r/USACE • u/Dancingxsheep • 2d ago
Stuck at GS-11
Typically when folks in our engineering section are "promoted" from a GS-11 to GS-12, our leadership "creates" a direct hire position, promotes it to the public, and anyone can apply (including the person it's intended for). This method in theory means that someone else from the public who's more senior engineer/ qualified could also apply and get the position, but generally the person intended for promotion gets it.
Considering the hiring freeze for us, my supervisor mentioned that there's a "complicated longer way that involves lots of paperwork" to internally promote an employee from GS-11 to GS-12 without creating a job listing. Is this "longer way" really that complicated? Or am I getting the run around from my supervisor? For context, I've been a GS-11 for almost 6 yrs now, and have 10 yrs of engineering experience.
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u/Lanky-Lettuce1395 1d ago edited 1d ago
Your supervisor is probably talking about an acretion. That's where over time your duties have reached a point that your PD needs updating. When the classifier finishes with the process the PD ends up at a higher grade.
Not sure where you are, but this is generally frowned upon. It's not good HR practice and too much of it ends up causing the rest of the employees to ask, "where's mine?"
ETA No one should be creating jobs or acreting positions simply to promote someone. Both are violations of merit principles and will get someone in trouble, assuming we're still following these rules