hearing offices

[chieftain]

Interesting reference to Billings in a message above. That is actually somewhere I would like to go if possible. Also interested in North Carolina (Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte), South Carolina (Columbia, Charleston -- good luck!, Greenville) and West Virginia (the "other" Charleston and Huntington). Is there any information as to whether there are openings in these offices? If this is too tall an order, I apologize and don't hesitate to tell me.

[notafed]

Why West Virginia, Chieftain?

[Pixie]

First as to Judicature: There is one transfer request to Tulsa. The same judge has requested a transfer to all of the offices in OK, so its not as bad as it seems--basically two judges wanting to go to the three offices in OK. There are no requests for transfers out of any of your requested locations. A location not mentioned has no requests for transfers in or out.

As to the interviews: They used to be all done in Falls Church. The last batch may have been done regionally, which makes more sense. As I remember, they would get finished with them in one or two weeks--at about thirty minutes an interview, although an hour may have been alloted.

The candidate would only get a week or two notice of the date and time of the interview, along with airfare. If there was a reason the candidate couldn't make the trip for his or her scheduled interview, I believe there was some ability to get a make up appointment scheduled within the two week period. Obviously all trial lawyers couldn't get away for at least an all day trip on that short of notice, so all of the ones being considered didn't have to be interviewed.

A lot of this stuff I used to know, but haven't thought about it in so long, it has washed through the system. I hope this helps. Pix.

[Pixie]

No one really knows when the register will be complete, probably not even OPM. The federal agencies are secretive because they don't have to tell you anything, and the less they tell you, the less you know, and the better off they are.

Since we don't know what agency you wish to work for, not much we can tell you there. But few agencies, other than SSA, actually hire from the register. Mostly they take judges from SSA.

Your 27 years in the private sector won't translate to any advanced ALJ pay level; you would start off at the bottom and work you way up to the top in seven or eight years, don't remember which right now.

[workdrone]

Pixie is right on the money. I think if you are geographically restrictive and the agency you want to work for is not SSA, your dream is unlikely to come true unless the stars are aligned correctly. As another poster said, SSA is the biggest employer of new ALJs and most other agencies hire current SSA ALJs instead of trying their luck with a certificate. So if you're not willing to accept a position with SSA to start, you may be cutting yourself short. Good luck!

Drone

[learnedhand]

I've found the OPM people to be pretty responsive in person. They'd never get this task done if they had to stop and answer every question from every person who wants to know something about the process. I think they could have been a bit more responsive to those emailers who needed to reschedule, but as far as general questions, they don't have time. I also think that they are handling things differently this time and don't have any previous benchmarks to compare this experience. They got raked over the coals by SSA and Congress so my guess is that OPM officials are making no comment for fear of giving the wrong answers.

[chris]

Privateatty said:

"1. When does the Register really happen--October or God forbid, next year?
2. Why is OPM so darn secretive on the previous question?
3. What are my estimated chances to get to work for the agency where all my experience is? How do I increase my chances?
4. How does 27 years of experience translate into my expected pay grade (I'm really confused!)"

1. They have said they are shooting for the end of October. I'm sure they would like to get it done more quickly but I wouldn't be surprised if it took longer.
2. They haven't been secretive. They have publicly stated they are shooting for the end of October. Don't expect them to give you daily updates on their progress.
3. Unless you want to quit being secretive and tell us the name of the agency there's no way to help you.
4. Unless some of that 27 years was either as a judge or as a high pay grade federal employee, it's not likely to have any impact on your starting salary.

Good luck.

Chris

[lee]

I have a question about salaries. Like everyone else, I do not mean to get the cart before the horse, but it sounds like anyone who receives an offer of employment will be given a very short period of time to respond.
I gather that experience in the private sector will not boost the starting salary. What about experience as an ALJ with a state agency ?
Thanks for any info & I am so pleased with this new board.

[chris]

cinderella said:

Tootsie- I was thinking the same thing. If the first Cert is only 50, and they have to interview 150 people to get the 50- that could take some time! Imagine if a Cert were 100 or 150- I can't fathom the logistics of interviewing 300+ people in a timely manner! It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Maybe someone "in the know" can help us understand the timeline and process better.

Let's look at the possible time frames.

First let's assume that the register comes out on October 31 and that SSA gets it on November 1, which is a Thursday. I'm sure SSA has already prepared their basic interview schedule so there shouldn't be too much of a delay in getting the interview letters out. So I'll assume the interview letters go out by Tuesday November 6, election day, at the latest. Candidates will get them by Monday November 12 at the latest. If SSA gives two weeks notice then the first interview wouldn't be until Monday November 26. If SSA has one interview team and allocates one hour to each interview, they can interview a maximum of 8 candidates each day. That means they could interview 160 candidates before Christmas, which would put them on schedule to make around 50 offers by January 1, 2008 (leaving out Christmas week), with those folks starting February 1, 2008.

To hire more than 50 candidates by February 2008, SSA must be banking on two other possibilities. Either the register must come out earlier (October 1?) which allows them to interview another 160 candidates or SSA must be considering more than one interview team. If SSA does interviews with more than one team, it becomes fairly easy to interview 450 candidates by the end of the year and to make offers the first week of January.

[odarite]

as to salary, here is the chart for this year. If your locality (of the ODAR office you are appointed to) is on the list, then that is the salary. Otherwise look at the last box (rest of US) and look at the AL3-A box. Congress is on track to provide a 3.5% raise to all feds, but that may not translate totally since the 3.5 will be divided between basis and locality.
www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/html/alj_loc.asp

[chris]

Very interesting. Houston starts higher than everyone except San Francisco/San Jose. I never thought of Houston as having a higher cost of living than Boston, NY, DC, Chicago and LA.

[hooligan]

learnedhand said:

I have a question to one of the aljs. My understanding is that at some point in the actual selection process, if you want to knock off certain locations, you can do so without penalty. Could someone who's been through the process explain how this works?

If you have selected "all of US" and your score is high enough, you will be included on the certificate that OPM sends to ODAR. When they notify you, they will send you a list (probably 40 to 50 locations if the first round is to hire 50). They will ask you to confirm whether you will actually go to each of those locations. If some give you gas, cross them out. The more you cross out, the more at risk your selection. A few cross outs probably will have minimal impact unless your score is already marginal.

After they go through the interview and selection process, they will have a list of all offers. If you decline at that stage it is highly unlikely that you will get another chance in the current hiring cycle. It does happen when another location also gets a decline and they scramble to back fill, but it is rare.

[hooligan]

tootsie said:

I also have a question about the ODAR interviews and selection process- if it goes as Hooligan described, won't it take an inordinate amount of time to make 150 selections? Even if they only give folks 24-hours to respond, it would take a few months. n'est ce pas?

There are multiple interview teams. Historically, they have been in Regional locations. My class was in 2001 when they hired 136 at one time. The interviews were all completed within a one week period if I remember correctly. The actual selection list will not take long at Falls Church. They do not wait for answers before moving from one selection to the next.

[hooligan]

chris said:

Let's look at the possible time frames.

Good projection, but you forgot to factor in that they have to offer transfer opportunities to sitting judges on the transfer list before they can determine where the open slots for new judges will be. They need to do that before they ask for a certificate from OPM. They MAY start it before the registry is ready, but my guess is they will want to see the registry before they decide how many they want to hire and by extension, where.

[learnedhand]

So what happens if your score is high enough but you haven't selected all locations?

[privateatty]

Thanks for the postings.

Do all new ALJ's go through training for all the agencies and if so is it standardized, what is the time period and where is the training?

[kinyago]

OMHA used to send ALJ's to 2 weeks of training in Reno, but I don't know if they still do.

[chieftain]

notafed: Why NOT West Virginia? Actually, I have family reasons to go there and it is a very nice place -- small cities -- good place to raise kids.

[bartleby]

As I have attorneys in the family in WV, I can assure you that the ALJ salary will go a long way in WV. You can live well and not have the pressure of big city environment. You will even be respected. A good choice Chief.

[odarite]

chris said:

Very interesting. Houston starts higher than everyone except San Francisco/San Jose. I never thought of Houston as having a higher cost of living than Boston, NY, DC, Chicago and LA.

Chris, you are suffering under a common misconception. The locality pay is not based on cost of living, but rather wage competition. Thus Boston, a wildly expensive city,does not have as high a locality pay as Houston because with over 60,000 newly minted grads every year there is a deep talent pool in Boston. There's a lot more to be said about this (and more accurately), but basically just don't look at is cost of living.