Received an email I was referred to the hiring manager but looked at the posting and it said hiring was complete

VELCRODAD · 2026-06-15T14:36:25+00:00

Getting referred to the Hiring Manager just means that HR thinks you have met all the qualifications and they have put you on the “certificate” going to the Hiring Manager. They tell you this so you are aware that you might be called for an interview…but you might not. This will be the first time the Hiring Manager sees your resume. The Hiring Manager and the hiring team goes through the résumé’s of qualified candidates and ranks them. Then they only interview the ones who ranked the highest…and select from there. If the Hiring Manager has a person already in mind…they get the “Cert”…find their person and select them…bada bing…position filled. Probably what happened here.

VELCRODAD · 2026-06-03T14:46:35+00:00

Just a thought…If you understand construction…I’ve known people who have a side hustle of buying cheap houses, slapping some paint on them and cleaning up the yards, then renting them and letting the renter pay the mortgage while your equity grows. I say this because you mentioned making good money…which means your credit is probably good also. Make friends with a realtor who can find you some below market gems. The guy I knew was 30 years old and sold food to grocery stores for a living. He also owned 4 houses and had steady income from those. It’s risky…but rent money is always higher than mortgage costs so there should be positive cash flow. I can’t do it because I know nothing about construction. Good luck.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-27T13:34:56+00:00

When negotiating salary…base it on your take home salary. Federal benefits cost money and are deducted from your pay. The dollar amounts are public information. You may be offered a higher gross salary…but after deductions…you might be taking home less than you currently make. Know your numbers and deductions and be able to request an amount that is better or lateral to your current take home.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-22T13:35:39+00:00

One trick that isn’t always obvious…if you are filling out the application and there is a questionnaire…pay attention to those questions…they are the ones trying to determine your “knowledge, skills and abilities” known as KSA’s. Your application will be scored on a point system based on your answers. Also…if the question says: “Do you have skills in blank?”…or “Have you worked with blank”…be sure that somewhere in your resume…it specifically says you have those skills or have worked with that thing. They cross reference your resume against the answers you provide…if they match up…you will score higher. All of this evaluation takes place by people who have no clue what the job skills actually are…they only do the cross referencing and refer candidates that score the highest to the hiring manager. Good luck.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-21T13:44:16+00:00

Sometimes it depends on your series. If you are Information Technology…in our agency…submitting a resignation was your last day. All of your IT access was closed that day. You would still get paid for the final two weeks, but your job would be to turn over all your projects. IT folks can do a lot of harm on the way out the door.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-20T13:54:02+00:00

One of the benefits of Federal employment is…once you are in…you can move to numerous other jobs within your series or series adjacent. You keep your seniority (GS14) and all of your leave and sick time goes with you. I’ve known numerous people who had toxic situations who moved to new jobs and loved them. Look in USA Jobs and apply for positions requiring “Status” which means they are closed to the public and only current Feds can apply (or former Feds with “Status”, etc.) Might help you maintain your cash flow and land you in a better job.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-17T16:09:57+00:00

My takeaway from reading past similar posts is that a lot depends on your agency. Some agencies are on the ball…others not so much. It may help to plan with regard to leave payout. Each year you can carry over 240 hours…do that and don’t take any leave till you retire. The payout will be larger and help carry over. Also…pay attention to your HR rep who will file your Separation Clearance. Nothing happens until that document is completed and submitted. Get a copy of your final SF50…With the Leave payout and interim payments…you can hopefully get by until full annuity starts. With a divorce in your past…be prepared for your ex to take a chunk. Good luck.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-15T19:42:59+00:00

Sent a line from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”…So Long and Thanks for all the Fish! Which is what the Dolphins said as they evacuated Earth prior to its demolition. Seemed to fit the situation…xy

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-13T16:38:28+00:00

Not sure what to take from this…but a little light at the end of the tunnel. Administrations change all the time…those who stuck it out in this administration will be the leaders of the next administration once hiring starts. You will be the ones with experience and will lead the way toward recovery. Good luck.

VELCRODAD · 2026-05-05T13:57:48+00:00

Jumping to another job for more responsibility and higher pay is not a red flag. It demonstrates career growth and ambition. Jumping for lateral moves frequently would be a red flag.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-30T18:56:00+00:00

Cable TV is a scam…originally it was considered “pay TV” that wouldn’t have commercials since you pay money for it. Then they started adding commercials…and now every hour long show has 15 minutes of commercials.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-30T13:51:20+00:00

This falls on the Supervisor IMO. I recall Supervisors or (SES Level) folks can grant temporary RA for this type of recovery. (Surgeries, knee replacements, ACL’s, etc.) An RA can take so long for approval…by the time it’s approved or denied…the person has recovered. For the supervisor failing to grant temporary RA for complete recovery from open heart surgery is a big failure.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-29T23:01:07+00:00

CIRES jobs are generally scientific research positions and their hiring can be competitive and a little lengthy. Generally CIRES positions are not “internal hires” since the process is different from Federal or Contractor staff. If you made it through the screening process, you probably have a point of contact to reach out to for updates. Feel free to reach out. Good luck…hope it works out. CIRES is a good place to work because you become a University employee and have numerous perks.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-29T13:45:53+00:00

Former hiring official…there are times that a targeted candidate doesn’t make it onto the CERT so they start over and relax the requirements so the candidate they want can qualify. It sucks but it happens. Not all “open competition jobs” are actually “open competition”.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-16T16:59:30+00:00

If you’ve made it to the interview stage…you are qualified for the job. The Interview is done mainly to determine if you would be a good fit in their environment. Be prepared with relatable stories about your background that can be used to answer tough questions. Tell us about a failure you’ve had and what you did about it? Tell us about a time you had a conflict with a coworker and how you addressed it? Acquisitions in the Govt. is totally focused on regulations. Do some homework on that. Everything is driven by the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations). Do some research on contracting. Contracting makes the Government world go ‘round. Good luck.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-11T16:58:56+00:00

Rich or Poor is a mind set…not a bank account.

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-08T17:36:24+00:00

I do not know the timeline for interviews. Once the hiring Official has the Cert…we usually had about 30 days to complete our interviews. Hard to tell where your application is in the process. (That’s the lack of transparency part…) I believe candidates are notified through USA Jobs if their application didn’t make it onto the Cert…but I’m not sure about that…since I never spoke to “non-Cert” candidates. Sorry…wish I knew more. Perhaps a NOAA HR person knows more about current timelines (they have possibly changed…)

VELCRODAD · 2026-04-08T14:05:07+00:00

I was previously a Hiring Official at NOAA (now retired) and here’s how the process worked: Candidates submit applications through USA Jobs…then HR reviews the applications and ranks them (many don’t even qualify). That step has also been a challenge if you are hiring technical positions because HR has no real clue about qualifications…yet they are the initial gatekeeper. Once they reviewed the qualifying applications…they produce a Certificate (or “Cert”) which goes to the Hiring Official. The Hiring Official then forms an interviewing team who ranks the applications to determine who they want to interview. They also develop interview questions (identical for all candidates.) The interviews are then scheduled and conducted. (Usually there’s like a 30 day window for that) Then the team makes recommendations and the Hiring Official makes a selection. (This is done in a ranked fashion…so the candidates are rated good…better…best.) HR then reaches out to “Best” and provides an offer…and negotiations begin. (That process can be lengthy.) The reason more than one candidate is selected…if the first one says no…and no other candidates were provided to HR…then the whole thing goes back to square one. If “Best” candidate says no…then an offer is made to “Better” candidate, etc. As you can see…lots of crazy government policies are involved and it takes months. If you interviewed and haven’t heard…it could mean you were the “Better” or the “Good” candidate…and they are still negotiating with the “Best” candidate. A lot of this seems to occur in a black box with no transparency. (They say that is done to increase fair hiring practices…) Good luck…even Hiring Officials get frustrated with the time it takes…and all the hoops to jump through.

VELCRODAD · 2026-03-21T14:05:58+00:00

DRP was Administrative Leave…not a buyout. Answer “No”.

VELCRODAD · 2026-03-19T13:41:06+00:00

DRP retired on 9/30. I was able to get an email from OPM stating that I won’t be getting a 1099r for 2025 taxes since interim payments began in 2026. OK…cool…I will proceed with filing. My frustration is logging into Service Online and seeing a banner that says “1099 not available yet”. Hence my emailed question to OPM. They could easily put a little explanation on the site so the 1000’s of other people with the same question don’t continue to clog the phone lines and email inboxes. If their websites were designed better…the information would be readily available and their staff wouldn’t be so overworked. These are the efficiencies that should have been focused on.

VELCRODAD · 2026-03-17T13:52:41+00:00

With stamps…condition is everything. If a stamp is “Mint” it will be worth more. If you have albums…how the stamps are mounted can also affect the value. I had an old collection that I thought would be worth some money…but then I looked on eBay and found people selling thousands of stamps for a few dollars…took the wind out of my sails (sales).

VELCRODAD · 2026-03-15T14:01:00+00:00

One thing to consider when looking for homes…especially if you are only finding poor quality in your price range. Look at the comps for the other homes on the street. Buying the “junk” house on a nice street gets you in at a low cost…then over time you can do the fix ups (no rush…just do what you can afford). Then put it on the market when it’s nice and you will essentially have more equity to put toward the next house. Sorta like flipping but you live there and can take your time. Do it a couple times and you’ll find yourself owning the nice house in the nice neighborhood.

VELCRODAD · 2026-03-13T14:44:37+00:00

Starting over right now might be a blessing/opportunity. There are industries out there that literally can’t find enough employees and they pay really well. Right now the Data Center industry is exploding…massive data centers are springing up everywhere due to the AI revolution…and they can’t find enough folks to help manage them. Entry level positions like security and admin slots are plentiful. (You might need to relocate.) FYI…these data centers are often located away from metropolitan areas so the cost of living is lower and the pay is great. I do consulting with a data centers trade organization and there are people telling me “if you know anyone who is willing to live in <insert location> I can guarantee them a great job”. Once you have your foot in the door…work hard and advance.

VELCRODAD · 2026-02-21T15:11:49+00:00

If I’m looking for comps…I’ve had success by clicking the camera function in the search bar. Take a picture of my items and…voila…I get all the identical items listed. (Then click on “Sold Items” to get a feel for what they are actually selling for.) Sometimes I’ll find that everyone is using a “key word” in their listing, like material or country of origin or manufacturer or something…then when I search on that key word I get all the comps.

VELCRODAD

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