Selection process should pick up speed.

[ruonthelist]

notafed said:

(1) So if the next interview for those that make the Certificate of 450 is in Falls Church, is there ever an interview at the ODAR where the candidate is being considered or is the candidate just hired, assigned, and shows up.

Alternatively stated, do you get to meet the folks you will work with before taking the job or do you have to agree to accept a pig in a poke?

Not only are you getting a pig in a poke, but your new office is getting one, i.e. you. And unlike you, they don't get a choice, or even any notice. A day or two after I was hired I called the HOCALJ of my new office to introduce myself, and my call was the first knowledge that he had that his office was getting a new judge, much less who it was.

So don't take the arbitrary way ODAR jerks you around personally. They don't just do it to you, but to their own management personnel.

[learnedhand]

goodoleboy, what do you mean there is no way to prepare for the interview? What about reviewing your resume and refreshing your mind with your previous experiences? If you are on ODAR atty, what about reviewing your own past performance numbers or the types of complex cases you have handled? Seems like there ought to be some way generally to prepare for this.

[goodoleboy]

You know, I really don't think all of that is really what is important in your final interview. And, even if it is, if you don't know that information enough to get past interview questions right now, don't bother. The judges are really looking for people who can "think on their feet" and do it really, really fast without getting frustrated or angry. Think high production. Answer questions posed so that you give the impression that you have been and will be a high volume producer. Some of the questions are "canned" for everyone but use your skills to focus your answers on your attributes but always with the idea of quantity being the overriding factor. You don't want to waste time but you also don't want to let an opportunity go by to tell them how fast you get your work done and in enormous quantities. If you can't think on your feet you will not do well in this interview.

[aljsouth]

When I went through it, I was given a print out of all sites I had selected that also had openings to be filled. I know this because some of my sites I would have gone to were not on the list and I asked.

I was told I could line out and initial any site I did not want. I could not add sites. I was not given a list of all sites to which judges were being selected. I kept all my sites and even printed in that I would go to any. Overkill

Of course, I cannot really say what will be done now since procedure could change.

[aljsouth]

chieftain said:

Does the agency really pay for 450 or so folks to come to DC for an interview with a couple of canned questions regarding geographical preference? Surely there must be more to it than that?

They asked about more than the sites. I remember being asked about signing in and out. Really it was easy. So easy that I don't remember much about it. Did not even ask why I wanted to be an ALJ. I found out later from my HOCALJ that ALL questions were canned. He had served on a couple of panels. Nothing subtle in the questions at all. If I recall, I was asked if I had problems working with persons of other races or with gays and lesbians.

[goodoleboy]

I can tell that aljsouth and I had different interviewers and probably different generations. Canned questions were not used for my entire interview. There were subtle questions and I was asked why I wanted to be an ALJ (pretty standard for my class). That is the problem that I outlined in another post. If you listen to everyone's advice, by the time you get to the interview you will be so screwed up you may get tongue-tied. If you keep the overall goals of this agency in mind and answer the questions in light of those goals, you will do fine. As an example, you want to issue as many decisions as you can with as few mistakes as possible but you would rather issue many with mistakes than few with none (and be able to explain the reason for your answer). I did not think the interview was difficult but it was not a walk in the park either.

[kingfisher]

goodoleboy said:

I can tell that aljsouth and I had different interviewers and probably different generations. Canned questions were not used for my entire interview. . . . I did not think the interview was difficult but it was not a walk in the park either.

My interview included at least one question about whether I was receptive to and/or experienced with technology. I specifically recall being asked about my experience with video hearings. Fortunately, I had a fair amount of experience in that arena and could address the pros and cons based on that experience. So, I would expect that may be mentioned. You also may be questioned about your ability to work on electronic (e-files) aka: paperless files, in which all exhibits, letters, forms etc have been scanned into the file and are viewed [and highlighted by the ALJ] on a computer screen.

[chris]

notafed said:

(1) So if the next interview for those that make the Certificate of 450 is in Falls Church, is there ever an interview at the ODAR where the candidate is being considered or is the candidate just hired, assigned, and shows up.

Alternatively stated, do you get to meet the folks you will work with before taking the job or do you have to agree to accept a pig in a poke?

(2) Just to clarify, at the Falls Church interview, there will be an opportunity to add/subtract locations from your preference list?

Thanks!

OPM keeps the list, not ODAR. You cannot change locations until OPM reopens the test. It's certainly possible that the folks at Falls Church may decide to let you eliminate a couple of options because they are such wonderful kind hearted people, but if that makes their job more difficult don't count on it. They have to filll those Louisiana positions somehow.