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Post by ok1956 on Nov 9, 2014 14:07:13 GMT -5
I happen to be in the same boat. Maybe 2015 will see some new cities on a cert. It happened for me I hope it happens for you!
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Post by moopigsdad on Nov 17, 2014 11:07:55 GMT -5
It's possible I missed it. Are there specific training dates given? If so, could you share them? Sorry for the delay. Our regional newsletter listed the following tentative training schedule for "New ALJ": January 5 – January 30, 2015 April 6 – May 1, 2015 August 3 – 28, 2015 Thanks superbonbon for the information.
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Post by dpageks on Nov 17, 2014 12:47:38 GMT -5
I happen to be in the same boat. Maybe 2015 will see some new cities on a cert. It happened for me I hope it happens for you! I was excited to see that you made the cert, Ok1956! I hope you get hired quickly!
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Post by Ace Midnight on Nov 17, 2014 13:12:19 GMT -5
It's possible I missed it. Are there specific training dates given? If so, could you share them? Sorry for the delay. Our regional newsletter listed the following tentative training schedule for "New ALJ": January 5 – January 30, 2015 April 6 – May 1, 2015 August 3 – 28, 2015 Having trouble with that first one, SBB - doesn't that contradict those holdovers who said they're reporting on January 26th, which would equate to training dates of, give or take, February 16 to March13? I mean, I'm not doubting anything anyone says at this point, but it also doesn't make sense from a logistics point of view - starting training the first work day after New Year's? That means reporting and working the first 3 weeks (normal procedure) at the assigned hearing office during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's? When the offices will be ghost towns? And the report date would be 4 weeks from today with interviews still going on? Some federal employees :raiseshand: have to take use or lose between now and the end of the year, as well. Now, a start date of January 5th, and training starting on January 26th - THAT might make a little sense. The other 2 make perfect sense and we're too far out to shoot holes in them, anyway.
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Post by Ace Midnight on Nov 17, 2014 13:49:30 GMT -5
FWIW, just got an email blast from the ODAR Deputy Commissioner that they "plan to hire 250 new ALJs in FY 2015". Well, that is good news - that's up to 320ish from the register we have always assumed was 800 to 900 strong, not all of which with a hireable GAL. As to the earlier point, I have no doubt you're reporting what you were told and the "tentative" label tells us all to take it with a grain of salt - I just pointed out that grain of salt looks awfully big from here. (Heck, it may be 100% accurate as to how it is going to unfold - again, just tough to see it from here.)
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Post by ok1956 on Nov 17, 2014 13:49:58 GMT -5
It happened for me I hope it happens for you! I was excited to see that you made the cert, Ok1956! I hope you get hired quickly! Thank you!!!! Me too! ;-)
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Post by Gram Pop on Nov 17, 2014 14:03:06 GMT -5
I am a second certer. The following quote was in the email advising me of my status:
If selected, you must be prepared to first report to your duty station for Phase I of your ALJ Orientation in late January 2015 and you will only be given 24 hours to accept or decline our job offer so please consider the locations carefully.
That seems to fit the January 26 start date with training to start three weeks later.
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Post by Ace Midnight on Nov 17, 2014 14:34:14 GMT -5
Let's talk about that DC message re: 250 and what that means - with potentially 3 starts/training sessions planned (and there may be more - best laid plans, and whatnot) - how would that break out numerically? a "smaller class" of ~50 and 2 classes of ~100 each? 3 even at 85 doesn't quite fit the known training class math.
Back in the day, they used to have large classes of ~125 and small classes of 25 to 30. I've always assumed they can configure the space the way they want - up to a point. They can also do the hiring in larger batches and break up the training as needed, I suppose.
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Post by gary on Nov 17, 2014 14:53:54 GMT -5
There's a thread about training room size. A little over a year ago southeastalj posted in that thread:
"The national training center that is now used has 2 rooms. Each training class is divided in half. They don't like to go bigger than 25-30 people per room. So you won't see a training class bigger than 60 people[.]"
If that's the case, you might see five classes of 50 or so or 6 classes of about 40 to 44 each..
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Post by moopigsdad on Nov 17, 2014 15:01:18 GMT -5
I agree with you Gary. I think there will be five classes, if they truly hire 250 more ALJs. So, there could be classes every other month between January and September 2015.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Nov 17, 2014 15:06:08 GMT -5
I agree with you Gary. I think there will be five classes, if they truly hire 250 more ALJs. So, there could be classes every other month between January and September 2015. As someone else posted in another thread, today DC Sklar's email specifically said: "We were able to hire 71 new ALJs in FY2014 and plan to hire 250 new ALJs in FY 2015."
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Post by gary on Nov 17, 2014 15:06:22 GMT -5
I agree with you Gary. I think there will be five classes, if they truly hire 250 more ALJs. So, there could be classes every other month between January and September 2015. I edited my post to allow for the possibility of six classes. If they do three hires each in the eighties, I could see them splitting each hire into two classes of forty-something each rather than going for the more efficient five classes of fifty each.
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Post by Ace Midnight on Nov 17, 2014 15:08:27 GMT -5
6 classes of about 40 to 44 each.. I knew somebody would point it out for me - BOOM - that's it - 3 rounds of hiring, split like this for 6 sessions of training. Stubby pencil and Big Chief confirm this works. ETA: - But that means half of next year will be training sessions at FC. Wow!
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Post by gary on Nov 17, 2014 15:11:57 GMT -5
I agree with you Gary. I think there will be five classes, if they truly hire 250 more ALJs. So, there could be classes every other month between January and September 2015. As someone else posted in another thread, today DC Sklar's email specifically said: "We were able to hire 71 new ALJs in FY2014 and plan to hire 250 new ALJs in FY 2015." And you, Sratty, have been saying all along that they would be aggressively hiring a lot of ALJs and that with a smaller register than in the past it's a great time to be on the register. Looks like you've been right for months, since the total of 321 for FY2014 and FY2015 would by my estimate mean more than a third of the register will be hired by the end of this fiscal year. Even by other estimates of the register's size, hiring will be in the range of about 30 percent of the entire register hired by fiscal year's end.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Nov 17, 2014 15:14:48 GMT -5
As someone else posted in another thread, today DC Sklar's email specifically said: "We were able to hire 71 new ALJs in FY2014 and plan to hire 250 new ALJs in FY 2015." And you, Sratty, have been saying all along that they would be aggressively hiring a lot of ALJs and that with a smaller register than in the past it's a great time to be on the register. Looks like you've been right for months, since the total of 321 for FY2014 and FY2015 would by my estimate mean more than a third of the register will be hired by the end of this fiscal year. Even by other estimates of the register's size, hiring will be in the range of about 30 percent of the entire register hired by fiscal year's end. Just the messenger.... This is what DC Sklar has been saying all this time!
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Post by Ace Midnight on Nov 17, 2014 15:20:17 GMT -5
That's my math as well - roughly 1/3 of the total and probably approaching half with a "hireable GAL" (I'm claiming credit for coining that one) will receive an offer within 30 months of applying in February(March?) 2013.
Marathon, not a sprint, and whatnot.
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Post by anotherfed on Nov 17, 2014 20:31:35 GMT -5
And you, Sratty, have been saying all along that they would be aggressively hiring a lot of ALJs and that with a smaller register than in the past it's a great time to be on the register. Looks like you've been right for months, since the total of 321 for FY2014 and FY2015 would by my estimate mean more than a third of the register will be hired by the end of this fiscal year. Even by other estimates of the register's size, hiring will be in the range of about 30 percent of the entire register hired by fiscal year's end. Just the messenger.... This is what DC Sklar has been saying all this time! Two thumbs up!
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Post by anotherfed on Dec 1, 2014 7:43:48 GMT -5
Bump
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Post by sealaw90 on Dec 1, 2014 9:19:06 GMT -5
Bump again. Damn that spam!
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Post by moopigsdad on Dec 1, 2014 9:24:14 GMT -5
Third cert hopefuls keep your spirits up as I believe after this upcoming hiring there will be another cert pulled by SSA from OPM in a relatively short period. SSA wants to fill offices while it can and has the money to spend on the hiring of ALJs. The one thing Congress continually complains about is the backlog of cases in the SSA system and the need for claimants to have their cases heard and decided. Hence, there will not be a long wait for the third cert after this second cert is complete.
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