Financial Management Career Program—Mr E. Lee Franklin

Air Force Comptroller, July, 2004 by E. Lee Franklin

The FM Career Program Team was represented at the recent National Professional Development Institute (PDI) in Cleveland, OH. As always, it was a tremendous opportunity to discuss career program matters with the many visitors that stopped by the career program presentation booth. We are already planning for next year's event!

Skill Codes

The financial management career program receives numerous questions each month concerning hiring actions. These are primarily questions from individuals who applied for jobs but were not referred for consideration. Many times they call to inquire about the web notification they received indicating they were not qualified for the position or were outside the area of consideration. As we research these we find that in most cases there is a skill code issue--the skills individuals are earning do not qualify them for the position they are seeking. This most often happens in the 501 series as a variety of skill codes may be assigned to that job series. When a vacancy is being filled, the personnel system compares the skill coded experience of all the internal applicants to a Promotion Evaluation Pattern (also called a ranking template) which defines the combination of skill coded experience required to qualify for the position. The individual must have the specific skill coded experience at the required grade level for a minimum of 364 days. Admittedly this is a complex and, at times, confusing process. Employees are encouraged to take some time to review the skills they are earning in their current position, those that they have acquired in past positions, and to understand how they are used in the qualification process. They are tremendously important in qualifying for other positions. The skill codes may be found on the COREDOC and in the employee career brief.

A list of skill codes and definitions may be found at:

Recent Changes

There have been three significant changes in career program operations over the past months. These are the elimination of the registration requirement, the elimination of penalties for declining consideration or acceptance of a position, and a change ill the time allowed the selecting official to make a selection from a hiring certificate from 45 days to 20 days.

Registration Eliminated. Effective 15 March 2004 the requirement to register in a career program was eliminated. Registration became unnecessary when the system changed from an "automatic referral" to a self-nomination process. If an individual is in a 5xx series or is doing predominantly financial management work in a shared series (301, 343, 1515), then they will be associated with the FM career program. The career program will continue to "manage" specific positions, grades GS-12 through GS-15, and to provide training assistance to GS-11 and above.

Declination Penalties Eliminated. In the past, penalties were assessed if an individual declined consideration for a position or actually declined a position once a job was offered. Declination penalties were eliminated in November 2003 for a one-year test period. If the test goes well, they will be permanently eliminated in November 2004. Penalties are not to be confused with "restrictions" which will continue to be assessed. When an individual accepts a new position the career program imposes a 12-month restriction; the individual must remain in the position for 12 months before taking another position, unless it is a promotion within the commuting area (provided they are otherwise eligible). If a PCS move is involved, then a 12-month PCS restriction is also imposed. The career program restriction may be waived by the Career Program Policy Council Chair; the PCS restriction requires approval of both the Policy Council Chair and the AF/DP. A strong justification is required in both cases.

Suspense Changed for Selection Actions. Hiring certificates have routinely been issued with a 45-day suspense for making a selection. Effective 15 May 2004, selecting officials will have only 20 days to make their selection. An extension, generally no greater than 10 days, may be granted by the Wing Commander, or equivalent, or their designee. Along with this change, selecting officials are being asked to annotate up to three acceptable selections, which will help to expedite the process should the first selectee decline a job offer.

Career Field Management (CFM) is a new concept which will be implemented by the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) on 1 July 2004 [see article on page 14 of this issue]. Under this concept, AFPC will reorganize to realign hiring functions by career field. A team of approximately 13 personnelists will be assigned to support the Financial Management Career Program and will handle filling jobs for all grades and job series within FM organizations. The exceptions to the plan are the positions in USAFE, PACAF, and at the five "Interim Processing Centers (IPCs)"--personnel offices that have not yet been consolidated into AFPC. They are: 11Wg Bolling AFB, Robins, Hill, Tinker, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Bases. These locations will continue to handle hiring actions for the organizations they support until they are consolidated into AFPC over the next two years. Career Field Management will make it easier for the FM community to move successfully into the Civilian Force Development construct and to be prepared for implementation of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) when it comes about.