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Post by sealaw90 on Aug 14, 2015 16:48:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the info! But if they think the register is running out, that doesn't bode well for those of us they've passed over several times. Bummer. I just can't think of any other reasonable way to take this information (for which I am grateful, by the way, JudgeRatty). If they want to hire more ALJs, but only think they can get 50 people, it means they would rather have no one than certain people among us (or at least some of those other poor slobs on the certs who don't read the board). Obviously, this doesn't apply to tiny-GAL people, but those for whom this is a repeat cert (say 3rd), with NORs higher than those reported as being reachable for hiring, with wide GALs ... well, I can think of some complicated scenarios where certain people get missed because they are part of the moving puzzle with other people more desireable in their way, blah blah etc., but with 3-strike power, if they 'can't' hire more than 50 off the certs, it's not because they have run out of people who would accept the locations - it means those left on the certs are basically unwanted dregs. That didn't come out as cheerful as I intended. Maybe it will help if I make a happy face: Edit: It did not help. I hate to say that I agree with you but I do. Thanks for pointing out the pink elephant in the room that many have been trying to avoid. Ok, here is the happy take away- some of you may be the ones they do want to hire all along but ODAR has shuffled you around so much your feeling like an outcast but you are still in the running and it's too early to tell whether you've been three -struck.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Aug 14, 2015 17:00:05 GMT -5
Greetings all! Today was the last full day of training for our class. Tomorrow is graduation day!
Today Judge Bice and Judge Allen came to our training class to speak about many things, including info about the current hiring. Now, before anyone gasps, I did ask for permission to post, so everything I say is out in the open and nothing is top secret. LOL! They were very supportive and optimistic about everything, and they gave many details about telework, expectations, and the like. Very informative.
Now...what candidates want to hear:
There are 12-13 people in this next starting class and they are going to train them in their own class. At one time we thought they may start in their offices then train later but they are going to train on time even though it is a very small group. The next starting date after that small group is to begin in their respective offices on September 21st and then train in October. They are short on the goal and will only hit about 200-210 for this fiscal when they wanted 250. The plan is still to hire another 250 next fiscal but that is dependent upon the budget, and this is an election year... so although they want to hire that many, it is not set in stone.
They WANT, and are "trying" (heavy emphasis on "trying" here and I promised Judge Allen I would emphasize this) to get a GAL expansion. Judge Bice specifically addressed this after the question was asked. The register is apparently running so low that they will likely only hire about 50 for the starting group on September 21st. This is not the predicted 75-90. This is not as good as I hoped to report.
They also said that there will be many forthcoming emails about folks who will be passing through the 2nd step and who will be allowed to move on to testing for the WD/SI/LBMT. In fact, a friend of mine received her email today. The email made the appeal moot.
So as usual, there are MANY moving parts to all of this. Those who will be getting offer calls soon (yes..very soon), will start on Sept 21st. Some will be testing in DC as they move on to the SI etc. And some may get a GAL expansion (including those who will be added to the register as they test). All of these things are happening at different levels and are controlled by different components. OPM versus SSA. And do not forget, other agencies are also wanting to hire as well. mikeinthehills or anyone else in class, if I missed anything, please chime in.
Good luck everyone! I, like everyone else am not pleased to hear the drop in anticipated hire numbers. I've been out of pocket for a while and simply wonder what, if any, underlying issue(s) are at play assuming the intel is correct (and I have no reason to doubt it is). The strange process just continues to get stranger, day, by day, by....... The Intel came straight from those in charge so it is accurate.
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Post by saaao on Aug 14, 2015 17:14:55 GMT -5
Thanks for the info! But if they think the register is running out, that doesn't bode well for those of us they've passed over several times. Bummer. I just can't think of any other reasonable way to take this information (for which I am grateful, by the way, JudgeRatty). If they want to hire more ALJs, but only think they can get 50 people, it means they would rather have no one than certain people among us (or at least some of those other poor slobs on the certs who don't read the board). Obviously, this doesn't apply to tiny-GAL people, but those for whom this is a repeat cert (say 3rd), with NORs higher than those reported as being reachable for hiring, with wide GALs ... well, I can think of some complicated scenarios where certain people get missed because they are part of the moving puzzle with other people more desireable in their way, blah blah etc., but with 3-strike power, if they 'can't' hire more than 50 off the certs, it's not because they have run out of people who would accept the locations - it means those left on the certs are basically unwanted dregs. That didn't come out as cheerful as I intended. Maybe it will help if I make a happy face: Edit: It did not help. I would point out that this last time they asked everyone to submit an updated resume. I would think this means that they plan to re-rank everyone, at least in whatever metric they use for experience. Also as Ul has told us, there are actually jobs out there more desirable than ALJ. When the testing began everyone was at least a seven year attorney, which even in today's market is the point where an attorney get to be pretty marketable. I am sure that Ul is just the tip of the iceberg. Speaking only for myself, natural progression at my current job has taken me to a point to where I have gone from being almost totally wide open to being extremely selective in the cities I am willing to accept. Many people have probably moved on to bigger and better things by now, particularly those who only put down only one city to begin with and had another agency in mind when they applied. I think it is very possible that many people are declining interviews and that there are not enough wide GAL candidates left to cover all the offices. Not trying to be a Pollyanna about the situation. I am sure that some people had a bad hair day at their interview, or had an unknown enemy on their reference list who decided it was time to stick the knife in, or just rubbed the powers that be the wrong way (perhaps me?). However as a general matter I think that the projection of 50 has more to do with not being able to spread enough candidates around, than having a large number of candidates that are ranked so low that they are simply untouchable.
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Post by beenlurking on Aug 14, 2015 17:43:16 GMT -5
Prop, I dont have any "Intel" other than this board. your theory is plausible except that was there not a response of board participants that interviewed for the current cert which revealed a number of close to 90? I may be way off base but , if that is the case, then maybe they are not seeing what they want even in those recently interviewed (me included) and are only hiring 50 and wanting even more to select from. I hope I'm somewhat, at least, wrong.
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Post by luckylady2 on Aug 14, 2015 17:52:53 GMT -5
Yeah, I liked the number 90 better than 50. And meanwhile life does go on and changes as it goes. It's a bit disheartening....
But then again, how is THAT news on this Board? Just about every step of this process can be pretty disheartening, but here we all are, hoping that the phone will ring.
I suggest we all settle in for the wait, and maybe resurrect The Drink of the Day thread!
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Post by ba on Aug 14, 2015 19:20:02 GMT -5
I, like everyone else am not pleased to hear the drop in anticipated hire numbers. Â I've been out of pocket for a while and simply wonder what, if any, underlying issue(s) are at play assuming the intel is correct (and I have no reason to doubt it is). Â The strange process just continues to get stranger, day, by day, by....... The Intel came straight from those in charge so it is accurate. I can vouch Ratty on the accuracy of what was said.
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Post by Mocha5 on Aug 14, 2015 20:19:58 GMT -5
Thank you to JudgeRatty for sharing this valuable (if not entirely encouraging) information. Congratulations on graduation from the training program and best of luck with your first dockets!
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Post by lucy on Aug 14, 2015 20:43:37 GMT -5
Thank you for the information. I know it's not something that most of you even want to think about, but in light of the comments about the register running low, was there any discussion as to when a refresh may occur?
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Post by saaao on Aug 14, 2015 21:02:42 GMT -5
Thank you for the information. I know it's not something that most of you even want to think about, but in light of the comments about the register running low, was there any discussion as to when a refresh may occur? The "refresh", such as it is, is apparently already in progress. That is the people who were previously been cut at the second round who are now being invited to come to DC for testing. As for the GAL expansion, the only word about that was in this thread based on Judge Bice's statement that they were pushing for one. Honestly at this stage I am not sure how big a difference that will make. While a few of the users here want a chance to expand their GAL, I think for the register at large most will have an unchanged or even smaller GAL. The people actively posting and following this board are the most invested in being an ALJ and being an ALJ for SSA and for everyone here who wants to expand their GAL you will find someone who is drastically decreasing their's. I suspect many people who originally applied back in 2013 were only really considering one city and/or one agency, and that probably hasn't changed for many.
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Post by luckylady2 on Aug 14, 2015 21:22:12 GMT -5
No - a "refresh" isn't going back and allowing lower scoring applicants to go through the process. A "refresh" refers to allowing people already on the Register to revise/expand their GALs - with or without opening the Register for fresh new applications.
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Post by lucy on Aug 14, 2015 21:44:35 GMT -5
I was referring to "refresh" as opening the process to new applicants who did not apply in March 2013...any talk of when that will happen?
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Post by luckylady2 on Aug 14, 2015 22:28:06 GMT -5
No - JudgeRatty reported that ODAR is trying - with the emphasis on trying - to get a GAL expansion for people on the Register. There's no talk currently of taking new applicants.
In light of the current activity to add to the existing Register by resolving appeals and lowering the threshold scores for further testing among people who applied in March of 2013, it doesn't look like they'll be opening the process to new applicants any time soon. Sorry.
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Post by 71stretch on Aug 14, 2015 23:38:30 GMT -5
No - a "refresh" isn't going back and allowing lower scoring applicants to go through the process. A "refresh" refers to allowing people already on the Register to revise/expand their GALs - with or without opening the Register for fresh new applications. No, a refresh is reopening the register to brand new applicants, while those currently on the register stay there. This last happened in November 2009, with the prior register. While the register is open to new applications, those already on the register can adjust their GALs. A GAL adjustment (which results in expansion, for most) is just a GAL adjustment, nothing more. It has happened only once, in June 2012. No new names are added to the register in that process.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Aug 15, 2015 0:24:25 GMT -5
No - a "refresh" isn't going back and allowing lower scoring applicants to go through the process. A "refresh" refers to allowing people already on the Register to revise/expand their GALs - with or without opening the Register for fresh new applications. No, a refresh is reopening the register to brand new applicants, while those currently on the register stay there. This last happened in November 2009, with the prior register. While the register is open to new applications, those already on the register can adjust their GALs. A GAL adjustment (which results in expansion, for most) is just a GAL adjustment, nothing more. It has happened only once, in June 2012. No new names are added to the register in that process. Yep totally agree. And Judges Bice and Allen did not mention refresh just yet. Only the current process of allowing more applicants to filter to the OPM testing phase (in progress and discussed at length in other threads) and that they are "trying" to get a GAL expansion.
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Post by ba on Aug 15, 2015 7:31:16 GMT -5
No, a refresh is reopening the register to brand new applicants, while those currently on the register stay there. This last happened in November 2009, with the prior register. While the register is open to new applications, those already on the register can adjust their GALs. A GAL adjustment (which results in expansion, for most) is just a GAL adjustment, nothing more. It has happened only once, in June 2012. No new names are added to the register in that process. Yep totally agree. And Judges Bice and Allen did not mention refresh just yet. Only the current process of allowing more applicants to filter to the OPM testing phase (in progress and discussed at length in other threads) and that they are "trying" to get a GAL expansion. A true refresh is an extremely expensive proposition for OPM. They will explore every option before reopening the register to new applicants.
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Post by pumpkin on Aug 15, 2015 8:14:15 GMT -5
Congrats to the August 2015 ALJ Graduating Class! May you judge wisely, in good health, and be rewarded with many, many years of joy and satisfaction in the knowledge that you are doing good and important work.
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Post by hopefalj on Aug 15, 2015 8:26:05 GMT -5
Yep totally agree. And Judges Bice and Allen did not mention refresh just yet. Only the current process of allowing more applicants to filter to the OPM testing phase (in progress and discussed at length in other threads) and that they are "trying" to get a GAL expansion. A true refresh is an extremely expensive proposition for OPM. They will explore every option before reopening the register to new applicants. OPM gets paid by SSA and other agencies to create and refresh the register. It's not expensive for them at all. However, they're probably understaffed following the sequester and they may be dealing with a few more pressing issues at this time.
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Post by mamaru on Aug 15, 2015 10:40:13 GMT -5
The answer to this question is "buried" elsewhere. If they do a "refresh" and allow new applicants to enter the race, can individuals with NORs retest, taking the risk of improving their scores? If they get a new NOR, do they get a "do over" on the SSA interview?
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Post by beenlurking on Aug 15, 2015 11:06:49 GMT -5
The Intel came straight from those in charge so it is accurate. I can vouch Ratty on the accuracy of what was said. I didn't mean to call into question the accuracy of the information. I just means the informatin sucks. I was hoping for more to be hired.
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Post by gary on Aug 15, 2015 11:14:36 GMT -5
The answer to this question is "buried" elsewhere. If they do a "refresh" and allow new applicants to enter the race, can individuals with NORs retest, taking the risk of improving their scores? If they get a new NOR, do they get a "do over" on the SSA interview? They can retake the testing at their own risk: They get the new result, whether it is a higher score, a lower score, or a failure to get onto the register due to too low a score on the WD or SI or not doing well enough online to get invited to the DC testing phase at all. I don't know that SSA would reinterview them should they remain on the Register but with a new score.
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