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Post by orchid on Nov 3, 2014 20:37:33 GMT -5
Ranking cities. Did it work? Anyone have any strategies? Any thoughts on striking cities?
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jmgjr
Full Member
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Post by jmgjr on Nov 3, 2014 20:44:33 GMT -5
Ranking cities. Did it work? Anyone have any strategies? Any thoughts on striking cities? A co-woker of mine got hired on the first cert, high score, vet. On the list for all 48 (as I recall) cities. He ranked them 1-48 and ended up in his 34th pick. Not sure it matters that much, but I will still rank my cities.
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Post by saaao on Nov 3, 2014 20:54:19 GMT -5
People in the last group indicated that SSA tried to honor preferences as best they could. As for striking cities, it basically depends on how bad you want it, how patient you are and how high you score is. If you see a city you know you can't stand for a couple of years it is better to strike it than take a chance and turn it down if offered. But you have to be sure because they won't offer it again until a wider GAL refresh is done. From my perspective I have a job I like in a city I like that pays about the same as ALJ. I still want to be an ALJ, but based on my score and my current work situation I feel comfortable being picky and striking cities that are lower on my desiriability index and if it means I have to wait until the next Cert I am OK with that.
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Post by Missundaztood on Nov 3, 2014 21:10:33 GMT -5
I thought I had a pretty wide open GAL having selectively omitted cities that my immediate family vetoed. But lots of those vetoed cities are on these certs, otherwise I would have declined them. I am going to rank my top cities where there is a true preference, e.g., close to home, easy drive from home, big airport, etc, and the rest mark as "accept."
I have posted before that I believe it is better to decline now than when an offer comes, because then there are consequences of being suspended from the register (if you decline two?). Of course, not counting situations that arise after submitting, but I think if you rank or accept, you should be ready for Bob to offer you that city.
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Post by orchid on Nov 3, 2014 21:33:28 GMT -5
I'm thinking of striking some of the very small cities. Don't want to shoot myself in the foot, but don't want to be miserable.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Nov 3, 2014 21:38:28 GMT -5
I'm thinking of striking some of the very small cities. Don't want to shoot myself in the foot, but don't want to be miserable. Better to strike than to decline an offer. Of course it is risky. You have to do what you can live with since you could be in that city for a long time.
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Post by meanmom on Nov 3, 2014 22:07:27 GMT -5
Three of my cities were on the list but I only got one. Why is that?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2014 22:11:30 GMT -5
Because of higher scorers ahead of you for the other two cities.
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Post by meanmom on Nov 3, 2014 22:12:45 GMT -5
Got it. Thanks.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2014 22:17:05 GMT -5
Ranking cities. Did it work? Anyone have any strategies? Any thoughts on striking cities? A co-woker of mine got hired on the first cert, high score, vet. On the list for all 48 (as I recall) cities. He ranked them 1-48 and ended up in his 34th pick. Not sure it matters that much, but I will still rank my cities. Don't know who was your co-worker, but I was in the first class and most of the fellow ALJs I talked to got a city in their top 10 if not the top 5 or 6. I got my # 1 choice and ODAR did try to give preference to your choice.
I would list your true #1 choice as #1 and so forth, even if it's the same office you are currently in, we had one guy that stayed in his same office and in my current office, we have a Judge that came back to his home office that he served as a writer. Good luck to all
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Post by agilitymom on Nov 4, 2014 6:44:01 GMT -5
I'm with Tiger. Most of the folks I talked with received at least a top 10 choice. I had 8 cities (if I'm remembering correctly) listed on the cert(s) but received my #1 selection. Though before you start striking a lot of cities, consider how badly you want this job. It isn't easy getting in the door. Many factors play in the selection process, your city selections and NORs being two such factors...other people's cities and NORs being another factor. Once you're in the door you could probably seek a transfer in a reasonable amount of time (caveat---unless your sole goal is to get to one of the vastly popular cities that no one moves from and everyone has on their transfer list).
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Post by orchid on Nov 4, 2014 7:17:36 GMT -5
Thanks Tigerlaw and Agilitymom. I've decided to just strike a few cities and gamble on the 20 plus left on my cert. I really appreciate both your insight and advice.
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Post by HallmarkFan on Nov 4, 2014 8:06:09 GMT -5
Good tips. I'm weeding out some of the cities from my list, too, with the help of Google maps, Wikipedia, and (believe it or not) Trip Advisor.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2014 8:25:17 GMT -5
Thanks Tigerlaw and Agilitymom. I've decided to just strike a few cities and gamble on the 20 plus left on my cert. I really appreciate both your insight and advice. You are just fine IMHO with 20 cities still on your GAL, but for anybody else, I wouldn't be striking any cities if I had less than 10 cities on my list unless you truly couldn't see yourself in that city. But if that is the case, then that city should not of been there in the first place, but I did the same thing after I made the first cert. Looking back, I couldn't believe a few of my GAL cities, but at some point it made sense to me.
The transfer list will not be your "easy ticket" home in the future, IMHO. After ODAR hires another 200 ALJs, (almost 1800 ALJs) it will take retirements, death, quitting or transfers to other agencies to free up spots to allow transfers.
Tiger
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Post by spousemouse on Nov 4, 2014 8:27:23 GMT -5
Agree it's better to strike than decline. If you are considering temporarily splitting a household and applying for a transfer, rather than moving, it's smart to run your cities through Expedia or other flight software, rather than just Google. We were surprised to learn direct flights, though pricey, were available to many of the smaller cities. That helped keep the list as broad as possible.
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Post by Gaidin on Nov 4, 2014 10:16:31 GMT -5
I think you should all strike Nashville, Chattanooga, and Lawrence. Those places are a bad fit for you. Avoid them like they are plague ridden.
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Post by gary on Nov 4, 2014 10:37:00 GMT -5
I think you should all strike Nashville, Chattanooga, and Lawrence. Those places are a bad fit for you. Avoid them like they are plague ridden. If you think those places are bad you should get a load of Orland Park. On second thought don't. You don't want to take any unnecessary risks.
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Post by Gaidin on Nov 4, 2014 11:04:15 GMT -5
Gary are you currently writing an article called Orland Park the 7th circle of Hell.
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Post by funkyodar on Nov 4, 2014 12:53:20 GMT -5
Just a little friendly advice...take the ranking/striking of cities very seriously. It certainly appears that all the doomsaying prognosticators that forewarned a significnatly curtailed transfer outlook were right. Requests for transfers are (and admittedly always have been) "frozen" for any city for which a cert has been requested. In the past, when the cert to hire process was quicker and when certs expired pretty quickly after the end of a round of hiring, that wasnt such a big deal. Now it is huge. Those wanting transfer to one of the 28 cities now certed are pretty much out in the cold for a long time. Not only is it taking much longer for opm to return cert requests meaning a longer "frozen" period for those cities than usual, but there is good intel that the third and maybe even subsequent hiring rounds will come from this cert as well. Meaning even after the second group is hired in December the cert cities will remain frozen until third and maybe fourth rounds are done sometime in the future.
Moral of the story: Choose wisely. You cannot depend on the "take anywhere and transfer later" mentality of old. Where ever you land may well end up being your home for a good long while.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Nov 4, 2014 13:00:24 GMT -5
Just a little friendly advice...take the ranking/striking of cities very seriously. It certainly appears that all the doomsaying prognosticators that forewarned a significnatly curtailed transfer outlook were right. Requests for transfers are (and admittedly always have been) "frozen" for any city for which a cert has been requested. In the past, when the cert to hire process was quicker and when certs expired pretty quickly after the end of a round of hiring, that wasnt such a big deal. Now it is huge. Those wanting transfer to one of the 28 cities now certed are pretty much out in the cold for a long time. Not only is it taking much longer for opm to return cert requests meaning a longer "frozen" period for those cities than usual, but there is good intel that the third and maybe even subsequent hiring rounds will come from this cert as well. Meaning even after the second group is hired in December the cert cities will remain frozen until third and maybe fourth rounds are done sometime in the future. Moral of the story: Choose wisely. You cannot depend on the "take anywhere and transfer later" mentality of old. Where ever you land may well end up being your home for a good long while. I love this part: "there is good intel that the third and maybe even subsequent hiring rounds will come from this cert as well." Very good to hear.
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