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Post by aljhunter on Jun 18, 2008 8:30:45 GMT -5
Many of us are interested in the text of the SSA Inquiry letter that you received on June 16. Would any of you--especially Orville, with 40+ designated sites--consider posting the letter? Many thanks!
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Post by orville on Jun 18, 2008 9:46:59 GMT -5
Here is the pertinent part of the notification letter that I received and the list of cities.
* * * * *
The GAL must be faxed to XXXXXXXX no later than June 20 or you will not be considered for an ALJ position. Documents sent by mail will not be accepted. Please note that if you are declining all locations, you must still return the GAL stating your reason for declination.
If selected, you will be notified in early July and must report for four weeks of classroom training in Baltimore, Maryland beginning August 4. You will then report back to your duty station on September 2 where you will begin holding hearings and continue to work with your ALJ mentor. If you have any questions, you may contact XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
REGION LOCATION
01 Hartford, CT
01 Portland, ME
02 Albany, NY
02 Bronx, NY
02 Jericho, NY
03 Charleston, WV
03 Harrisburg, PA
03 Pittsburgh, PA
03 Richmond, VA
04 Atlanta, GA
04 Charlotte, NC
04 Fort Lauderdale, FL
04 Greenville, SC
04 Jackson, MS
04 Jacksonville, FL
04 Lexington, KY
04 Louisville, KY
04 Memphis, TN
04 Miami, FL
04 Montgomery, AL
04 Nashville, TN
04 Orlando, FL
04 Paducah, KY
04 Raleigh, NC
05 Cincinnati, OH
05 Evansville, IN
05 Fort Wayne, IN
05 Milwaukee, WI
05 Orland Park, IL
06 Albuquerque, NM
06 Alexandria, LA
06 Dallas (DT), TX
06 McAlester, OK
06 New Orleans, LA
07 Creve Coeur, MO
07 St Louis, MO
09 Downey, CA
09 Los Angeles (DT), CA
09 Orange, CA
09 San Bernardino, CA
09 San Francisco, CA
10 Eugene, CA
10 Portland, OR
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Post by aljhunter on Jun 18, 2008 9:58:31 GMT -5
"If selected, you will be notified in early July and must report for four weeks of classroom training in Baltimore, Maryland beginning August 4. You will then report back to your duty station on September 2 where you will begin holding hearings and continue to work with your ALJ mentor. If you have any questions, you may contact XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. "
Thanks very much, Orville. The letter appears to be a quick edit of the letter those of us on the April Certificate received. According to the letter, those selected in July will report directly to Baltimore for training. Thus, they cannot "report back to" their duty stations on September 2 to "continue to work with" an ALJ mentor. I wonder if the July 21 hearing office report date holds for those of us awaiting offers from the April Certificate, or if all who receive offers now will report initially to Baltimore on August 4. Oy, the confusion, anxiety and chaos!
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jazz
Full Member
Posts: 61
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Post by jazz on Jun 18, 2008 10:37:07 GMT -5
I am now thinking that they are waiting for all the geo sheets to be returned on the June cert. We don't know how many more people were added with the latest additions. They may be thinking that the latest group will get their geo sheets faxed back early. If the June additions only include 20 or so people, then it may not be too hard to get the offers out quickly once the sheets are returned. That would account for the comment "hopefully" by the end of the week. If all the sheets are returned by today, they may be able to get the offers out by Friday. This is probably wishful thinking on my part.
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Post by aljhunter on Jun 18, 2008 11:13:34 GMT -5
I am now thinking that they are waiting for all the geo sheets to be returned on the June cert. We don't know how many more people were added with the latest additions. They may be thinking that the latest group will get their geo sheets faxed back early. If the June additions only include 20 or so people, then it may not be too hard to get the offers out quickly once the sheets are returned. That would account for the comment "hopefully" by the end of the week. If all the sheets are returned by today, they may be able to get the offers out by Friday. This is probably wishful thinking on my part. But, what if someone who received the June 16 SSA Inquiry letter was not on the initial Certificate and still has to interview and undergo the Reference Check? That would certainly delay the whole process. Let's hope that PF is right: In an effort to achieve its target hiring goal, SSA simply wants to give itself flexibility to extend additional offers on this latest Inquiry after it has assessed offers/acceptances from the April Certificate. . . (Maybe we will hear something by the end of this week after all!) Lawdog98 had a good point about FY-end considerations, as well. . . |
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Post by notafed on Jun 18, 2008 12:53:09 GMT -5
My letter was exactly as Orville reported. There was one other sentence of interest:
"Since you have recenty been considered, you only need to return the GAL to indicate your interest in the locations where we are currently recruiting and you will be contacted to schedule an interview only if you were not previously interviewed."
Just running the numbers, it seems highly doubtful that they would have gone deep enough on the register to have to interview folks. Approx 450 interviewed; 144 offers = 306 candidates already interviewed but not yet hired. Even if they now want to hire 60 more judges, that's 180 candidates out of the 306 already interviewed.
The exception is those with narrow GAL whose locations were not even on the December '07 cert. And how many could that possibly be?
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Post by globalpanda on Jun 18, 2008 21:21:22 GMT -5
My letter was exactly as Orville reported. There was one other sentence of interest: "Since you have recenty been considered, you only need to return the GAL to indicate your interest in the locations where we are currently recruiting and you will be contacted to schedule an interview only if you were not previously interviewed." Just running the numbers, it seems highly doubtful that they would have gone deep enough on the register to have to interview folks. Approx 450 interviewed; 144 offers = 306 candidates already interviewed but not yet hired. Even if they now want to hire 60 more judges, that's 180 candidates out of the 306 already interviewed. The exception is those with narrow GAL whose locations were not even on the December '07 cert. And how many could that possibly be? Exactly. |
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Post by notafed on Jun 18, 2008 22:51:36 GMT -5
<<Exactly>>
Nice bear.
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Post by notherapp on Jun 19, 2008 9:53:44 GMT -5
And notafed's comment did not add in the additional interviewees from the April cert -- even if not alot of candidates, it added some (15-25?); hence, the pool is pretty deep.
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Post by mama on Jun 19, 2008 13:19:35 GMT -5
My letter was exactly the same. If orville and redux both had pittsburgh on their list and I assume both agreed to go there. That is the three for that city. They had to include all cities you asked for that are available, right? Therefore, if there are only three of these letters (June) (Which is what I am getting so far) that means that the three of us are on the same cert for the same city, Pittsburgh. The prize will likey go to someone else as my score was low. SO . . . That means I am left hoping that this does not knock me out of the running for future spots.
Good luck!
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Post by nonamouse on Jun 19, 2008 14:32:46 GMT -5
My letter was exactly the same. If orville and redux both had pittsburgh on their list and I assume both agreed to go there. That is the three for that city. They had to include all cities you asked for that are available, right? Therefore, if there are only three of these letters (June) (Which is what I am getting so far) that means that the three of us are on the same cert for the same city, Pittsburgh. The prize will likey go to someone else as my score was low. SO . . . That means I am left hoping that this does not knock me out of the running for future spots. Good luck! Don't worry about the score if you got on the cert. Unless a vet is in front of you (higher score) for the same city, the score does not have to be the deciding factor. I've been told this by multiple ALJs who have done the hiring. Also think on the bright side, perhaps they asked you June cert folks about all of these same cities so that they could offer to one of you if they got people declining from the April cert. Think happy thoughts! |
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Post by notafed on Jun 19, 2008 14:42:04 GMT -5
<<If Orville and redux both had pittsburgh on their list ...>>
(1) The 3 people on the board we know got a letter on June 16 are: Notafed (me); Mama; and Orville. I don't think "Redux" is a person.
(2) My personal theory based on absolutely no evidence/authority:
(a) ODAR decided after the April Cert that they could hire more ALJs. We don't know how many more. Do we know the number intended to be hired when the April Cert went out? 32? 50?
(b) OPM simply supplied the number of additional candidates needed for the additional ALJ slots. For example, ODAR says we're hiring 10 more ALJs in cities X, Y, Z, etc; OPM gave 30 more names.
(c) OPM does not do the match of highest 3 scores per city; OPM just does a "match" of next highest candidate who agreed to City X or Y or Z and sends it to ODAR.
(d) When ODAR sends you your GAL list, they send the list of every city you said you would go to and they intend to hire in. ODAR does not do the match of highest 3 scores per city before sending your letter and GAL.
(e) AFTER ODAR gets everybody's GAL list (& interview score, if needed), THEN ODAR does the highest 3 scores per city match and makes the selections.
Whattya think of my theory? Go ahead and attack it; I'm game.
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Post by notherapp on Jun 19, 2008 15:06:52 GMT -5
I think you are right. It is only when an applicant "single shots" a city with OPM that there is some certitude. If you list 10 cities and SSA asks about ten, while all ten may have slots, you may be the thirtieth person in nine of the ten locations. At least that is what I think.
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Post by notafed on Jun 19, 2008 15:37:58 GMT -5
OK, so I am on a roll. More thoughts:
(1) On the "Got a Letter thread," Statealj reported:
"The June list is an expansion of the April list."
In other words, the June 16 ltrs do not constitute a New Cert.
(2) As an expansion of the cert, I believe all offers must be made at the same time.
After all, they can't hire 40 from an April Cert of 120 names, send "not hired" letters to 80 and then turn around from the same Cert and hire 10 out of the June ltr group of 30. They would have to let the 80 go back to the register and ask for a new cert in order to include the 80 "not hireds" in the new 10 slots.
Therefore, I don't believe the rest of the info reported to StateALJ:
"Our ODAR contact said she believed the candidates from the April list will be notified of their selection without having to wait for additional selections being made from the June list."
Do not mean to imply that the ODAR contact was untruthful; just that she did not know/understand how it is really going to work.
(3) Statealj was also told:
"The candidates selected from the April list will begin work in their individual offices in July as previously scheduled...without having to wait for additional selections being made from the June list."
There is one way this could be true: ODAR has already made the selections they want for ALL slots, including the additional ones, from the folks listed on the April Cert, but they had to ask for more names for an expansion Cert in order to have the necessary 3-per-slot on the List. That would mean that those of us that got June 16 letters are merely window-dressing and have absolutely no chance of being hired.
I really am afraid that is all the June 16 letter means. But, convince me I'm wrong.
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Post by happy on Jun 19, 2008 18:47:52 GMT -5
I agree with Notafed and Boley on pretty much all points.
Given that the Powers That Be spent the week in Phoenix and we would probably be waiting until next week anyway, I feel certain that OCALJ will think, "It's just one more week. Let's go ahead and do them all at the same time."
'Course, I could be wrong. It's been known to happen every now and then.
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Post by chieftain on Jun 19, 2008 20:08:28 GMT -5
I wouldn't rule out next week. With the added task of filling possible declines, more time could be involved than last cert for filling up the class. Do declines need to be filled first with folks from the April cert first?
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Post by Propmaster on Jun 22, 2008 20:37:34 GMT -5
I agree with Notafed and Boley on pretty much all points. Given that the Powers That Be spent the week in Phoenix and we would probably be waiting until next week anyway, I feel certain that OCALJ will think, "It's just one more week. Let's go ahead and do them all at the same time." 'Course, I could be wrong. It's been known to happen every now and then. I also agree with Boley and Notafed. Yet, on the teeny tiny chance that I might get it, I have to spend extra hours and hours of work making sure I can transfer my whole case load in like three weeks if it happens. Oh well, at least I'll be better organized. |
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