Do you understand 'GS' ranks?

My boss is a GS 10. Once in awhile I have to remind him that he is the equivalent of and not equal to an O-3.

 

What's the difference between equivalency and equality?

 

If you look at it money-wise-

2005 military pay chart:
http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourcesContent/0,13964,78426,00.html

2005 locality adjusted GS pay charts:
http://www.opm.gov/oca/05tables/indexGS.asp

2005 locality Wage Grade pay charts:
http://www.cpms.osd.mil/wage/wage.html

As long as I've been in the system, it doesn't work like rank. In other words, there's not a chain of command or a GS-11 "outranks" a GS-9. Same between Wage Grade and GS- it's not like E and O grade, it's just different.

 

I've been in the military 24 years (Marines, National Guard) and work full time in the Fed Govt. I'm a MSG (E8) on one side, GS12 on the technician side. Two seperate animals, the bottom line for the federal side is you have to be qualified for the job - there's not really any equivalance between the two. That being said, a lot of O5-O6's hold the higher technician positions due to seniority and the good old boy club.

 

While, I guess, that must be correct for any Federal/Military interaction... It doesn't really work like rank in "the real world" or "Fort Living Room." In other words, in the military, you do your job well, put in your time, you get promoted, and your job changes with the promotion. In the GS sytem your pay grade stays the same, your steps are accorded by time in service. If you want to get "promoted" you have to change jobs. If your job is a GS 7 target 9, the pay grade tops off at the top end of the steps of GS-9. Generally, the promotion is to a GS-7, and advanced directly to GS-9 rather than proceeding from 7 to 8 to 9.

 

It could be for different areas of the government. If you check out the Office of Personnel Management website, the jobs are listed by GS grade. In our region the PC Support Specialist is a GS-7 target 9. A GS 6 can apply for the job, get promoted to the lowest GS-7 step above the pay you were making at GS-6. If your ratings are successful, you'll go to the GS-9, and your pay goes up by step increases. UNLESS your job is reclassified. Three times in the past 13 years my jobs have been upgraded. It didn't really change my job significantly, however it was still technically not the same job. In that case, you're not really recieving a "promotion" per se, it's more like the job is technically changing and the pay is reflecting that.