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Post by justice1 on Sept 22, 2009 16:11:00 GMT -5
Are we to assume that we will still be considered through October of 2010 for any new ALJ jobs? Does anyone know if 1) OPM has the time now to refresh or terminate the register and still allow SSA to meet ALJ hiring goals? 2)Are there enough candidates left on the register to meet these goals without refreshing? 3)Are there enough candidates left on the certificate to meet these goals (assuming they still plan to hire between 150-198 in FY 2010)?
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Post by Volunteer on Sept 22, 2009 19:02:38 GMT -5
I can't give an educated guess as to the number of individuals remaining on the current register. Others may be able to help you with that question. In any event, I can make a reasoned argument that OPM will not refresh the current register before it expires in October 2010.
Information available on this Board indicates that SSA intends to open quite a few new hearing offices and to hire 146 to 148 ALJs in fiscal 2010. Fiscal 2010 begins on October 1, 2009, and ends on September 30, 2010.
The last time OPM refreshed the current register (at end of July 2008), it took OPM seven months (until the end of February 2010) to process the 600+ applications received and to come up with a refreshed register. After that, it took SSA four months (until the first of July 2010) to complete the hiring process and schedule the first ALJ training class. If the past is any guide, OPM could reopen the register tomorrow, but any new applicant who made the refreshed register would not be able to particiapte in an ALJ training class until at least August or September 2010.
Further, information on this Board indicates that ALJ training classes are generally limited to about 50 people. So, it would take three months of training classes for 148 new ALJs. If training classes for ALJs selected from a refreshed register began in August 2010, the training for the third class would not begin until October 2010,. Fiscal year 2011 begins on October 1, 2010.
Giiven the new hearing offices allegedly coming on line, and given SSA's apparent goal of hiring 140+ ALJs in fiscal 2010, it seems that SSA will need to hire individuals from the current register to meet its goals for fiscal 2010.
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Post by justice1 on Sept 22, 2009 20:12:19 GMT -5
Very interesting. Thanks so much for your well-reasoned answer.
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Post by oldbear on Sept 23, 2009 8:41:38 GMT -5
A word to the wise--
SSA has been pressuring OPM to reopen the register for some time. A few months ago, before this most recent hiring, SSA asked OPM how many it would need to hire off the current register to get OPM to reopen it.
Start revising your application now; there is no reason to believe that OPM will open the window any longer than it has in the past.
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Post by valkyrie on Sept 23, 2009 10:07:11 GMT -5
A word to the wise-- SSA has been pressuring OPM to reopen the register for some time. A few months ago, before this most recent hiring, SSA asked OPM how many it would need to hire off the current register to get OPM to reopen it. Start revising your application now; there is no reason to believe that OPM will open the window any longer than it has in the past. Anyone not currently on the register, or anyone with a prohibitively low OPM score should have an app ready to go within 24 hours of any OPM announcement of a refreshment of the register. |
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Post by latinlawyer on Sept 23, 2009 10:52:20 GMT -5
Now when Val says:
"or anyone with a prohibitively low OPM score should have an app ready to go within 24 hours of any OPM announcement of a refreshment of the register."
she must mean someone with a low score that did not allow them to be on the Register, right? If they are on the Register, even with a very low score, they cannot file a new application if OPM is just "refreshing the register," only update their GAL, right?
Please clarify.
LL
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Post by carrickfergus on Sept 23, 2009 11:45:13 GMT -5
The exact language from OPM: "If you received a NOR with a final numerical rating, you may retake the examination after one year has passed from the date of the final NOR and the examination opens to the receipt of new applications."
So those of us who received NOR's in late February 2009 probably will not be faced w/that quandry (depending upon the date that counts as "re-taking the exam" -would that be the application date?) But at least we can update our GALs. Which leads me to a question for the veterans of this process: how exactly does one update GALs when the register is refreshed?
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Post by oldbear on Sept 23, 2009 12:19:48 GMT -5
SSA wants the current register closed and re-constituted, meaning that everyone goes through the entire process again.
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Post by ssaer on Sept 23, 2009 13:03:50 GMT -5
The applicable regulation, 5 CFR 332.405, states as follows:
"An appointing officer is not required to consider an eligible who
has been considered by him for three separate appointments from the same or different certificates for the same position." This is a longstanding government-wide rule, not one limited to SSA.
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