|
Post by Buffalogal on Sept 25, 2013 16:02:55 GMT -5
Sorry for the multiple posts. Posting from near the Pentagon does not work well.
|
|
|
Post by elmerfuddgantry on Sept 25, 2013 16:31:24 GMT -5
>> Those of us on this board have a passion for this position that I don't think others may have <<
Or perhaps just a higher level of OCD.
|
|
|
Post by elmerfuddgantry on Sept 25, 2013 16:33:40 GMT -5
>> I have noticed that it has been difficult getting back into the swing of things since I returned home from DC. <<
I hear that. I've felt like a zombie since I got back, but it's probably just seasonal allergies.
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Sept 25, 2013 16:48:13 GMT -5
Lurker does yoga, I do Pilates and walk/hike. Funky does alcohol. Copious volumes of alcohol.
|
|
|
Post by lurker/dibs on Sept 25, 2013 16:50:42 GMT -5
Funky, somehow I think we all knew the answer to that one for you! I have a bit of that thrown in, too. Though it's tough to do yoga with a drink in your hand
|
|
|
Post by zebra51 on Sept 25, 2013 17:05:00 GMT -5
Thanks, bartleby. Calls to mind that old quote, (attributed to several people, from Plato (!) to Ian McLaren to.....): "Always be kind, as everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Looking forward to reports from the AALJ conference. To those of you going to AALJ conference stick around for the Balloon Fiesta the following week!!
|
|
|
Post by trekker on Sept 25, 2013 17:21:09 GMT -5
I also do the ETOH gig. In fact my Pilates instructor was telling us that we should be able to leg lifts with a wine glass balanced on our hip and not spill any wine. Guess that is the difference between Pilates and Yoga. Smiles.
|
|
|
Post by lurker/dibs on Sept 25, 2013 18:19:57 GMT -5
Zebra, it was great meeting you in DC! Are those your actual pictures that you took? I enjoyed the pics and stories you told about the balloons!
Trekker, you are right! Difficult to hold a wine glass in an inversion pose. Though there are many poses where I really could hold and consume a drink or two!
|
|
|
Post by privateatty on Sept 25, 2013 18:52:59 GMT -5
As ALJD noted on May 9, 2007,"Hi everyone, This board was created to promote the civilized exchange of information related to ALJ hiring after the trolls infested the old board (aka TOB) back in 2007. Pix and I started this board with the goal to keep it relatively civil and clean of trolls. The goal here is to promote the free exchange of ideas while avoiding gross personal attacks or pointless flames." We insiders have been under a great deal of stress and the situation in D.C. is about to push us over the edge. The newbies are about to go crazy with the new testing situation. We are all about to go crazy. In this mess, we must remember, all we have is each other. No one outside of our circle understands almost anything we are going through. I wish all of the newbies the best of luck and I encourage the insiders to remember that this too, shall pass. Let's all stay strong for each other as we never know how bad it is for that individual reading these on that particular moment and how much help they may be needing. If anyone needs anything particular or just a word of encouragement, just send me a message and I will try to help. A lot of the Judges are going to Sante Fe next week for the Union conference and I hope we will have a lot of good stuff to dissiminate when we return. I check the Board often, so don't feel like you are inconveniencing me if you need anything. Stay thirsty my friends. I think any news of any sort good, bad, or indifferent would be interesting. Even if it is a bunch of ALJ's who sat in on SI's who might shed some general light on what they thought this selection process brought in versus previous processes. What I heard, Gaidan (and mind you this is double hearsay from one) is that the ALJs who graded the SI's were impressed by the caliber of the candidates and their responses.
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Sept 25, 2013 19:06:41 GMT -5
What I heard, Gaidan (and mind you this is double hearsay from one) is that the ALJs who graded the SI's were impressed by the caliber of the candidates and their responses. [/quote] The hearsay I have heard is pretty much on par with this. One friend said an alj in his office was on an early sept panel and said the first day was bad, but after that the candidate pool was really impressive. An alj in my office said a couple of alj friends that were on august panels said the interviewees were very impressive. Grains of salt all around. if true, good for opm and the alj corps. Maybe not so great for us competing with you bunch of overacheivers.
|
|
|
Post by lildavey on Sept 25, 2013 19:08:14 GMT -5
Thanks, bartleby. Calls to mind that old quote, (attributed to several people, from Plato (!) to Ian McLaren to.....): "Always be kind, as everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Looking forward to reports from the AALJ conference. To those of you going to AALJ conference stick around for the Balloon Fiesta the following week!! If any of you go, looki into the public transportation availabilities. RailRunner + shuttles = Way to Go. www.nmrailrunner.com/
|
|
|
Post by Gaidin on Sept 25, 2013 20:06:12 GMT -5
What I heard, Gaidan (and mind you this is double hearsay from one) is that the ALJs who graded the SI's were impressed by the caliber of the candidates and their responses. The hearsay I have heard is pretty much on par with this. One friend said an alj in his office was on an early sept panel and said the first day was bad, but after that the candidate pool was really impressive. An alj in my office said a couple of alj friends that were on august panels said the interviewees were very impressive. Grains of salt all around. if true, good for opm and the alj corps. Maybe not so great for us competing with you bunch of overacheivers. [/quote] Funky I tend to think that this is great news for the insiders. It means that you guys have the advantage of having made it through what is purported to be a more rigorous process and still have the benefit of being familiar with the ins and outs of SSA.
|
|
|
Post by chessparent on Sept 25, 2013 21:15:24 GMT -5
I'm going to Disney! Always a good distraction.
|
|
|
Post by BagLady on Sept 25, 2013 22:25:36 GMT -5
I'm going to Disney! Always a good distraction. Awesome!
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Sept 25, 2013 22:42:11 GMT -5
What I heard, Gaidan (and mind you this is double hearsay from one) is that the ALJs who graded the SI's were impressed by the caliber of the candidates and their responses. The hearsay I have heard is pretty much on par with this. One friend said an alj in his office was on an early sept panel and said the first day was bad, but after that the candidate pool was really impressive. An alj in my office said a couple of alj friends that were on august panels said the interviewees were very impressive. Grains of salt all around. if true, good for opm and the alj corps. Maybe not so great for us competing with you bunch of overacheivers. Funky I tend to think that this is great news for the insiders. It means that you guys have the advantage of having made it through what is purported to be a more rigorous process and still have the benefit of being familiar with the ins and outs of SSA. [/quote] On a selfish point I hope you are right G. I would gladly accept any lil extra credit my insider status might bring. On a bigger picture level, as someone who is devoting their career to odar and its mission, as flawed in practice as it may be, I'm just damn happy that this group of alj candidates seem of high quality. I want to be a judge, but won't leave odar if I don't make it. at leastit appears that whoever gets the gig will be from good stock.
|
|
|
Post by epic0ego on Sept 26, 2013 9:44:54 GMT -5
I hope the Funk Man, the Bart, Gaidin and others weigh in on this because they are closely attuned to this and have written fairly extensively on this in other threads. I can only offer my own example. I sat by and watched three colleagues of mine go to very fine cities that I neglected to put on my initial GAL. My score was in the 80s and I only had one city on my GAL. When OPM re-opened the GAL selections, I got a little smarter and put in for 12 additional cities. Of course, it was too little, too late and I was not selected in the August 2013 selections either. A selection was actually made in one of my expanded cities, so I guess I just didn't measure up with the choices for that city. Long story short, and with due respect for all of the highly-qualified people who were selected - if you ask them, some will tell you their scores were in the 40s or lower in some cases. So when the experts here tell you that there are no guarantees, but that the best strategy is to prepare as well as you can for the tests, and also put in for the widest possible GAL that you could reasonably live with, I would concur wholeheartedly. My very best to you and all the other fine candidates.
|
|
|
Post by moopigsdad on Sept 26, 2013 10:00:45 GMT -5
I hope the Funk Man, the Bart, Gaidin and others weigh in on this because they are closely attuned to this and have written fairly extensively on this in other threads. I can only offer my own example. I sat by and watched three colleagues of mine go to very fine cities that I neglected to put on my initial GAL. My score was in the 80s and I only had one city on my GAL. When OPM re-opened the GAL selections, I got a little smarter and put in for 12 additional cities. Of course, it was too little, too late and I was not selected in the August 2013 selections either. A selection was actually made in one of my expanded cities, so I guess I just didn't measure up with the choices for that city. Long story short, and with due respect for all of the highly-qualified people who were selected - if you ask them, some will tell you their scores were in the 40s or lower in some cases. So when the experts here tell you that there are no guarantees, but that the best strategy is to prepare as well as you can for the tests, and also put in for the widest possible GAL that you could reasonably live with, I would concur wholeheartedly. My very best to you and all the other fine candidates. Very good advice epic for the next refresh or new register. I took a look at the advice of others on the Board well prior to signing up for the Register this time and it made me choose the widest open GAL I could live with. I figured as an "outsider" I needed some time of leverage to attempt to acquire a position as an ALJ. Now, I hope I score a decent enough NOR and with my wide enough GAL I can acquire a position as an ALJ. Thank you for sharing your story and lesson learned, it will be helpful for others in the future.
|
|
|
Post by lurker/dibs on Sept 26, 2013 10:08:28 GMT -5
Moo, I did the same thing. While I only have 60+ cities on my GAL, it was as wide as I could live with. And, based on my personal knowledge, coupled with info on this board, it seems that my selections are in the "crapland" that most others want. However, based on more current information, it seems that everyone or most everyone on this decided to pick "crapland" cities. Hopefully I will score well enough to get selected in one of the ones I picked. Surely ODAR has heard about me calling "dibs" on select locations!
|
|
|
Post by bartleby on Sept 26, 2013 10:27:07 GMT -5
I will say that in the past, a lot of applicants put down very few cities on their GAL. Some got what they wanted and some didn't. They didn't have the numbers of applicants in the past that we now have. It sounds like a lot of the applicants put a lot of cities on their GAL. I think that is a good idea and it will give ODAR the opportunity to put high scorers in cities that might not have got them before. If you want the job, you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and a wide open GAL (60+) is part of that. Some will put one city and a few will get that, but the masses will find themselves in strange and wonderous lands..
|
|
|
Post by moopigsdad on Sept 26, 2013 10:44:52 GMT -5
Moo, I did the same thing. While I only have 60+ cities on my GAL, it was as wide as I could live with. And, based on my personal knowledge, coupled with info on this board, it seems that my selections are in the "crapland" that most others want. However, based on more current information, it seems that everyone or most everyone on this decided to pick "crapland" cities. Hopefully I will score well enough to get selected in one of the ones I picked. Surely ODAR has heard about me calling "dibs" on select locations! Lurker, I don't think there are as many people as you believe that have wide open GALs. Even from those people on this Board it is only about 1/3 or so of the 100-200 testing this time that have a wide open GAL. Hence, you still have a shot at a position in one of the 60+ cities you chose. Keep up positive thoughts and your fingers crossed, in addition to shouting out dibs and I think you may get lucky with obtaining a position yet.
|
|