Available Opportunities - UNPAID

Radar Introduction for Student Engineers (RISE):

• June 20-July 8, 2016, in the Supply Bldg (588), room 102

• Open to High school seniors and college students

• Gain an in-depth experience learning about small radar systems and actually build one or more small radar systems

• Students must be U.S. citizens, and must have completed Physics and Pre-calculus  

• Students will have guest speakers and also tour various sites on station, including those involving radar systems 

• Ten students will be accepted  

• Students will be required to brief their experiences during the internship to NAVAIR/NAWCAD leadership

Supercomputing Internship Program (SIP):

• July 5-29, 2016, in the Supply Bldg (588), room 102

• Open to high school juniors, seniors, and college students

• It is suggested that students have  moderate experience in programming in C, C++ or Java, but this is not required 

• Students will assemble mini-supercomputers and advance their programming skills through threads, vectors, OpenMP and MPI, aiming to attain the level of parallel processing on the supercomputers  

• Students will have guest speakers and also tour various sites on station  

• Students are required to conduct a case study (research paper) and present their findings in an outbrief to leadership

• Twenty students will be accepted  

American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE)

Scientist Engineer Apprenticeship Program (SEAP): 

• This program is for high school students who have completed at least Grade 9. SEAP is an eight week summer research opportunity at participating ONR laboratories nationwide.

• Applicants must be 16 years of age for most Laboratories, and U.S. citizens.  

• A competitive stipend is available (~$3300 for first timers, ~$3800 for repeats). 

• Applicants who are minors can actually get paid to work on station if selected as a SEAP

• Applicants cannot get a common access card (CAC), be involved with Navy IT systems, or be exposed to Sensitive & above information

Naval Research Enterprise Intern Program (NREIP): 

• NREIP is a ten week summer research opportunity for undergraduate Juniors & Seniors, and Graduate students. 

• U.S. citizenship required, though Permanent residents are accepted at certain labs. 

Science, Mathematics, And Research for Transformation (SMART): Defense Scholarship for Service Program

• This scholarship program provides students with a stipend allowance, full tuition, book allowance, room and board and other normal educational expenses. 

• The purpose of the program is to promote the education, recruitment and retention of undergraduate and graduate students in science, mathematics and engineering studies. 

• The SMART Defense Scholarship for Service Program is open only to citizens of the US, and students must be at least 18 years of age to be eligible. 

• There is an employment obligation to the DoD with this scholarship program. 

What is Pathways

• In 2010, President Obama signed Executive Order 13562, establishing Pathways as a program for hiring students and recent graduates

• It utilizes the USAJOBS.gov website to 

     formally announce job vacancies 

• The Navy officially implemented this in 2012 

• Pathways replaced: 

  • The Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP)

  • Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP)

  • Student Career Experience Program (SCEP)

  • Modifies the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program for high-potential graduate students

USAJOBS.gov

• USAJOBS.gov is the official website for listing civil service job opportunities with federal agencies. The site is operated by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

• Before applying, explore - Become familiar with usajobs.gov and it’s features.

• Add your resume:

  • You can build it within usajobs.gov or upload it. 

    • Build it: Building it allows for more characters and prompts for more necessary information

    • Upload it: Make it in Word & save it, then copy & paste it into the blanks

• This year I am seeing students build it, and upload the pretty one under “Other Documents”. 

• More is better!  

  • Describe what you did, NOT just what organizations you were involved with.

• Really elaborate on experiences, accomplishments, and abilities.

  • “This was the problem and this was how I fixed/solved/resolved it”.

• Stand out from the masses of one-page resumes.

• Resumes are not visible until they have been applied to an open Job Announcement by a candidate.

• Job Announcements are only open 2-3 days!

  • Thousands can apply during this open window!

• You can set specific requirements within usjobs.gov to send you email alerts whenever there are Pathways announcements open Target specific sites (Patuxent River Naval Air Station, etc.).

• Never miss another opportunity because you forgot to check!

• Use the Advanced Search feature in usajobs.gov to search for PAX jobs by using our zip code, 20670. 

• For students, we are most interested in the areas of Leadership,Teamwork, Research interests & accomplishments, Educational field, and Professional Goals.

• Transcripts need to be scanned & uploaded.

  • High school & college transcripts

  • Unofficial is sufficient to apply, but official must be sent in before you can start work

• Cover letters are not considered in the initial determination for the Cert list

• But they might be looked at by the hiring manager.

• Letters of recommendation.

  • Some have scanned & attached them under “Other Documentation”

Hiring under Pathways

• Enables management to conduct targeted recruitment of students enrolled in accredited educational institutions.

• Pathways is a competitive hiring process.

  • Vacancy announcements are posted via USAJOBS.gov.

  • Standard announcement and assessment templates are available to facilitate the recruitment and hiring process.

  • Announcements can cover one or multiple positions.

  • Area of Consideration can be limited to a specific geographic area.

  • Quality ranking factors or selective placement factors such as GPA or a specific degree may be used.

• Program allows for two types of appointments:

  • Temporary - Not-to-Exceed (NTE) date established; NTE date limited to a maximum of two years with no conversion capability to career appointment.

  • Permanent - no NTE date; eligibility to convert to career appointment upon meeting program requirements.

• Pathways has three categories of programs:

  • Intern Program

    • Students currently enrolled in a high school; an accredited college (4-year colleges/universities, community colleges, and junior colleges); professional, technical, vocational, and trade schools; advanced degree programs; or other qualifying educational institution pursuing a qualifying degree or certificate.

  • Recent Graduate

    • Graduates who have completed within the previous 2 years, a qualifying AA, BA, MA, professional, and/or Ph.D. degree, or a vocational or technical degree or certificate from qualifying educational institution; veterans unable to apply to the Pathways Program within 2 years of receiving their degree due to military service obligation have 6 years after degree completion to apply.

  • Presidential Management Fellow

    • Individuals who have completed within the past 2 years a qualifying advanced degree (e.g., MA or professional degree).

Program Considerations

• Navy limits number of individuals participating in the Presidential Management Fellow; currently NAVAIR has no participants.

• Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may impose caps on the number of non-competitive conversations.

• Participants are required to:

  • Complete a Pathways Participant Agreement.

  • Participate in a Mentoring program.

  • Have an Individual Development Plan that includes 40 hours of formal training.

• Tuition assistance and/or book reimbursements may be funded by the competency (rarely!).

Veteran’s Preference

• USAJOBS initial screening is done in Pennsylvania:

  • We are provided first with a list of Veterans who meet the eligibility requirements for the position.

  • Eligible Vets MUST be hired first before a list of non-Vets who are eligible to be considered will be provided.

  • If all eligible Vets are not hired, the Job Announcement is closed.

    • No one else is then considered for it, unless the position is re-announced.

While sometimes tough to contend with, this is the least we can do for those who serve our country and sacrifice so much for our freedom!  

Explanations of Job Notifications

• You will get a notification when your application is complete or incomplete

  • It is often delayed at or near the closing deadline!  So apply early!

• A Job Announcement could represent multiple positions in various departments on station.

  • Total Force (HR) surveys all hiring managers for their upcoming needs, and lumps them all together into generic announcements, such as Computer Science and Math, or General Engineering.

• The notifications may be confusing – Here is why:

  • You might receive responses like; "Your package has been forwarded to the hiring manager" and "You did not meet the requirements necessary" from the same job announcement (but from different hiring managers within that announcement). 

  • “Your package has been forwarded to the hiring manager” only means you might be considered (your resume looked at) for the job, it does not necessarily mean that you will be interviewed. 

• No interview?

  • There might only be a call from a Total Force Consultant, beginning the job offer process, which can take a while!

  • Or there might be no response at all.

The Rumor and the Truth

• There is a rumor that to get selected, the applicant must have to know someone.  Not true!

• However, there are a few ways that having people know about you does help:

  • Some managers of hard to fill or high need positions have Direct Hiring Authority and they do not even need to select you from USAJOBS.  So circulate your resumes!

  •  I am told that people can now send their resume and cover letter directly to : navaircareers@navy.mil for an additional opportunity to be considered for being hired.

     

    If You Have a Disability

• The Navy is at the forefront of all the services for hiring the disabled, and they are actively pursuing the disabled to increase the numbers we have

  • You need to get a Schedule A letter from a doctor

    • It does not need to state the specifics of your disability, just that you are limited, yet still able to work, albeit possibly with some accommodations.

• The Navy does an OUTSTANDING job of accommodating people with disabilities!

• If a hiring manager has met and talked with you, or maybe just has your resume, they could be looking through the cert list specifically for you!  So circulate your resumes!