OPM has said it will soon accept applicants for ALJ positions, but those interested in the coveted jobs likely will have to act quickly: the last time the opportunity arose, more than a year ago, OPM received the targeted number of applications within two days and stopped accepting more.
The opportunity will be posted on the USAJOBs.gov site, and OPM advises interested persons to monitor that site and be prepared, saying it expects to receive an "overwhelming volume" of applications. Completed applications will be accepted in the order they are received up to midnight Eastern time the day in which the limit has been reached. There are currently about 1,400 ALJs, and agencies including SSA have been beefing up their ranks in order to process backlogged work.
The ALJ hiring process is one of the few areas of government where hiring is still done on the old register-based system, in which the central personnel agency maintains a list of qualified applicants to refer to agencies that have vacancies. That practice was largely replaced starting in the 1990s by agency-based hiring.
Here’s OPM’s description of the hiring process: The ALJ examination involves a multi-part assessment of qualifications, including proof of specific legal experience and submission of a written accomplishment record. Individuals with higher scores on their accomplishment record will then take a written exam and participate in a structured interview. Applicants who complete the examination in its entirety will be given a final numerical rating (including points for veterans’ preference, as applicable). Their names will be entered into a register that will be used by agencies as hiring needs arise."
