Second Time Around Club

[barkley]

Seems like I have seen scattered postings from some of us who have applied for alj with this latest opening and thought it would be nice to have a place to share anxiety and rumors and such.

Or am I the only one foolish enough to apply again and anxiously checking e-mail everyday for word of the next step, even though logically I don't think we will hear before October and even if we do hear, I have no idea if I adequately fixed what was lacking in my answers last time?

Anyway, best of luck to all.

[reapplicant]

I'm in exactly the same boat, with exactly the same issue. My only hope is pinned on the remote possibility that writing my answers differently on this application will achieve a different result. For peace of mind, I am not counting on achieving a different result. And no, I don't expect to hear anything whatsover for at least another few weeks.

[ldtajesq]

barkley, this was my first time applying, but I share your anxiety. I am also foolish enough to check my email everyday (sometimes twice a day) for word of the next step, knowing full well that we may not hear anything for several weeks. Still, I hope and pray for the best, as I do for you and everyone else in our same predicament. Hang in there.

[lawandorder]

According to past experience, I estimate that some light regarding everyone's status should be shed beginning the second week of September. Yet I am pretty sure that everybody checks their e-mail everyday with the expectation to find news. This is really pretty much like going back in time to the Bar exam. I anticipate that many of us will experience the same butterflies as we did many years ago. But there is a big difference; we are much more experienced and, although the unknown always creates anxiety, I trust that experience will serve everyone of us well. In approaching this process, I look at it as if I had a big case ahead of me.

[californiagirl]

barkley and idtajesq, I am with both of you--like you, idtajesq, a first-timer, and like both of you, check a couple of times a day, even though I think it will still be a few more weeks. Even though I have no expectations, since I have no idea how the evaluators will respond to my answers, I am just glad I got my application in. I am also very grateful to have others in the same boat to "talk" to about this stressful process. Thank you!

[tricia]

Barkley, as you may recall, in May of 07 I failed to give the date I was first licensed, so my application was rejected. Then I lost my appeal. Then in July of 08, I was out of town taking another bar exam (some people know how to enjoy life) and failed to get an application in during the crucial three days. So I'm in the Wish I'd Made It To The Second Time Around Club.

[lawandorder]

Tricia,
Too bad your application was not in this time. If you made the cut, your recent Bar exam training would have given you an edge for the WD.

[northwest]

Maybe we can think of the delay in getting word about our applications as *not* on-the-job training in what I believe should be a quality of an ALJ: empathy with parties who have to wait months for a hearing result.

PS: My sympathies to you Tricia & any others who missed the short deadline.

[mississippi]

I agree with you guys and women, I am so pleased to have a place to ask questions, many many have been answered, I am first timer, and like another poster I am just happy I found the notice and got everything in, good luck to all you guys, this is such a good site.

[flannery]

For those of us second-timers, we had over a year since we got our NORR saying ours was not among the highest or there was some technical defect. A year to think about what went wrong and a few weeks notice as to the fact that the actual posting would occur "in the near future." That's a lot of reflection time and a lot of practice time. My attitude this time around is if I don't make that first cut this second time around, it was just not meant to be. Like some of you above, I'm spectulatin' that we will get this Dear John letter as to cut or no cut the second week of September. For what it's worth.
Flannery

[barkley]

Tricia - I felt particularly bad in your situation. I know you were checking up on the process. It really bothers me that some folks may have missed out because they relied on the OPM notification, which never came.

Flannery - I am with you. I recognized several areas for improvement in my last application, but this time, I think I said all I could say in the accomplishment record responses. I hope it is good enough.

[Deleted]

I was playing blackjack the other day when the dealer took all my money in a long series of improbable wins. I was so irritated, and stubborn, that went the the ATM and came back for more. I thought, "This is just like the ALJ application process. Invest time, money, energy, put your money on the table, and hope like hell. Get beaten down and come back for more, because SURELY logic will come into the process at some point."

So, yeah, I'm in for round two as well. Mostly because I'm stubborn..and apparently, I like the soul-crushing dissapointment....;-)

So sorry Tricia. That really stinks. Here's a lady who meets the qualifications and is ready and able to commit to the position, but won't be given the chance to compete because....why? Because the process is arbitrary and capricious.

Good Luck to all of us....the cards have to turn around sometime!

[pm]

So you lost at blackjack. Wow, that is so improbable. No one could have seen that coming.

As for the ALj process being arbitrary and capricious, that topic has been beat to death on this board and TOB and no one has made the case yet. The system actually appears to be fairly well thought out and fairly rational. The issue is not whether the process is perfect but whether there is a better process. There has been some thoughtful tinkering on one or two minor points but no one has come up with a better process.

[barkley]

While I really, really hope this thread is not hijacked into one of THOSE discussions, I would like to say this.

As a general rule, attorneys tend to be a rather, shall we say, ego enhanced lot. You have to pretty good self esteem to think you can earn your living expressing opinions, giving advice, and representing people.

So I am sure every one of the 1,200+ who applied last year thought they were qualified and should have a shot at getting the job. I would guess that the ones who were selected last year felt the process worked well; some likely felt the cream rose to the top while others may have felt lucky indeed. I would guess that many of the 200ish who flew out for interviews and were not selected felt something in the process had failed. And I know as one of the 600+ who did not even get to sit for the tests, I still don't know what happened.

So when Robg posts that he saw parrellels in his applying for alj and his losing at blackjack, I get it. From my seat in the house, there appears to be a certain randomness in the process. I know I re-applied. I am the same lawyer I was last year, with the same references, same background, same skill set. I am hopeful that my application this year better expresses who I am and that being selected for ALJ will be "in the cards" for me.

[lawandorder]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I recall reading in the application instructions that if you applied last year, you could not re-apply this second time around. I need to find where I saved my printed the instructions, and will get back later. If anyone can clear this up for us, please let us know.

[chinook]

If you are on the register you could not apply this time. You can reapply after one year on the register and this application process opened up prior to the register being one year old. It has nothing to do with whether you applied last time but whether you made the register.

[zero]

Barkley-
It's awesome to see you back! Misery loves company and I love to see you all posting on this thread. I'm not sure if this has been said yet, but I went back over my application from last time and decided that I really didn't put my best foot forward last time. I made the classic interview mistake of giving answers that focused on things I wanted to brag about instead of responding directly to the question. So maybe this time?

I love the metaphor to the blackjack table! But would any of us be where we are in life if we just blindly accepted our fate. You have to fight for your own career.

Tricia-
I so feel for you. I came within a week of being in precisely the same situation. I was out-of-town just before the announcement and I was scared to death that what happened to you would happen to me.

[flannery]

Oh Zero, like you, I look back on my submission last year and it was so weak. I just didn't get the picture that the objective was not to state what you did in your career, but to, at every turn, relate it to the keywords in the vacancy announcement. That's why I'm stickin' with my sotry that if I don't make it this time around, after the luxury of studying the situation, that I really don't deserve it at all. And Barkley, I'm with you, as well, let's not be overly serious--isn't a lot of everything we end up with career-wise, the fruit of lady luck (remember the old Maverick series with James Garner--"Luck is the Lady that He Loved the best")? Girls and Guys, keep your spirits up. I will be proud of you who succeed this time even if I fail (again).
Flannery

[justbob]

I applied again, but with a different attitude. Last time I was sure I had a good chance. After being given a zero rating, and seeing many other instances of the arbitrariness of the system, I now see my application as little more than a lottery ticket.

Completely rewrote my app. Any intelligent reviewer would have jumped on the chance to interview me based on my previous app, but I erred in assuming they would be reviewed by intelligent beings. So instead I pandered shamelessly, tossing about buzzwords the apes could latch onto.

OPM is a majorly messed up organization.

[oldjag]

I used to think the same thing--but we were both wrong. When I went to interview for them, it became obvious that this is an exceedingly labor intensive operation. OPM does not have the need to keep a large staff of attorney personnel experts on hand for the occasional alj application opening. They use personnel specialists that are very professional and dedicated people.

The OPM staff with whom I worked were very open minded and willing to cosider the viewpoint of the judge and attorney on the panel. They are not stupid, just overwhelmed by a real spike in their workload.

I hope you do well on this app, but the lack of intelligence in the prior was probable somewhere else than OPM. Take a step back and look objectivelly, did you REALLY explain yor experience or just assume "anyone" would think you walked on water?