A federal civilian employee is a person employed by the Federal Government, including a person entitled to basic pay in accordance with the General Schedule provided in section 5332 of title 5 of the federal government. They are not members of the armed services and are hired by, paid by, and receive benefits from the federal government. Federal experience includes positions held as a civilian employee paid by an agency of the Federal government. Federal civilian employees work for either the executive branch, the legislative branch, or the judicial branch of government and perform a wide variety of jobs within these branches.

It is important to note that active duty military members or experience working for a private contractor of the U.S. government do not qualify as Federal positions for this purpose. Federal civilian employees are entitled to pay in accordance with the General Schedule provided in section 5332 of title 5 of the federal government. Typically, their pay and raises are determined by the president and Congress rather than merit or any commission basis. Similarly, their benefits are determined by the government and often are in line with other people doing similar jobs for the federal government across the country and sometimes even in foreign countries.