Questionable Government Hiring Practice

[Guest]

[Liles7356]

I am curious to know if there is anyone who has applied for a Government job (regardless if you are a current Gov. employee or not) as a preference eligible veteran but didn't get selected as the result of suspected "questionable" hiring practice.

Situation: I applied for a GS position as an external candidate claiming veteran preference eligibility. I was interviewed for the position along with another preference eligible candidate and several other non-eligibles. Prior to interviewing, my office manager inquired if I had applied for the position and stated the hiring manager asked him what my training certification were. My office manager also stated he believed the hiring manager was going to repost the position.

No selections were made and the position was in fact reposted with mandatory criteria that only one candidate posessed who was interviewed when the position was originally posted. That candidate was ultimately hired.

I suspect that the hiring manager reposted the position after tailoring it for a specific individual. Due to preference eligibility and the fact that a non-eligible can not be selected if there are qualified preference eligibles, the hiring manager reposted the position with criteria that he knew was only posessed by the candidate he wanted to select.

[dmh1566]

I've applied for a couple of positions with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Although I was notified that my application was passed along for further consideration nothing really panned out.

My experience in the field I applied for should have made me a prime candidate but I'm thinking that the fact I don't have a degree (currently working on one) is what took me out of the running.

I've also applied for some pretty simple jobs at the local VA hospital and I was really shocked that I wasn't selected. When it came to these positions I kind of wondered if you had to be "in the loop" (know somebody there) to get accepted. I just couldn't see how I could nail all the requirements, have disabled veteran status and NOT get the position.

Who knows...for now I'm going to focus on completing my BA in Intelligence Studies, with concentration in Terrorism Studies, and then I'll continue handing my resume to Uncle Sam.

Best of luck!

[Liles7356]

Keep trying... I must have applied to 15+ different positions and interviewed for over 8 before I finally was selected.

A degree will help specially if it is used in determining "most qualified" candidates.

[DoggyDaddy]

In city government and at the university here, veterans are looked down upon by the liberals, persona non grata.  You only have a chance if the interviewer or supervisor hiring is a veteran himself.

[ZAP44]

Liles and dmh as retired federal civil service your both right.  Liles I'm surprised beings you already work for the governement you didn't see this done before.  Writing a position announcement around an individual is done all the time.  Usually someone from within that they want to move up.  It’s not supposed to work that way but does.  You could file a complaint with OPM but I've never met anyone where that did any good.  And they love a degree…any degree.  With one of those you don’t even have to know anything.  j/k  My suggestion is apply for anything in the agency you want to work at that you’re even remotely qualified for even lower grades or fields that you’re really not interested in.  Anything to get in the door.  Then bide your time and smooze those in the area you want to work and apply when there is an opening.  If you’re a good worker the word gets around.   Wish you all the best of luck.

[Liles7356]

ZAP - I've seen it done before but not to preference eligibles... only to other Gov employees applying internally.

In this particular situation the hiring manager tailored the position for a civ. contractor. I did contact Dept. of Labor and the response they got was that it was simple "oversight" in the original posting... r-i-i-i-i-i-ght....

The funny thing is the original posting allowed for myself and another preference eligible to apply and be deemed 'qualified' which pushed us to the top of the list. The hiring manager needed to find a way to disqualify us from even applying the next time. To void too many questions the hiring manager let the announcement expire and didn't select anyone from the list, then it was reposted for the specific person.

I requested FOIA information to try and show that the person that was ultimately hired also interviewed the first time... but we'll see how that works....

I wonder if there needs to be a legislative change regarding this practice... it seems there is a loop-hole that allows managers to not hire preference eligibles by letting the announcement expire and then repost it for someone else....

[ZAP44]

That's possible.  I retired 15 years ago and things change all the time.  Like I was told on an issue I had, the agency and the employee play with the same deck of cards but the agency holds all the aces.  Whatever you do I wish you all the best.