NOR: Geographic Availability List

[Deleted]

Greetings All,

My NOR lists a number of cities under Geographic Availability. However, those cities are listed in a very strange order. It's not alphabetical, by city or state, or by region.

Why would OPM list locations like this? Do the cities at the top of the list have some special significance? Has OPM somehow ranked my preferences? Will this have an impact at SSA? Am I just being paranoid at this point? Probably.

Did anyone else notice this? Anyone with an explanation?

Thanks and Good Luck!

[rock]

I noticed this. It is not in alphabetical or by city or state. I would also like an explanation.

[vand**e]

Based on the way the locations are in alphabetical "clumps" (highly technical term ) I'm guessing they might have been in alphabetical columns which were then split into a single list which resulted in their strange arrangement. Just a guess on my part.

[carjack]

The lists I've recieved before were clumped by regions and then alpha within the regions. It was that way for SSA, so I assume OPM would have a similar set up, although I don't know what regions they would have.

[Deleted]

A helpful wandering panda suggested I include the list that appeared on my NOR. I'm pretty good at puzzles, but I don't see a pattern. It's pretty darn random. It probably doesn't make any difference at all, and I'm not worried. Still, one wonders..why..?

Geographic Availability:
Atlanta North, GA
Jackson, MS
Kingsport, TN
Arlington, TX
Houston, TX
Metairie, LA
Nashville, TN
Dallas Downtown, TX
Fort Worth, TX
Macon, GA
Chattanooga, TN
Dallas North, TX
San Antonio, TX

Little Rock, AR
Tupelo, MS
Memphis, TN
Houston Bellaire, TX
Birmingham, AL
Montgomery, AL
Fort Smith, AR
Florence, AL
Alexandria, LA
Shreveport, LA
Mobile, AL
Atlanta, GA
Knoxville, TN
Savannah, GA
Covington, LA
New Orleans, LA
Hattiesburg, MS
Houston Downtown, TX

[jennifer]

Robg, does the fact that all the locations are in the deep south reflect your choice or the overall availability of positions?

[bina]

I thought maybe it was by the order in which they planned to fill the slots, but a comparison with a fellow applicant yielded a totally different arrangement of cities, so that's not the explanation.
Also, my list had lots of places I ruled out earlier---

[northeasterner]

The NOR I received listed all of the geo locations that I listed in my application. Does this mean that there is at least one slot in each location, or did they just reiterate the locations I had listed?

[pm]

Your score is from OPM. OPM does not hire any ALJs. The manner in which OPM lists your cities is not particularly relevant to anything unless you feel it is not accurate

[junebug]

I'd be interested to know the number of cities folks identified on their geographic availability list. I identified 91.

[pm]

Mar 2, 2009 13:42:43 GMT -5 northeasterner said:

The NOR I received listed all of the geo locations that I listed in my application. Does this mean that there is at least one slot in each location, or did they just reiterate the locations I was willing to accept?[/quote

They reiterated the locations where you expressed willingness to work.

OPM has no idea where other federal agencies may have openings for ALJs until a cert has been requested.

[pm]

Mar 2, 2009 13:43:37 GMT -5 junebug said:

I'd be interesting to know the number of cities folks identified on their geographic availability list. I identified 91.

Last year, generally speaking, we discovered that the higher the score, the fewer the number of cities candidates tended to list, and the lower the score, the greater the number of cities that were listed. The rationale behind this is that the highest scores went to older applicants who were very experienced and thus often much pickier about where they wanted to work, while younger applicants were much more willing to go anywhere.

The practical result is that if you have an average score, you are not actually competing with some of the highest scorers for many cities because many of them chose only a few cities. For example, if you listed 50 cities, you are probably only competing with the very highest scores for a half dozen or so of them.

[traceb]

I believe it has something to do with the Fibonacci sequence.

0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55, . . .

[buttercup]

northeasterner - The geographic locations listed on the NOR have nothing to do with which offices have available spots. I know for a fact that the office I truly want has no vacancies whatsoever, yet the location was listed on my NOR.

[Deleted]

Re: Jennifer's Question:

"Robg, does the fact that all the locations are in the deep south reflect your choice or the overall availability of positions?"

These were my choices. My beloved spouse, no matter how wonderful she is, would not appreciate a suggestion that we move to the land of ice and snow, or to the wilds of the West. We pretty much have to stay where there's grits and occasionally crawfish.

Like I said, the order that OPM chose to list the cites I selected, (I certainly selected them in alphabetical order), probably doesn't portend anything. But it is curious.

Just a few more weeks everyone...hold on!

R

[lawcat]

If I get on the cert, I'd like to limit my geographic preferences. Any opinions on how high my score should be before cutting my acceptable cities down to about 20 or so? Thanks.

[justfoundthisboard]

You should only put down those cities to which you would absolutely, willingly, move. Once there, there is no guarantee you will be able to leave. On the other hand, if you really want to be an SSA ALJ don't limit your geographic preferences at all.

This is just my opinion, of course. My score was high. I was an SSA outsider. I had a lot of cities on my list (I think it was 44), and I then cut it down considerably (maybe a dozen or so). I really sweated it out and ultimately received an offer, but I am not convinced I would be an ALJ today had I cut it down much further.

Best of luck!

[carjack]

You're going to have to wait until you see the list of openings. They won't tell you if any location has more than one opening although I think that does happen. But if, for example, you won't live in California and all of the openings are in California, then you're going to have to decide whether you're desire for the job is greater than you're location preference. Obviously if there are a number of openings that also line up with where you'd like to go, then you're going to be better off. Others know far more than I about this, but the way they fill the sites is not in any logical order - they may fill Xburg first or last same with any other site. I also don't know whether they try for the more popular places first or last or if they're all mixed up.

[carjack]

I think people attach too much importance to where a job is. I grew up in a military family and we lived in some places I'd never choose willingly, but I always enjoyed making new friends and going to new schools, which I know is a negative for a lot of people. Going to work someplace where you have a position lined up for an organization that you'll stay with is a lot different that choosing someplace cold and then moving there and trying to make it. Five years is really not that long a time in the grand scheme of your career. It might be helpful to get some perspective from some attys who've moved for their job either with the military or the govt or even a private corp and from some ALJs who've moved for the job.

[lawcat]

Newalj- please check your personal messages. Carjack- thanks for the response. I too am an military brat , and outsider and am not nervous about moving . But I always swore that if I had kids, I wouldn't move them every two years like I had to (especially in middle school- that is hell). But, I will move to lots of places if it looks like the public schools are decent, and I could afford a house. It's really a tough call, but I want to keep enough geo. choices to make sure I'm competitive. I think in the long run, it would be worth it, but there are certain places I wouldn't go, no matter what the job.