Turns out once you become a federal employee, you can no longer use any previous experience or education to qualify for promotions. So, even if you took a much lower paying job to "get your foot in the door," you are not "qualified" to apply for a position more than one grade above your current one. Based on my past positions, I could qualify for a GS-11 job. My current position is a GS-5. The only other job I can compete for is a GS-6. Forget GS-7, or 9, or 11. Until I have fulfilled one year time in grade for each of these, I cannot qualify for the next one. Unless, of course, I resign. Then I can compete against all the other external candidates, and the internal candidates that have fulfilled the time in grade requirement and qualify for GS-11.
This is such a bureaucratic nightmare. I never wanted to be a government employee and I certainly didn't want to work for the federal government. Yet, here I sit with few other options. I could apply for a job at the bank and not get the benefits. I could try for a NAF job or a contract position, also without benefits.
The bottom line is I love my job. It's never going to get me anywhere, but I do enjoy what I do and the people in my squadron. I have to hold on to that.
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