Social Security has just announced that it is taking applications for the Administrative Law Judge position (ALJ) with the agency.
Act fast. They're only going to consider the first 1,000 applications.
Act fast. They're only going to consider the first 1,000 applications.
An there off!
ReplyDeleteCrazy how they make such as tight window to fill these ALJ positions. It's like let's just take whoever is salivating for a position and not the most qualified.
ReplyDeletewell...that was quick. Job posting closed tonight....
ReplyDeleteIt closed in less then 24 hours - that went fast.
ReplyDeleteIf SSA really wanted the best candidates possible, they would advertise this announcement far and wide and keep it open for a month or two. Limiting the applicant pool to those few that had inside information about the timing of the announcement and the process to be followed, guarantees that the best possible candidates will not be hired.
ReplyDelete@ 5:27. exactly, for an agency that purportedly tries to hire only the best, the actual hiring practices leave a lot to be desired. Sounds like they got the 1,000 DWs that were anxiously awaiting the posting while working from home.
ReplyDeleteThe application stayed open for about 12 hours. Emails were sent stating closure a little after 11:00 last night.
ReplyDeleteALJs also had advance notice of the posting and notified qualified trial lawyer colleagues on the outside. Several of whom were already deep into the application process when Saul terminated the old register.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, SSA as a whole doesn't employ nearly 1,000 attorneys (if you don't count its ALJs, who obviously aren't competing for new SSA ALJ hires).
ReplyDeleteSecond off, good natured insiders posted on the singular and well-visited ALJ Discussion Boards information regarding this posting before it came to let everyone know it was coming. If you care about the job at all--you're on the boards.
Third, yesterday's posting looked achingly similar to the ill-faited non-OPM ALJ hire SSA got really close to pulling off a few years back before they nixed it. While only folks who were on OPM's last ALJ register (who consented to have their info shared) were invited to apply for that posting, yet again it was a good-natured SSA insider who shared the contents of that posting on the aforementioned ALJ Discussion Board.
All that to say--if you are halfway interested in the job and half any amount of job-getting skill and desire, you were on the boards, heard about this posting coming weeks ago, could see and familiarize yourself with the most recent SSA ALJ posting, and get an app around 90% ready to go before the posting even posted.
Sounds to me that you have a lot of looky lous who haven't endeavored to learn (via easily/publicly available and WIDELY DISCUSSED sources) the first thing about the process being mad at the consequences of not knowing the first thing about the process.
at 12:04. LOL. OHO employs 1800+ attorneys as decision writers plus a few hundred sups, SAA, QR, and detailees. If you include attorneys from OAO I think that's another thousand.
ReplyDelete@ 2:55
ReplyDeleteI left out the important caveat that I was referring to attorneys who have the requisite 7 years' experience since many OHO and OARO attorneys (and OGC for that matter) are younger and don't have it.
But I also strongly urge you, if you're an insider, to navigate to the intranet PDnet page and do some tallying of the number of people occupying the various attorney DW, QR, OARO, and other position descriptions because your numbers aren't close (even without my subtracting caveat). And as you can tell by my specific reference to that internal only resource, I'm very familiar with that data :)
Federal job postings that close in a matter of hours with hundreds of applicants are not uncommon, even for less lofty positions. A Claims Rep posting in Podunk Arkansas, ok, maybe not, but those are restricted to veterans and Schedule A's so it isn't really comparable. A thousand applications is an already overwhelming number to sort through, there will be plenty of qualified applicants for the very few actual selections that will be made here.
ReplyDeleteVeterans and Schedule A’s…exactly!!! But people wonder why the agency is struggling with hires.
ReplyDelete“Don’t you hire the best and brightest or most qualified?”
The answer is no, absolutely not.
As a Vet I always feel insulted that you do not think I deserve my position and can perform it at a level equal to my coworkers. Bet you are one of those "Thank you for your service" people too.
ReplyDeleteSad
is there any reliable information about how many ALJ openings will be filled and when? There have been no hirings since July 2018 I believe. I was previously advised that even before COVID the Agency lost approximately 100 ALJ's a year to retirement and attrition. I am sure that number has gone up considerably in the last 4 years. Given the backlog building at the initial and recon levels (over 1,000,000 claims) it will not be long before the 2 year + backlog of cases waiting for hearing returns.
ReplyDelete