paattorney
Full Member
One year anniversary. Wow.
Posts: 46
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Post by paattorney on Oct 22, 2014 9:02:41 GMT -5
I was wondering if anyone has any insights into the possibility of Department of Labor hiring in 2015. I read an article recently that says that the Dept. of Labor was seeking a big increase in funding to hire more ALJs, etc. due to a backlog of black lung cases. wesa.fm/post/us-faces-backlog-black-lung-benefits-claimsAlso, thoughts on whether any hires would be transferred from other agencies or taken from the register?
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Post by grassgreener on Oct 22, 2014 10:46:52 GMT -5
I was wondering if anyone has any insights into the possibility of Department of Labor hiring in 2015. I read an article recently that says that the Dept. of Labor was seeking a big increase in funding to hire more ALJs, etc. due to a backlog of black lung cases. wesa.fm/post/us-faces-backlog-black-lung-benefits-claimsAlso, thoughts on whether any hires would be transferred from other agencies or taken from the register? In my experience, DOL only hires existing ALJs - not technically transfers from other agencies, but an application process through usajobs.gov.
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Post by chinook on Oct 22, 2014 11:38:44 GMT -5
DOL hires off the register and hires transfers from other agencies. Even without an increased budget, DOL should be hiring because there have been retirements.
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Post by bikingnut on Oct 22, 2014 16:16:01 GMT -5
I was wondering if anyone has any insights into the possibility of Department of Labor hiring in 2015. I read an article recently that says that the Dept. of Labor was seeking a big increase in funding to hire more ALJs, etc. due to a backlog of black lung cases. wesa.fm/post/us-faces-backlog-black-lung-benefits-claimsAlso, thoughts on whether any hires would be transferred from other agencies or taken from the register? In my experience, DOL only hires existing ALJs - not technically transfers from other agencies, but an application process through usajobs.gov. OK, this brings up a question I've had so I'll ask it and then go hide under a large piece of heavy furniture. Did every single federal ALJ get into the system through this tortuous process or one of its prior iterations? Or do some agencies opt to just post openings on USAJobs and say "send me a resume"? Or could ODAR choose to interview people whose names did not come from the register? What's stopping them from interviewing someone who just sends them a resume?
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Post by redryder on Oct 22, 2014 16:22:35 GMT -5
If the position is for an ALJ, then the only way to get the job is to get your camel through the eye of the OPM needle. If the position is an AAJ, the agency can advertise on USAjobs. However, those AAJ positions usually come with some exacting criteria that presents other obstacles, such as specific experience dealing with them or certain educational/expertise requirements.
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Post by Gaidin on Oct 22, 2014 18:32:51 GMT -5
The process is designed to be difficult. You are applying for a job with APA protections and as such you are a special category of employee with special protections allowing the individual agencies to control hiring would lose those protections. I think we all wish it was easier to move through the process but I am not sure we all would do as much as we are to get a job without those protections.
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Post by privateatty on Oct 22, 2014 18:49:58 GMT -5
deltajudge told us his story of applying through OPM, taking a test in a regional city and interviewing. He got a call in a fair amount of time. That process was coming to a close by the start of the Azdell litigation in 1995. The real issue is that there are just too many folks who want the job and rightly so. Maybe one in twenty get it--statistically just about the hardest job in the law to get--other than in the federal appellate courts.
Gaidin speaks to the real issue here which is to hire an independent federal executive branch judiciary.
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Post by bikingnut on Oct 22, 2014 19:24:47 GMT -5
deltajudge told us his story of applying through OPM, taking a test in a regional city and interviewing. He got a call in a fair amount of time. That process was coming to a close by the start of the Azdell litigation in 1995. The real issue is that there are just too many folks who want the job and rightly so. Maybe one in twenty get it--statistically just about the hardest job in the law to get--other than in the federal appellate courts. Gaidin speaks to the real issue here which is to hire an independent federal executive branch judiciary. Good points by everyone all around. I don't disagree with anything anyone said, it just gets agonizing over here on the applicant side, as everyone knows.
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Post by jonsprag1 on Oct 23, 2014 7:26:14 GMT -5
OK, this brings up a question I've had so I'll ask it and then go hide under a large piece of heavy furniture. Did every single federal ALJ get into the system through this tortuous process or one of its prior iterations? Or do some agencies opt to just post openings on USAJobs and say "send me a resume"? Or could ODAR choose to interview people whose names did not come from the register? What's stopping them from interviewing someone who just sends them a resume? I was wondering the same thing. It appears that the only alternative route, is basically applying for an administrative judge position in some obscure agency like the Dept. of Interior, or applying for an IGJ or VLJ position. Most of the Admin Judge type positions only require that you apply directly through usajobs, or directly via email. You get the same pay as an Admin Law Judge. Of course there are some downsides in terms of lack of independence with the former positions. I would imagine (perhaps I am wrong), that 20-30+ years ago it was a much easier process. Just scrap the whole OPM process and make the application system simple. As the poster above noted. The OPM process is akin to getting a camel through the eye of the needle. As a "noob" to this whole process, I find it discouraging that you have to go through this entire OPM gauntlet, and possibly not get to live in the city at the top of your list. Seems like torture for someone who doesn't have flexibility with their living situation. I suspect without the OPM registry and with the agencies doing all the initial screening and the hiring, it would be much harder for outsiders (both within the federal government-in different agencies- and outside it) to get an ALJ type position. Most managers tend to hire within their own agency. The current ALJ hiring process insures that outsiders at least have a fighting chance.
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Post by mamaru on Oct 23, 2014 9:51:46 GMT -5
I think it also makes sure that veterans' preference is properly administered by an agency with oversight responsibility.
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Post by privateatty on Oct 25, 2014 11:42:40 GMT -5
I think it also makes sure that veterans' preference is properly administered by an agency with oversight responsibility. All of the above. And please pardon me for sounding like a broken vinyl record, but this process is not just not about the applicant. (And while I am talking from the inside of a glass house as I was every bit as self focused), the issue is also a fair, impartial hearing. If the Agency was in charge as some seem to want, those self-serving and inaccurate news articles about SEC ALJs would be de rigeur bad press for ODAR. You would be no different than anyone else and subject to every hiccup from Baltimore and Falls Church. A certain poster thinks maybe that's the way it is now, but I'm more than sure things could get a whole lot worse.
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Post by mamaru on Oct 25, 2014 14:49:51 GMT -5
I agree. My point was that it is NOT about the applicant but about ensuring that employee selection is managed by an outside agency with knowledge of and responsibility for going by the applicable rules and relevant laws in determining who is qualified. Perfect? No, but no system is perfect.
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