I posted on February 26 expressing surprise that Social Security did not have more job openings listed on the USA Jobs website. Social Security has a few more jobs posted now, but the agency should be in the process of hiring hundreds of people -- and maybe they are.
Since my post of February 26, I have heard from some people who have told me that Social Security is not listing all available positions on USA Jobs. I will not try to describe Social Security's hiring process because I do not begin to understand it, but many, perhaps most, entry level jobs are not being posted. As a taxpayer, I find this surprising.
If you are interested in obtaining employment with the Social Security Administration, I suggest that you polish up your resume and contact the office or offices where you are interested in working to ask them about their hiring plans and the process they will use to do the hiring.
Perhaps those in the know can give some tips on obtaining employment at Social Security.
Since my post of February 26, I have heard from some people who have told me that Social Security is not listing all available positions on USA Jobs. I will not try to describe Social Security's hiring process because I do not begin to understand it, but many, perhaps most, entry level jobs are not being posted. As a taxpayer, I find this surprising.
If you are interested in obtaining employment with the Social Security Administration, I suggest that you polish up your resume and contact the office or offices where you are interested in working to ask them about their hiring plans and the process they will use to do the hiring.
Perhaps those in the know can give some tips on obtaining employment at Social Security.
10 comments:
Tip on employment with SSA. Find a different potential employer. At SSA tenure means everything. Those with a GED, who have been licking stamps for the last 20 years are deemed to have experience equivalent to a bachelors degree and are qualified to supervise folks with JD's according to SSA.
That is MY tip.
Interesting post. I've definitely noticed this, as I've been waiting for attorney advisor positions to open up. While positions are posted on craigslist, "oodle" and other job search websites, the same jobs have not been posted on usajobs.
What type of training do you receive once you are hired? I have heard that you may recieve on-site training or could go to a training school. Is this in MD or do they have regional training sites?
Tenure has nothing to do with hiring. Initial training is handled differently for different components and jobs. Many times it is done in a class close to home, or even the office you are hired in via a satellite TV broadcast.
USAJOBS is a nationwide recruitment system. Since SSA does not pay relocation expenses it is often not practical to try to hire someone from outside the commute area. In other cases, a higher cost of living in the area prevents qualified candidates from making the move. Sometimes it is impossible to interview potential candidates from remote areas. For these, and many other reasons, some offices prefer to hire from the local area using local recruitment events like college or community job fairs.
amen, 8:49 anon. Only at a third rate government agency like Social Security will attorneys be supervised by community college graduates. My supervisor has never read Matthews v. Eldridge, doesn't know what due process is, and doesn't really understand between hearing officers and Article III judges. This place is the epitome of toilet law.
H8GREEKIN5
Mathews v. Eldridge was about process (the right to a hearing). That has been settled for years and years. Rank and file attorneys in the HO write decisions. If you want to argue constitutional law, you should work for Justice. But then again, there you would be arguing on the government's behalf against the right to a hearing pre cessation.
Those jobs aren't being advertised for one simple reason:
The field managers don't really want to hire anyone, and are using this method to limit the available pool of applicants. For the most part, managers are perfectly satisfied with the current status quo.
Why? Well, they know that once they get hires that they'll actually be expected to ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION. And, when they can't do it (mainly because the majority of the social security act as written is pretty much subjective unenforceable garbage littered with special interest provisions that have everything to do with social income redistribution and nothing to do with an insurance program), they'll have nobody to hide behind or blame for their failure.
They also know all of this money will be gone in a year or two and that we'll then be right back where we started.
As a manager, I have posted positions on USAJOBS only to have a list where 6 of the 11 applicants lived at least 3 states away. Nearly all interviews were conducted by phone, and I swear one of the candidates was being coached - I'm convinced. When we made a selection, the candidate accepted, then 3 days before they were to start decided they decided not want to move. Because of the constraints of ancient hiring policies from OPM. I essentially needed to start over or pick an unqualified candidate.
I am amazed at the shallow thinking of some of the earlier posters. Why does a supervisor or manager of a decision writer office need to have a JD? One thing has nothing to do with the other. The supervisor does not need to be able to recite the law, he/she needs to be a strong leader to ensure that the component is meeting it's obligation to the public. If the individual has the energy, creativity, and leadership qualities to do that then it doesn't matter if they have a GED or PHD. This is ONE of the problems with the ODAR offices, Because a person has gone to law school for a couple of years and couldn't hack it in private practice, they expect to come into federal service and be treated and pampered like they are some big time criminal defense attorney. The egos and sense of entitlement is the reason why we have judges hearing a couple of cases a week and decisions that take far too long to be issued. Prima donnas, suck it up and get to work.
I see no one has bothered to mention the LARGE number of veterans and people with disabilities that SSA hires. These hires are made using a different hiring authority that does not require posting the position on USAJOBS. Candidates hired directly in this category are recruited locally through Veterans assistant advocates, the VA, local job fairs for retrning vets or local job fairs for the disabled. The commissioner is encouraging managers to seek and interview qualified vets and folks suffering with disabilities to add to the workforce, but once again Mr. Hall has only posted part of the story, and you suckers fall for it everytime.
I have a few comments.
1.) "Field managers don't really want to hire anyone..." and "are perfectly happy with the status quo." This is false.
2.)"Most of the Social Security Act... "is subjective unenforceable garbage...[forming a program intended to] redistribute income..." Also, false.
3.)In summation, managers don't hire anyone because no one can do the job what with the crummy law, and the crummy managers, and the crummy supervisors, and, I assume, crummy coworkers. If this summation is corrrect as stated in Anonymous #5's remarks, then the statement is false.
4.) I would strongly suggest that such views form the basis for only one course of action; i.e., the person who holds them should leave SSA and find a job more suited to his/her qualifications and expectations.
5.) Other comments here from hiring managers pretty much reflect everyone's experience of hiring. Since it's always a "now or never" thing, it is very hard to fill vacancies especially for CR's/SR's in remote areas before the magic window closes. And, it is certainly true that people do call in "I Quit" rather than show up. Yet we soldier on.
Which I offer to Anon. #5 as the best argument for leaving SSA. These jobs aren't for everyone. eom
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