Waiting. . .

[aljhunter]

I sat for the WD essentially 20 years to the day that I sat for the multistate bar examination. Now, I await results of the ALJ competitive process just as a recent law school graduate in my office awaits her bar results. . . How excruciating! Does anyone have a good suggestion for harnessing the anxiety?

[chieftain]

My advice is to drink heavily.

[crazybroad]

It is utterly painstaking! Checking my work email, checking Application Manager, Checking these boards. I feel like I have OCD. I hope there's a list soon to end my preoccupation with all of this. Thank God I only took the WD and SI the first week of October or I would be mad by now if I had taken it earlier like almost everyone else.

[3orangewhips]

are you all really this invested in the ALJ application process? I want the job but life goes on.....

[tricia]

For what it's worth, I just received something from the ALJ Application Help Desk. My question to them read in part:
"My appeal was of a technical nature. I had neglected to state on the same line that I indicated the state in which I was licensed and my license number, the date on which I was admitted to practice, although it is obvious from the rest of my application that I have been practicing in excess of twenty years. Does this technical type of appeal have to go to the Appeals Panel?"
Their response was: "Yes".
So maybe this means that they're starting to look at these appeals. Or maybe it means that the Help Desk employee just got back from an extended tour of Africa and Asia. Whatever.

[judicature]

Tricia --

What was the delay between your inquiry and their response?

[workdrone]

aljhunter said:

Does anyone have a good suggestion for harnessing the anxiety?

Regular physical exercise, a good diet, moderation in alcohol in-take, and some hobbys to keep you mentally stimulated away from work is what my executive coach recommended when I was in private practice.

Of course, some wild weekend binges in exotic locales don't hurt either. ;D

[nonamouse]

aljhunter said:

Does anyone have a good suggestion for harnessing the anxiety?

Live your life abundantly right now. Find something to balance out your focus on work (or more correctly your potential work). Clean out all of your old junk, excess clothing and other things that might need to be tossed or donated if you have to move. I have begun doing this for about 30 minutes per day after work to wind down.

Have fun surfing housing websites or checking out neighborhoods or activities for your possible cities to see what is out there. Go to the gym so that you will look and feel great whether or not you get the call sometime soon. Exercise really can reduce stress even if it is just a regular walk.

Personally, I have expanded my own prayer time and added more exercise as I have had to stop volunteering for long term projects. I find that meditative prayer really drops away the anxiety of daily life, but this is my thing. I joined a ministry that makes items for people while praying for the eventual recipient. It is hard to worry about a potential job as I pray for someone in serious need and keep my hands busy.

I also joined an aerobics classes where the teacher plays fun themed music to distract us from the fact that we are sweating. Maybe for someone else a yoga class or doing volunteer work would help to take their mind off of the madness and put it into perspective.

I'm serious about getting selected, but I've tried to keep it in perspective like a raffle ticket that might be a winner in a limited drawing. It made the email inviting me to do the WD and SI more like a pleasant surprise than the end of a long anxious waiting period.

[workdrone]

nonamouse said:

I'm serious about getting selected, but I've tried to keep it in perspective like a raffle ticket that might be a winner in a limited drawing.

Very wise words. Assuming a registry of 600, a certificate of 450, and 150 selections next year, the average odds of selection is only 25% if you're on the registry. So keeping it in perspective is key or it may really hurt alot at the end of the cycle. Good luck to everyone!

[3orangewhips]

honestly, this thread is just too much. the ALJ selection process is almost competely arbitrary whether we want to admit it or not. OPM isn't exactly trying to run a fair procedure. All we have really done is buy a ticket to a lottery.

Clean out your closets, search housing websites? this sounds completely unbalanced....and I know this may sound negative, but the focus on something that is almost completely out of your control is just too much.

[doctorwho]

3orangewhips said:

honestly, this thread is just too much. the ALJ selection process is almost competely arbitrary whether we want to admit it or not. OPM isn't exactly trying to run a fair procedure. All we have really done is buy a ticket to a lottery.

Clean out your closets, search housing websites? this sounds completely unbalanced....and I know this may sound negative, but the focus on something that is almost completely out of your control is just too much.

I'm sensing some frustration on your part as well Mr. Whips -- namely the feeling that we're all participating in a lottery -- which probably does have some merit. We all deal with frusration differently. Some of the ways identified in this thread may be helpful to those that are feeling a bit overwhelmed. Yes, some people do have a lot invested in this process. I myself go back and forth. That's O.K. too.

[3orangewhips]

I bought a powerball ticket and didnt start cleaning out my closets in anticipation of the winnings.

[privateatty]

Oddball and Moriariti Negative Waves # 1

Oddball: "Well it's a railroad bridge isn't it." "Well then beautiful we swing down on the railroad tracks and rigghht over da bridge"
Moriariti: "Alb over da bridge Sure. Suppose the bridge ain't there"
Oddball: "Don't hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning." "Think That bridge will be there and it'll be there. It's a beautiful bridge and it's gonna be there"

Kelly’s Heros (1970)

[goodoleboy]

Go on about your life as if being an ALJ was not on the horizon. You are now a part of a very dysfunctional process being conducted primarily by two very dysfunctional federal agencies. From experience, do not listen to any rumors floating around especially those from anyone connected with either agency. Do not act on any rumors or any promises by either agency until you have it in writing and then confirm. All of you who make the register must go through another round of interviews. If, for instance, these interviewers tell you to pack your bags and get ready, disregard the statement. Suffice is to say that I listened to rumors, started preparing to leave my practice, giving away clients and closing out club memberships, etc. The call came for me almost 18 months after I made the register, 6 months after the SSA interview and 5 months after I referred my last client. This agency (SSA) doesn't care about you or any of your problems, beliefs, dreams, hopes, current job commitments or family situations. So my advice, if you think you really want to work for SSA, is to proceed with your life as if you don't care about the whole process. Maybe you will be able to change your mind.

[3orangewhips]

goodoleboy said:

Go on about your life as if being an ALJ was not on the horizon. You are now a part of a very dysfunctional process being conducted primarily by two very dysfunctional federal agencies. From experience, do not listen to any rumors floating around especially those from anyone connected with either agency. Do not act on any rumors or any promises by either agency until you have it in writing and then confirm. All of you who make the register must go through another round of interviews. If, for instance, these interviewers tell you to pack your bags and get ready, disregard the statement. Suffice is to say that I listened to rumors, started preparing to leave my practice, giving away clients and closing out club memberships, etc. The call came for me almost 18 months after I made the register, 6 months after the SSA interview and 5 months after I referred my last client. This agency (SSA) doesn't care about you or any of your problems, beliefs, dreams, hopes, current job commitments or family situations. So my advice, if you think you really want to work for SSA, is to proceed with your life as if you don't care about the whole process. Maybe you will be able to change your mind.

ding ding ding, we have a winner.

I know I've come across as negative, but I really do wish the best of luck to everyone to everyone still in the game.

[workdrone]

Sometimes just talking about it helps for some people. (Venting is a form of therapy) And I think that's the whole purpose of this thread is to hopefully let people off some steam so they can go on with their normal lives.

Love the Kelly's Heroes reference. ;D

P.S. And don't do anything permenent in anticipation of getting an ALJ job please. There's always going to be time after you get the offer.

[deltajudge]

::)I really don't know what the application process is now. Don't know if they really have have an announcement for the job, but back in the early 70s is was number 318, how in the hell I remember it I don't know. You went the federal job information center in the federal building and picked it up and it told you what to do. It told you that you had to have at least 7 years of practice, that meant trial, with at least 200 hours of administrative law. Well at the time I had in almost 5 years as an Administrative Law Judge with the Mississippi Worker's Compensation Commission, so that took care of the 200 hours, and I fleshed out the 7 years with my experience as a real lawyer. Filed my application, which took about 6 months, because I had to list all the cases I had been involved in, the attorneys and their addreses and all the issues of each case. That included those as a practicing attorney. In those cases, had to include the judge. The Office of Administrative Law Judges division of the Civil Service Commission processed the applications back then. They
vouchered you, and I sure it was done on a random basis, but they contacted all the people you had participated with in the cases you listed. I went through this process twice, 1st to get on the GS-15 register for the job I worked at for 30 years, and while I was doing that got on the GS-16 register, which for ALJs is long gone. If you got by the vouchering, you were just about home free, you were going to get on the register. First you had to take an examination. This was usually conducted in your home town. You had to take a written examination, which in my case in both times was basically an appelate brief. This was monitered by a local civil service emplyoyee, and they gave you 3 hours. I had to go to Atlanta for both of my interviews. Flew from Jackson, MS and Memphis, TN at my own expense. The panel both times was composed of a Civil Service Empoyee, an ALJ, not necessarily from OHA, and a local attorney. As I said, you were on the register when you went for the interview, but how much that played on how high you were? Don't know. I made it. Just a little history for you new folks. Enjoy.

[tricia]

judicature said:

Tricia --

What was the delay between your inquiry and their response?

July 13 to October 17.
Maybe it was an extended tour of Asia, Africa, and Australia.

[chris]

privateatty said:

Oddball and Moriariti Negative Waves # 1

Oddball: "Well it's a railroad bridge isn't it." "Well then beautiful we swing down on the railroad tracks and rigghht over da bridge"
Moriariti: "Alb over da bridge Sure. Suppose the bridge ain't there"
Oddball: "Don't hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning." "Think That bridge will be there and it'll be there. It's a beautiful bridge and it's gonna be there"

Kelly’s Heros (1970)

Oddball later:
"Always with the negative waves Moriariti, always with the negative waves."

[hopeful]

I have recently heard from a reliable source that everyone who gets a score will get an SSA interview. Thus, at least 600 people are interviewing for at most 150 positions to be filled over the next 12 months.

That means at least 3 out of 4 of us will be left wondering if we will get picked up in future hiring, after the exam is reopened and more people are allowed on the list.

I don't mean to sound negative, but it sounds like a lot of us (and I probably have to include myself in this class) are holding on very tightly to expectations of getting an offer in the next 4 months (assuming offers go out before training commences in March).

Based on the arbitrary nature of the process, it is fair to say that some very qualified individuals might not get selected, and we all need to be mentally prepared to 1) get an offer soon; 2) get a grade between 90 and 93 and wonder where we really stand among 200+ people in our scoring range (assuming the percentages from a prior post hold true to the new register); and 3) waiting and never getting the offer no matter how qualified we might be.

I am trying to look at this as a good opportunity and hope that my timing is right, but life will go on whatever happens. Good luck to all, and now I have had my time to vent after waiting almost 3 months since completing the process on August 1st.