Question for those interviewed

[morgullord]

At the end of my interview on 1/8/08, I asked one of my interviewers if, prior to the interview, he had been aware of the fact that his hearing office was on my list. He informed me that he had been aware of that fact.

How many of you interviewed with a judge from a hearing office on your list?

I do not know what, if any, significance it has. Probably none, but I am curious about how often this occurred.

[chieftain]

One of my interviewers pointed out that I didn't select his office. He seemed a little miffed.

[knownuthin]

One of my ALJs noted that I had listed his office before the interview began. After the interview, he asked if I was really willing to accept a position at his office. A good sign, I hope.

[secondchance]

Neither of my Judges identified their offices - both of them asked me to convey greetings to one or more of the Judges I had used as references, so I knew that they had at least looked to see that.

[govtattorney]

as we near the end of interviewing, i'll share my experience. i went first week, early in the morning. judges were fresh, sharp, and nice. questions were open ended so the interviewee could either hit the mark or hang herself. i believe that it was fair in that way. neither judge was on my list of choices, although one was from my hometown and we chatted about that. they were familiar with my background and had read over my application. i don't feel that i eliminated myself from consideration. after that, as george michael says, you gotta have faith.

[yogibear]

Now that the interviews are over or close to over, I wanted to say that my interviewers were cordial and professional and reasonable about the whole thing. They introduced themselves, and then apologized for having to ask all of these formal questions, some of which they said were somewhat repetitive. My interviewers knew three of my ALJ references well, so that was a brief "ice breaker" in the beginning. They also apologized for the length of the interview, but I said I thought they had the more difficult job of interviewing candidates for two whole weeks. Someone in a post mentioned a previous candidate getting a dry mouth and having water available for that reason. I think it might have been me. I remember at the beginning the nerves hitting and my tongue getting stuck to roof of my mouth! I had to laugh (once I got some saliva back) and in response to one of the last questions, I referred to "just pushing through a situation and eventually, the dry mouth goes away and you hit your pace!" It was good for a laugh. As for how I did? I definitely thought of things I could have said and of questions I could have been more concise in answering. I tried to think before I spoke, and well...it's out of my hands now!

I'm not so hard on SSA as some...SSA's ability to evaluate candidates is limited by methods imposed by an another agency (OPM) and by other requirements out of their control. It seemed they tried to work with what they could and make a valid effort.

I also wanted to say in response to some ALJ and ODAR/SSA bashing that there is an agency culture here that you need to accept and work within. The focus should be public service, not whether the file is exhibited to perfection, etc. The focus should be on making the most accurate and administratively efficient decision and not necessarily holding a hearing to do it and not on writing a decision that's a work of art. You need to give up some control over the product in order to produce and get the job done well. Another point: every office is different and there is a wide variation in the performance and teamwork of each hearing office. Some of the comments make me believe that some individuals have only seen the more difficult side of coin.

[testtaker]

For some reason, my computer isn't showing the ability to exalt or smite today. Yogibear - consider yourself exalted! ;D

[emphyrio]

testtaker said:

For some reason, my computer isn't showing the ability to exalt or smite today.

The exalt/smite feature and reporting seems to have vanished altogether. Was this intentional?

[ALJD]

emphyrio said:

The exalt/smite feature and reporting seems to have vanished altogether. Was this intentional?

Yes. This experiment was a failure after 3 months, so I disabled the feature yesterday. Sorry for the confusion. If there are problem posts in the future, just PM me or Pix directly. Thanks.

[jagghagg]

admin said:

Yes. This experiment was a failure after 3 months, so I disabled the feature yesterday. Sorry for the confusion. If there are problem posts in the future, just PM me or Pix directly. Thanks.

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go

[privateatty]

jagghagg said:

admin said:

Yes. This experiment was a failure after 3 months, so I disabled the feature yesterday. Sorry for the confusion. If there are problem posts in the future, just PM me or Pix directly. Thanks.

Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go
You come and go

The song also states that "I am a man without conviction"--which hardly describes the 'hagg--despite the troll's allegation regarding the former.

Alas, we are now all bereft of our karma--'hagg what were you up to--23? Any non-ALJ top that? Of course, had you not been smote ( or smoted?) so soundly, you could have reached loftier heights...Oh well, live by the sword, die by the sword.

I guess now we'll just have say: I EXALT THEE!

[yogibear]

Hey Testtaker! Thank you very much!!!!!

[counselor95]

morgullord:
"How many of you interviewed with a judge from a hearing office on your list?"

One of my interviewers was the acting RCALJ of my region. (I put all 71.)

BTW, I miss the karma. I only used it for good!

[lee]

I interviewed yesterday, and it was very pleasant. I am very limited geographically, and one of the interviewers (who I believe was the RCALJ--I hope I have the agency-speak correct) noted that in December I further reduced my list of geographic preferences, and eliminated an office in her region.

[cybear]

morgullord said:

At the end of my interview on 1/8/08, I asked one of my interviewers if, prior to the interview, he had been aware of the fact that his hearing office was on my list. He informed me that he had been aware of that fact.

How many of you interviewed with a judge from a hearing office on your list?

I do not know what, if any, significance it has. Probably none, but I am curious about how often this occurred.

Morg,

Your post made me ponder the following:

I suspect that during the course of our collective interviews, some ALJs and candidates "connected", resulting in both parties' wishing for a match. My question, hypothetically speaking, of course, is whether or not an ALJ who, having interviewed a candidate and having determined that he or she would really like to have that candidate, if available, in his or her office, would have any influence in the selection process?

[julie]

My interview (very pleasant) was this past Thursday (1/31/08). I'm not a current federal employee, so forgive my awkwardness in describing the interview titles of the 2 judges who conducted my interview. One of the judges was the Chief Judge of his office (from my home state) while the other was his supervising Judge (a Regional Chief Judge?). During my questions to them, they reiterated that if I were hired, I would most likely need to "transfer back" to my home state over a period of several years.

[julie]

Oops. I forgot to include in my post above that my requested locations included my home state, as well as various openings in the general region.

[counselor95]

[author=julie]
"During my questions to them, they reiterated that if I were hired, I would most likely need to "transfer back" to my home state over a period of several years. "

Julie, were they saying that if you wanted to go to your home state, you might have to take any offer now, and then transfer later?
C95

[jagghagg]

counselor95 said:

you might have to take any offer now, and then transfer later?

That's been suggested to me.
Not by the interviewers, mind you.
Just friends.
(Yes, PA, I have friends.......they keep a low profile, but they do exist!)

[Pixie]

counselor95 said:

[author=julie]
"During my questions to them, they reiterated that if I were hired, I would most likely need to "transfer back" to my home state over a period of several years. "

Julie, were they saying that if you wanted to go to your home state, you might have to take any offer now, and then transfer later?
C95

That has been the past practice. If the judge's plan was to return home, the judge would normally only accept a position within commuting distance of home. The spouse would remain at home with the children, and the judge would travel back and forth on the weekends. Some of the locations were far enough from home that commuting by air was required. This usually allowed only one or two trips home per month.

At some point in the past, OPM began enforcing its two year rule, so that the judge was required to stay in her first assigned location for at least two years. Even though most judges were able to get home in two or three years, the conventional and conservative advice was to not accept a location in which one could not manage to stay for ten years before transferring.

Many judges sold their homes and moved their families with the intent to get back home at the earliest possible date. Most of them, once settled in with their families, decided that the new location was a nice place and withdrew the request for transfer.

The above was all pre--union contract. The transfer provisions haven't been in place long enough to see how it will all shake out, but it appears that it is taking judges longer to transfer back under the contract provisions than it did under the prior "good ole boy" system.

Under both systems, transfers were normally made in conjunction with a new class. Transfers would be made, and then the office needs would be determined, with the "vacancies" filled by the new hires.

So, to recap, don't accept any location where you aren't willing to remain for 10 years, knowing that you will probably be there for at least 2 years, and probably longer. Just a little Pixie advice. Pix.