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Post by diverdown on Jul 15, 2010 7:07:42 GMT -5
CONGRATS on your transfer biker. As far as eyre44's comment about another position for the cert, Peoria was already listed on this cert probably in anticipation of Biker taking the Seattle position. Biker, was Peoria already filled up when you got your offer? That answer will answer the question of a new cert position.
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biker
Full Member
Posts: 40
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Post by biker on Jul 15, 2010 21:52:47 GMT -5
What a long strange trip it's been. I've accepted the transfer. No, Seattle wasn't on the GAL, Peoria was, however there were no vacancies in Peoria at the time the GAL came out nor any extra space for an additional judge. My leaving makes the only vacancy. (Perhaps they were anticipating my leaving Peoria but that seems a bit unusual.) Yes there was a retirement June 30 in Seattle and there were 2 retirements in January. I was # 3 on the transfer list in January; # 1 passed on the transfer offer; #2 got the offer which he accepted; however they did not offer the second opening to me but filled it from the register. I learned around that time that there would most likely be another retirement in June. So, I waited and fortunately it came through. I haven't heard of any more retirements pending in the near future. The last time I checked the transfer list, Tacoma still had several spots open and the last I heard it's set to open in the spring. If you're looking to get back to the Northwest, Tacoma looks like your best shot in the near future. I would suggest getting on the Tacoma transfer list as soon as you are eligible (90 days after hire date). Anyway, I've been waiting 2 years to get back to the NW to my kids and friends; now I'm looking forward to getting settled and having a "normal" life again. Thanks for your good wishes and the best of luck to you all. It's a great job. BTW if anyone on the board gets Peoria, PM me for info. It's a good office-I'll miss it.
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Post by eyre44 on Jul 15, 2010 23:41:30 GMT -5
Bummer (well not for Biker, but for us candidates), I was hoping Biker's transfer would open up another spot on the cert. Congrats on getting back to your family and friends Biker, 2 years is a long time away.
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Post by bowser on Jul 16, 2010 8:05:23 GMT -5
Sure is weird to hear that Peoria was on the list with no openings. I've heard the same about 2 other cities.
Oh well, we'll find out soon enough...
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Post by mcb on Jul 16, 2010 12:48:08 GMT -5
What a long strange trip it's been. I've accepted the transfer. No, Seattle wasn't on the GAL, Peoria was, however there were no vacancies in Peoria at the time the GAL came out nor any extra space for an additional judge. My leaving makes the only vacancy. (Perhaps they were anticipating my leaving Peoria but that seems a bit unusual.) Yes there was a retirement June 30 in Seattle and there were 2 retirements in January. I was # 3 on the transfer list in January; # 1 passed on the transfer offer; #2 got the offer which he accepted; however they did not offer the second opening to me but filled it from the register. I learned around that time that there would most likely be another retirement in June. So, I waited and fortunately it came through. I haven't heard of any more retirements pending in the near future. The last time I checked the transfer list, Tacoma still had several spots open and the last I heard it's set to open in the spring. If you're looking to get back to the Northwest, Tacoma looks like your best shot in the near future. I would suggest getting on the Tacoma transfer list as soon as you are eligible (90 days after hire date). Anyway, I've been waiting 2 years to get back to the NW to my kids and friends; now I'm looking forward to getting settled and having a "normal" life again. Thanks for your good wishes and the best of luck to you all. It's a great job. BTW if anyone on the board gets Peoria, PM me for info. It's a good office-I'll miss it. Thanks, Biker! I live closer to Tacoma than Seattle.
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Post by wilddog on Jul 18, 2010 16:59:02 GMT -5
Just an FYI: I received my transfer offer today to Seattle from Peoria, IL. That indicates to me at least that they may be running a little behind in the process. Or else they were just torturing me. --------- Congrats, Biker - I know this was welcome news!
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Post by iapplied on Jul 19, 2010 22:49:17 GMT -5
Congrats Biker! Family is important!
It's a good thing that SSA lets you know where you will be transferring rather than to make you go through the same process to become an ALJ (though no one was forced to put multiple locations down on their GAL).
I'm curious: can you put that you'd transfer to multiple locations? Or do you have to know specifically where you want to go?
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Post by bartleby on Jul 20, 2010 8:54:31 GMT -5
It is my understanding that you may place up to three selections on your transfer request. I am also surprised at the number of applicant's that only placed one site in their GAL and then got selected. I know of one in Cleveland and three in Atlanta that were so chosen..
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Post by Well on Jul 20, 2010 9:58:33 GMT -5
It is my understanding that you may place up to three selections on your transfer request. I am also surprised at the number of applicant's that only placed one site in their GAL and then got selected. I know of one in Cleveland and three in Atlanta that were so chosen.. Doesn't Atlanta have two offices or did they only pick one Atlanta office? Cleveland per the rumor mill has had a lot of churn so you would think if someone in the area had Cleveland down they might be viewed favorably to try to reduce turnover.
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Post by hurrywait on Jul 20, 2010 11:01:52 GMT -5
There seems to be quite a few openings in northern Ohio. There is a new office in Akron with 12, and the Toledo office just opened with 10. There didn't appear to be many people wanting to transfer to either Akron or Toledo. Although it seems unlikely that ODAR would fill all of those positions from the same cert, if they did there would be more than 20 in northern Ohio. This doesn't include vacancies in the Detroit metro area or eastern Indiana. I doubt they take one's current place of residence into account. It seems they have a way of finding the city you like least on your GAL. There are a couple of posts describing examples of when southern people were selected for northern locations and at the same time northern people selected for southern locations. I don't think ODAR tries to figure out where people prefer to work. If it is on your GAL it is all the same to them.
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Post by barkley on Jul 20, 2010 14:12:29 GMT -5
They have a way of "finding the city you like least on your GAL?" No. They have a way of offering you a job in a city you told them you would like to have a job in!!
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Post by hurrywait on Jul 20, 2010 14:56:38 GMT -5
They have a way of "finding the city you like least on your GAL?" No. They have a way of offering you a job in a city you told them you would like to have a job in!! True, but there are some funny stories out there about people who tried to rank their cities on the GAL and more than once the city they listed last was the city where they got an offer. But your point is valid, if you didn't want to work somewhere, there were plenty of chances to take it off.
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Post by nonamouse on Jul 20, 2010 17:55:39 GMT -5
The selection process is complex enough without trying to see what someone's "preference" might be out of their GAL whether for their benefit or for some kind of "punishment." Someone might want to stay in their current region or city, but would they rather not get an offer at all if they are not in the top 3 for a slot in their current area? If so, they should only list the few offices in their current area and pleasantly and patiently wait for years if needed to see if or when they will be top 3 for a slot in one of those places.
I took a huge chance with a relatively short list because the most important person in my life had terminal cancer when I applied in May 2007. I didn't get selected for the first cert I made because of my short list (transfers took the slots even though they were listed on the cert). I was very blessed to have a good score and to get selected off the next smaller cert while I fully expected to have to wait for years or until I could expand my list. Everyone needs to keep all of this in perspective with the "real" world while waiting and realize that getting an invitation to the dance in any city is like winning the lottery, but how much would that winning ticket mean without your most important person to share in the joy? To quote some famous Brits, "you can't always get what you want. . ."
If you put a location on your list please be certain that you can stay there happily for many years if need be because ODAR has tried to fill to office capacity over the past 2 years. There will be far fewer opportunities for transfers as they hire due to attrition instead of expanding the ALJ corps. Those who got hired even last year are finding it much harder to transfer than those in the 2008 classes unless they take a HOCALJ slot. After the 90 days pass for new ALJs and they can give their 3 locations for potential transfer, they will still be waiting behind possibly double digit numbers already on the list if a city is popular.
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Post by ladyatlaw on Jul 21, 2010 7:12:29 GMT -5
Hmmm. Seems a tad bit strange to announce a city as "available" via the cert only to fill that city with a Transfer AFTER the cert is announced, but BEFORE making offers to us hopefuls. Wonder why they don't treat those cert slots as "cert reserved" until after offers go out. That way, even if an offer is declined, a Transfer could still be able to fill that void subsequently. Just a random thought as I wait by my phone!!!!! :-)
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Post by 71stretch on Jul 21, 2010 7:23:41 GMT -5
Hmmm. Seems a tad bit strange to announce a city as "available" via the cert only to fill that city with a Transfer AFTER the cert is announced, but BEFORE making offers to us hopefuls. Wonder why they don't treat those cert slots as "cert reserved" until after offers go out. That way, even if an offer is declined, a Transfer could still be able to fill that void subsequently. Just a random thought as I wait by my phone!!!!! :-) Ah, but you are thinking LOGICALLY again... as we have seen, there is very little about this process that is logical, practical, or appeals to common sense. Yet, we are willingly IN this process, sitting by the phone....
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Post by iapplied on Jul 21, 2010 7:46:40 GMT -5
Hmmm. Seems a tad bit strange to announce a city as "available" via the cert only to fill that city with a Transfer AFTER the cert is announced, but BEFORE making offers to us hopefuls. Wonder why they don't treat those cert slots as "cert reserved" until after offers go out. That way, even if an offer is declined, a Transfer could still be able to fill that void subsequently. Just a random thought as I wait by my phone!!!!! :-) Ah, but you are thinking LOGICALLY again... as we have seen, there is very little about this process that is logical, practical, or appeals to common sense. Yet, we are willingly IN this process, sitting by the phone.... actually in my view of things, it is logical: one announcement telling all who are interested that there are vacancies. (Of course I don't know if there is only one announcement but the point is that all are told about the vacancies: transfers and applicants). Then you'd fill those vacancies with actual experienced ALJs. I would have processed the transfers first and then determined what openings were left. But I don't know if there is a certain time frame for processing transfers: is it all year round? is it just during the application period? Despite my outside, perhaps a bit uninformed view of things, I can't always find the rhyme or reason but I'm sure there's some reason behind why certain things are done when there are done. But I tend to credit the agency a little more than most. But I do share your pain of course! I wish I had known more about the process before applying and then I would have done more research and determined if there were other locations where I could live. ...but then again...I might not have put more locations. At this point, it is what it is. Good luck to everyone!
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Post by iapplied on Jul 21, 2010 7:47:31 GMT -5
It is my understanding that you may place up to three selections on your transfer request. I am also surprised at the number of applicant's that only placed one site in their GAL and then got selected. I know of one in Cleveland and three in Atlanta that were so chosen.. Doesn't Atlanta have two offices or did they only pick one Atlanta office? Cleveland per the rumor mill has had a lot of churn so you would think if someone in the area had Cleveland down they might be viewed favorably to try to reduce turnover. Atlanta has two offices. However, I don't know where the Atlanta North office is or what area it covers. Does anyone else know?
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Post by iapplied on Jul 21, 2010 7:54:06 GMT -5
The selection process is complex enough without trying to see what someone's "preference" might be out of their GAL whether for their benefit or for some kind of "punishment." Someone might want to stay in their current region or city, but would they rather not get an offer at all if they are not in the top 3 for a slot in their current area? If so, they should only list the few offices in their current area and pleasantly and patiently wait for years if needed to see if or when they will be top 3 for a slot in one of those places. I took a huge chance with a relatively short list because the most important person in my life had terminal cancer when I applied in May 2007. I didn't get selected for the first cert I made because of my short list (transfers took the slots even though they were listed on the cert). I was very blessed to have a good score and to get selected off the next smaller cert while I fully expected to have to wait for years or until I could expand my list. Everyone needs to keep all of this in perspective with the "real" world while waiting and realize that getting an invitation to the dance in any city is like winning the lottery, but how much would that winning ticket mean without your most important person to share in the joy? To quote some famous Brits, "you can't always get what you want. . ." If you put a location on your list please be certain that you can stay there happily for many years if need be because ODAR has tried to fill to office capacity over the past 2 years. There will be far fewer opportunities for transfers as they hire due to attrition instead of expanding the ALJ corps. Those who got hired even last year are finding it much harder to transfer than those in the 2008 classes unless they take a HOCALJ slot. After the 90 days pass for new ALJs and they can give their 3 locations for potential transfer, they will still be waiting behind possibly double digit numbers already on the list if a city is popular. Nonamouse, this was a refreshing post and yet a greater reminder to choose, and choose wisely. I realize that we may not know what makes a city popular to everyone because that's so subjective (weather, economy, cost of living, salary, housing, etc). However, I would be interested in knowing which location(s) the most people have sought transfers out of? I wish there was a way to tell if the transfer was due to issues with management and/or the team working with the ALJ since there's a lot of discussion on the board about that.
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Post by southeastalj on Jul 21, 2010 15:42:26 GMT -5
Hmmm. Seems a tad bit strange to announce a city as "available" via the cert only to fill that city with a Transfer AFTER the cert is announced, but BEFORE making offers to us hopefuls. Wonder why they don't treat those cert slots as "cert reserved" until after offers go out. That way, even if an offer is declined, a Transfer could still be able to fill that void subsequently. Just a random thought as I wait by my phone!!!!! :-) because it would be a violation of the CBA
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Post by southeastalj on Jul 21, 2010 15:44:56 GMT -5
Doesn't Atlanta have two offices or did they only pick one Atlanta office? Cleveland per the rumor mill has had a lot of churn so you would think if someone in the area had Cleveland down they might be viewed favorably to try to reduce turnover. Atlanta has two offices. However, I don't know where the Atlanta North office is or what area it covers. Does anyone else know? since the "great hiring" began in 2008, Atlanta downtown has received 8 new judges and North 3. They have always been listed separated on the GAL. having said that, they are physically only about 5-7 miles from each other.
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