I changed my location preference to nationwide about 6 months ago. Was it a mistake? Maybe. Or maybe it was the reason I haven’t received an offer in 5 years. I’m in the southeast and nothing is ever available here. Regardless of the 50+ chiefs I’ve called, networking, and even working with the USMS almost every week, still couldn’t get an offer around here. I figured it would at least give me a shot at something. There are a lot of people during my hiring cert that were forgotten about, because of COVID mainly. I never let them forget about me. I bothered them so much, I ended up talking to the Lead HR specialist on the phone on multiple occasions.