USAjobs shenanigans

[Tacit Blue]

I applied twice for the position of Computer Technician annoucement. The first being cancelled, then re-openend ( within days of each other) I was given a email to reapply. So I did then I was finally marked as " incomplete" status. I'm sure "Bob" was given priority for this position it was a job on base with a computer library.

Has anyone ever obtained actual employment from this site? I re-rechecked all my supporting doucments and I re-read the announcement and can't understand why I was given a " incomplete status". Ha.

[Barbell909]

Applied over 100 jobs and no luck from that website. I have applied few jobs from local city and county official website and got myself a job afterwards.

[DougJ]

Preselection is not legal.

It's also the norm. Easy to tweak the job announcement to fit the guy you want, and when a better candidate gets through the initial selection you close the announcement before the end date, discard the packets you have then re-announce.

[ir0nclash86]

Yup I applied through there and work at the VA now. Everything has to be perfect or else they'll disqualify you or mark as in incomplete I believe. I know when I applied it gave explicit instructions and if it wasn't followed to the T they wouldn't even bother. It functions like any other job too I believe. They could have someone In mind already but they gotta post the job as a formality to say it's open even though it's essentially already guaranteed to someone else.

[kevman0154]

There is a real trick to getting jobs from there. Most of the time the postings have dates, if they are short, that mostly means they already have someone in mind internally. Aside from that, the main thing is to get your resume seen by a human. So what you need to do is answer all the questions as you are an expert in every field. this will get you past the electronic screening process and send your resume to a human. After that you need to play to your strengths.

I currently am enlisted in the Army, but i have sat on a number of Hiring boards and interviews for job positions in my shop. USAjobs is a pain but it can be very lucrative if you get in.

[tnlrat37]

[Bobby Ricigliano]

I have attended seminars, studied and prepped for a promotional interview, nailed it, and discovered later that the candidate was pre-selected and the whole “selection process” was just theater for civil service compliance rules. An infuriating waste of my time and I am glad they have changed the process in my organization to stop that shammery.

[code_blue]

This is correct. I can attest that agencies are mandated to post a job publicly before filling the positions. Many times a candidate has already been decided.

You have to get your foot in the door via other means first. Agencies will almost always hire from internal pools before external.

[GlockN'Roll]

I have attended seminars, studied and prepped for a promotional interview, nailed it,


An infuriating waste of my time and I am glad they have changed the process in my organization to stop that shammery.

This is the norm in the CA state hiring process.

Sat on many hiring committees that had already selected a candidate before any of the interviews had even been held.

Recommendations of the committees were often completely ignored at the next level.

Where an option, they would often conduct phone interviews to make the sham less inconvenient for everyone involved...

[kevman0154]

This is correct. I can attest that agencies are mandated to post a job publicly before filling the positions. Many times a candidate has already been decided.

You have to get your foot in the door via other means first. Agencies will almost always hire from internal pools before external.

That's why you have to look at how long the job posting is open for. If it is a short window that means, most likly the job is going to be given to an internal hire. You really need to just blank apply to hundreds of jobs on USAjobs. Also it might help to have 3-4 different resumes on there that very in verbiage. I can tell you now, theres alot of jobs open for OCONUS as well as DC. given the state of Affairs, everyone will get hired if they apply to a job in Korea atm. There is a mass exodus of Civilian jobs lol

[dummykid]

most technician jobs are hired internally. When I was working in the China Lake,new announcements were posted on USAJobs, but we gave high priorities to family members/friends, coworkers already in pay-grade system, then veterans etcs.

[sbo80]

when I was job hunting I saw some hilarious postings. Job requirements that were written with ridiculous, very specific qualifications and requisites that could only possibly describe a single person. Like they plagiarized a resume they already got. It couldn't have been more obvious if they had included his address. "must live at 123 main street"...

[Ubermcoupe]

I've been referred several times as "of the most qualified," but never selected.

[code_blue]

when I was job hunting I saw some hilarious postings. Job requirements that were written with ridiculous, very specific qualifications and requisites that could only possibly describe a single person. Like they plagiarized a resume they already got. It couldn't have been more obvious if they had included his address. "must live at 123 main street"...

This is also exactly how government contracts are written at the GSA level. PWS's mimic existing SOP's guarantying (basically) that only the previous contract winner will obtain it. Unless the other bidders got a hold of the SOP and mimicked or improved upon it while costing the government considerably less, they have no chance.

[DevilDawgJJ]

VRA is the way to go. Ask me how I know?

Sometimes I just submit to see if I get referred. Had to turn down a couple over the years. Overseas would be nice, but I'm not talking a GS13 supervisorial position.