Do we get our money back if not hired?(LOL)

[tater]

If not, at least bang for the buck.

I am wondering if this register is going to be good for a while.

[Pixie]

Yes. New candidates will be added, but those on the register will remain there.

[judicature]

Fear not, tater, there is a rebate check coming your way!

[counselor95]

The email with the numerical score for the register said this register will be in effect til 10/2010.

[southerner]

Schedule A, Form 2106

[privateatty]

counselor95 said:

The email with the numerical score for the register said this register will be in effect til 10/2010.

What if Pixies' hypothesis is correct? OPM doesn't re-open the register? And what if CoSS Astrue is good to his word? Another 200 Judges in FY '09? Then we could see 3/4ths of this register taken.

[okeydokey]

I think the register will open.

For sure the SSA commissioner and OPM manager (?) are talking.

First conversation:

SSA Commissioner (S): We need ALJ's NOW
OPM Manager (M): OK. We shall do this quick.

Second Conversation:

S: Thanks for the register. We picked it pretty much dry. We chose a lot of good candidates, but I think that there are other well-qualified individuals out there who were unable to apply.
M: Uh-huh
S: Could you reopen the register, so that we can have another group near the end of next year?
M: Sure. We were planning to do that anyway so that we could get rid of all of those pesky appeals (anyone who appealed drops their appeal when they reapply).
S: Cool.

[govtattorney]

"picked it pretty much dry." doubt that is true. there are probably 300 or more very strong candidates in this running, and the other 100 interested are better than average. ALL candidates have a minimum of 7 years litigation and/or government experience. ALL candidates can write well enough to get in the top 400.

do you have any specific information that "they" believe the pool is "dry" or is this an assumption?

"other well-qualified individuals who were unable to apply" any specifics on this? has there been a study showing that non-applicants with strong interest in being ALJs are better candidates for the position than those who have gone through the hoops and are ready to start working as ALJs in two weeks?

that being said, a number of veterans should be able to join the applicant pool. many with years of valuable experience and therefore can "wet" the pool. these veterans can enter the applicant pool without reopening the register. i look forward to my fellow veterans joining us.

as for reopening the pool for more appiicants, tell the commish that we in the pool are ready and able to provide excellent service to the claimants. just give us the call....

[doctorwho]

okeydokey said:

I think the register will open.

For sure the SSA commissioner and OPM manager (?) are talking.

First conversation:

SSA Commissioner (S): We need ALJ's NOW
OPM Manager (M): OK. We shall do this quick.

Second Conversation:

S: Thanks for the register. We picked it pretty much dry. We chose a lot of good candidates, but I think that there are other well-qualified individuals out there who were unable to apply.
M: Uh-huh
S: Could you reopen the register, so that we can have another group near the end of next year?
M: Sure. We were planning to do that anyway so that we could get rid of all of those pesky appeals (anyone who appealed drops their appeal when they reapply).
S: Cool.

Another perspective:

We are now in February of 2008. If OPM is going to reopen the register for it to have any impact on FY 2009 hiring, they need to do it quickly (i.e. by on or about May 2008). If they open it any later, it is doubtful that it will have any impact at all on FY 2009 hiring.

Does anybody recall how long it took to get all of the applicants sorted, vetted, examined, etc.? The answer was months. Let's not forget that the process that SSA wants to conclude by sometime in July 08 (or early Fall 2008 if an additional 25 are hired) was started in May 2007 by OPM. The later in the year that OPM starts the process, the more unlikely that SSA will be unable to hire off of a new register in FY 2009.

[okeydokey]

Govattorney,

I am going on an assumption: The higher up you are on the list, the better qualified you are.

That assumption may or may not be correct.

Nevertheless, it will be a fact that 170 or so of the highest scorers will no longer be eligible to be selected as ALJs (by virtue of the fact that they were selected).

It is also a fact that many well-qualified individuals are not on the list, for at least two reasons: 1) the application period was too short and 2) some were eliminated for technical, non-merit reasons.

I am not commenting on the quality of those who received lower scores. I know a few of them and they are very qualified for the position. Why they received such low scores, while others, who appeared to be comparative equals, received higher scores is a mystery to me. But, again, all things being equal, were I the Commissioner, had I choice between those in the top 25% of a new register and those who scored in the bottom half of an old register, I would take the new register.

As for Dr.Who. I do think the Commissioner and OPM are talking. The question is not whether they want a new application period, but, as you point out, whether there is time to get one before the Commissioner decides to hire more.

And there is one other thing to consider. By this time next year, we will likely not have a Commissioner or an OPM manager. All bets may be off come the third week in January 2009. The current Commissioner may want to make his mark before he resigns (and I think he will resign if a Democrat is elected and may resign if a Republican is elected).

[privateatty]

doctorwho said:

okeydokey said:

I think the register will open.

For sure the SSA commissioner and OPM manager (?) are talking.

First conversation:

SSA Commissioner (S): We need ALJ's NOW
OPM Manager (M): OK. We shall do this quick.

Second Conversation:

S: Thanks for the register. We picked it pretty much dry. We chose a lot of good candidates, but I think that there are other well-qualified individuals out there who were unable to apply.
M: Uh-huh
S: Could you reopen the register, so that we can have another group near the end of next year?
M: Sure. We were planning to do that anyway so that we could get rid of all of those pesky appeals (anyone who appealed drops their appeal when they reapply).
S: Cool.

Another perspective:

We are now in February of 2008. If OPM is going to reopen the register for it to have any impact on FY 2009 hiring, they need to do it quickly (i.e. by on or about May 2008). If they open it any later, it is doubtful that it will have any impact at all on FY 2009 hiring.

Does anybody recall how long it took to get all of the applicants sorted, vetted, examined, etc.? The answer was months. Let's not forget that the process that SSA wants to conclude by sometime in July 08 (or early Fall 2008 if an additional 25 are hired) was started in May 2007 by OPM. The later in the year that OPM starts the process, the more unlikely that SSA will be unable to hire off of a new register in FY 2009.

If I were a bettin' man, I would bet on drwho (and my previous post). OPM may well have neither the money nor the inclination to re-open the application process. All the focus is on the outake, not the intake. Besides, they have lots of appeals to work on.

[okeydokey]

Since we are predicting....

There is a possibility that there will be a new cert off this register. If that is the case, I do not think there will be any appeals granted before it happens.

This is the course I think OPM will take for the new register.

1. OPM will grant all technical denial appeals and allow those who submitted the applications to go with what they submitted or resubmit applications.
2. OPM will do the next SI/WD (the appeals of anyone who appealed the last SI/WD scores will only be alive if the appellants do not file a new application).
3. OPM will score the new applicants and rescore the appellants.
4. There will be a new register.

[odarite]

Basic misunderstanding: THERE WILL BE NO NEW REGISTER!
They will just add names and scores to the names remaining on the current register.