VA hiring practices

[voyeurofthemind]

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Is the typical recipe for success in getting hired at a VA a VA internship + a VA postdoc? I was planning on limiting myself to VA postdocs because I want a VA career after post doc. However, an opportunity outside the VA for postdoc has emerged that may be too good to pass up if I were extended an offer.

Will I be significantly decreasing the likelihood of being hired the VA I would have done postdoc at down the road? I want to stay in the area and not move to fill any open position within the VA system.

 

[erg923]

No

 

[Ollie123]

Is the typical recipe for success in getting hired at a VA a VA internship + a VA postdoc? I was planning on limiting myself to VA postdocs because I want a VA career after post doc. However, an opportunity outside the VA for postdoc has emerged that may be too good to pass up if I were extended an offer.

Will I be significantly decreasing the likelihood of being hired the VA I would have done postdoc at down the road? I want to stay in the area and not move to fill any open position within the VA system.

I doubt it would significantly decrease your odds if you already had significant prior VA experience.

That said - if you have an opportunity to get "in" at the exact site you hope to obtain employment at later, than I would likely jump at the chance to do so.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Agree with the above--it can help, especially if the postdoc and/or internship is at the site where you're trying to get hired, but it's not necessary. And even with a VA internship & postdoc, you of course aren't guaranteed much of anything.

You do get to transfer your leave, though, and the time on internship/postdoc counts toward your service history in terms of how much annual leave you accumulate per pay period; that can be pretty nice.

 

[WisNeuro]

Not necessary, but a majority of my coworkers have been trained in VA settings.

 

[hillies]

I wouldn't think so, since you have significant VA experience. Our VA regularly hires former VA trainees, even if they only had a VA externship and did internship and postdoc outside the system. I would do whatever is going to be best for your training, since that's the point of postdoc.

 

[cara susanna]

The only thing I can think of is that you may be eligible for more job listings if you're a current federal employee. I'm not sure how much that matters for psychologist positions, of course.

 

[WisNeuro]

I will say that if time is an issue, they will give VA employees a slight bump since they can move them through the HR morass slightly more quickly.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Related to cara's point, there are some listings that are "internal only." I'm not actually sure if interns or postdocs would be eligible for these positions, but it presents an advantage to current staff (if nothing else).