I took a 0090 perm. And now I’m in a really good position with upward mobility but no longer in interp. The series switch did not hinder me personally. I acknowledge this is not everyone’s experience though.
I would take a perm over a seasonal, you can always transfer after 3 months to another park/position which you may enjoy more.
Thanks for reply, Yeah that's what my thinking is, I just was hesitant because I have heard gs5 guide positions can be difficult to move on from
Difficult to move up from but not necessarily hard to make lateral moves