There's a civilian spot open in my department, doing exactly what I do, which pays very well. Due to the hiring freeze and dearth of applicants, they likely won't fill it any time soon. I'm very interested in it, have always heard of folks who "walked out in uniform on Friday, walked in a civilian on Monday".
Couple questions-
First, can this actually be done? Is there a cooling off period before I can apply, given that I'm already in the system and could hypothetically manipulate the process to my advantage? (Though realistically I have no idea how I would do that other than to continue to demonstrate skill and productivity.)
Secondly, should I burn all my leave moonlighting between now and my start date, if I get hired? I assume you cannot start a GS job while on terminal leave and still active duty. I don't think selling it back makes sense, I can make $$$ moonlighting compared to what my base pay if I sold my leave back.
Add on top of this I would like to go National Guard. I'll be exiting as a LTC in the Army with significant line and deployment experience. Will I find a job at that level? Maybe some sort of division surgeon in the guard or reserves?
Couple questions-
First, can this actually be done? Is there a cooling off period before I can apply, given that I'm already in the system and could hypothetically manipulate the process to my advantage? (Though realistically I have no idea how I would do that other than to continue to demonstrate skill and productivity.)
Secondly, should I burn all my leave moonlighting between now and my start date, if I get hired? I assume you cannot start a GS job while on terminal leave and still active duty. I don't think selling it back makes sense, I can make $$$ moonlighting compared to what my base pay if I sold my leave back.
Add on top of this I would like to go National Guard. I'll be exiting as a LTC in the Army with significant line and deployment experience. Will I find a job at that level? Maybe some sort of division surgeon in the guard or reserves?