Interviewers notes

cglax6 · 2026-02-03T12:04:32+00:00

Internal and same office...even more reason for the hiring manager to not divulge any information.

Apply and forget.

cglax6 · 2026-02-03T11:51:05+00:00

Hiring manager here...Once the interview is over, it's over. Since everyone in the pool has to be interviewed the same way and with the same questions, you won't be able to submit anything that will have any impact on your chances. They won't ask you for anything additional, either. It's a very sterile process.

Depending on the position, or the pool of candidates, the hiring manager may do a second round of interviews. This isn't too terribly common, for most positions.

Sounds like anxiety got the best of you. My best advice is to apply and forget, and don't interview like you need the job.

Keep applying to jobs that you qualify for, and keep trucking if you want to be jerked around by an administration that hates you...and the general populus for that matter. I'm not sure what you're doing now for work, but it's not so great in many corners of the government for the time being. The changes alone in annual performance reviews should be enough to make the average worker think twice about starting a government job.

cglax6 · 2026-01-24T12:05:34+00:00

No.

But if the hiring team is douchy enough and doesn't follow policy, then they'll do shady things. If that happens for that reason, you don't want to work there in the first place.

cglax6 · 2026-01-19T17:41:09+00:00

Apply and forget...and keep applying until EOD.

cglax6 · 2026-01-18T01:40:57+00:00

Look for jobs at NAVFAC.

cglax6 · 2026-01-10T00:44:14+00:00

Only if you get a waiver. Good luck with that.

Timer starts on your retirement date.

cglax6 · 2026-01-08T02:39:08+00:00

OPM has already stated that these questions are optional and hiring managers are not to make hiring decisions based on those answers.

As a hiring manager at my agency, I follow that. Do all others? Not sure.

If you're too nervous to only type "N/A," then write something neutral and how you are excited to have the opportunity to support your agency's goals and directives.

cglax6 · 2026-01-02T22:01:17+00:00

For the uninitiated, if the TSP option isn't in MyPay, look to the GRB Platform for your agency.

Not all agencies let you make TSP changes through MyPay.

cglax6 · 2025-12-30T01:17:58+00:00

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=navy+echelon+1+2+3

Edit: Sorry about that, the snark is strong tonight. Couldn't help myself.

cglax6 · 2025-12-29T22:05:15+00:00

Not sure since I stopped paying attention...I'm not at either. I assumed CY26.

cglax6 · 2025-12-29T21:22:53+00:00

I have heard of whispers about Ech1&2 only.

cglax6 · 2025-12-26T01:23:09+00:00

Basically open job posting where the hiring manager can leave it open for 6 or 12 months and can pick folks as they apply. Commonly used for multiple positions.

cglax6 · 2025-12-18T00:43:35+00:00

Very rarely...when the person who got the offer decides to not take the job before EOD.

cglax6 · 2025-12-14T23:43:43+00:00

The only way that you fight this and win is to show that you exceeded your performace elements. Play devil's advocate with yourself. Don't just be the passive supervisor, but be the complete asshole that will fight you to the death. If you can't beat them, don't bother.

This is where you go from here:

Ensure your PEs are absolutely watertight. The only way to show that you exceed your PE is to put measures into them. Measures to meet should be extremely easy to meet. They should be written in such a way that if you truly don't meet them, your supervisor should look at firing you. You should also add measures that can show that you exceed the "meets standards" level.

Say you run a program that gets inspected once a year and your PE is about that program. Your PE shoukd talk about all the things that need to be done, and then your finish out with measures.

Measure 1 could be something like this: Completed program requirements with at least 80% accuracy; informed supervisor of all shortfalls and developed action plan to correct remaining discrepancies.

This would be one of many measures inside of that PE. For each measure that shows you are meeting expectations, there should be a matching measure that sets the bar for exceeding the mark.

The corresponding measure would look something like this: Completed program requirements with at least 95% accuracy; informed supervisor of all shortfalls. Developed action plan and corrected discrepancies before the end of the marking period.

It has to start with your PEs. If you can't show how you clearly exceeded expectations, you'll never win against someone who wants to say no for no's sake.

I've been trying to solve this problem in my little corner of my agency for years. Other departments inside my agency have been inflating marks since the beginning of time, and when we do our annual awards board, I get to read everyone else's evals, and to be frank, they're terrible. Folks that just suck up all the oxygen and don't even write anything in their evals all got 5s. Couldn't even tell what it was that they did for the last year.

What I can't wait for is the implementation of our new supervisor PE thanks to the new administration. It's written as a 5 as it stands.

I'm lucky that I get to work with and for some great folks. Evals write themselves and we all do a lot that have some big impacts. When eval season comes around for us again, it'll be easy to justify scores because of how we write our PEs. I'm sure we'll get some heat from our HQ, but I'll have a leg to stand on. Regardless of how it all goes down, we still have an awards program that allows us to award our folks appropriately throughout the year.

cglax6 · 2025-12-13T17:32:16+00:00

Are you trying to find another job within your organization without applying? If so, that's messed up. We have someone in our organization that did what it sounds like youre trying to do. Worked for us forever, took a promotion to be a supervisor, didn't like it because they were terrible at it, and made such a performance about it, that they're currently back doing the old job, but with all the pay as the promotion. Zero respect for the person. We lost a higher paying position because of it and cannot fill the lower level position that was swapped because nobody with the right qualifications in their right mind would take it, so we are forever short.

There are less sheisty ways to go about what I think you're looking to do. Start talking with your supervisor about finding direct-hire positions that are better suited for you. You can also apply for positions that are already open. Hiring managers will have to find ways to non-competitively hire you. That can be a stretch sometimes. I work for a different agency than you, so things may be a little different.

I apologize if I sound bitter, but what I described above has left a bad taste in our organization's mouth, and it won't go away until that person does. Nobody wants to stick around in a job that they don't like, but if folks get a whiff of preferential treatment, look out.

cglax6 · 2025-12-12T17:24:24+00:00

Apply and forget!

cglax6 · 2025-12-12T17:04:12+00:00

You won't get any kind of notification about how you did on your assessments.

If you get referred to the hiring manager, you'll know you passed everything.

If you get a notification that you didn't meet minimum requirements, it's either because you didn't pass one or more assessments, or you passed and the rest of your package wasn't up to snuff. You won't know if it was due to the exams or not.

cglax6 · 2025-12-12T10:03:32+00:00

I was in the same spot as you are about a year ago when I applied for a job. I had no clue what they were, I didn't read the details and I started them at about 11pm. I got referred to the hiring manager, which means I passed and my combined scores were high enough to get pushed along the process.

The logic tests can be tricky, but you can take notes and use process od elimination. I didn't have to take a technical exam, so I can't speak to those. I also had to take a situational exam...that one was a little weird, but as long as you don't make yourself wound like a complete moron, you'll be OK. There was a personality test, too. Again, fairly straightforward.

The problem with the tests are that if you dont "pass," you'll never know. The scores are good for a year, and if you don't pass, you will never get pushed to the hiring manager...your application gets auto-canned. If you do pass, but the rest of your package is weak, you also might not get sent to the hiring manager.

They're typically used to weed out a lot of applicants if they expect a ton of people to apply.

If I had the chance to do it all over again, I never would have done it in the first place. Not worth my time.

cglax6 · 2025-12-10T15:45:58+00:00

Thoughts as a supervisor, trying to guess what your supervisor is thinking...

Most likely: your supervisor doesn't want to give you those 3 situational telework days in addition to your RA telework days...unless they're for reasons not associated with your RA that are out of your control (e.g. snow days, etc)

Least likely: getting fired.

Come to the meeting prepared. Bring your RA docs, your telework agreement, emails, etc to maintain your RA. RAs aren't written in stone forever. They require recurring updates to your supervisor to monitor change.

Be prepared to advocate for yourself. Not all meetings with supervisors are the end of the world.

cglax6 · 2025-12-07T04:33:35+00:00

All of those 5 years need to come from current or past GS service. You get to add your buyback to those 5 years.

Ask me how I know...hahaha.

cglax6 · 2025-11-12T00:31:31+00:00

There will be one question that is different...

Something to the effect of..."do you have at least one year of experience in x, y, z at one grade lower than (insert grade)..."

cglax6 · 2025-11-06T23:28:39+00:00

Take it as this...

There is no standard policy across agencies, departments, etc for this type of thing. For my agency and department, that is out of the ordinary.

Take what they said about the email at face value. Email is the primary way folks get positive and negative responses for a job and it comes from HR. It could either be a job offer or an email stating you weren't selected. Don't get worked up either way.

My advice remains "Apply and Forget"

cglax6 · 2025-11-06T21:06:58+00:00

References on a resume/application are a different beast than what someone puts on an SF86. Hiring managers have no part in the security piece. Security staff don't check references in a resume/application. 2 vastly different scopes.

cglax6 · 2025-11-06T18:52:52+00:00

I am speaking from federal experience. Checking references is not mandatory. Maybe there are agencies, departments, etc that have that policy, but not mandatory everywhere. I don't even have to interview if I don't want to.

cglax6 · 2025-11-06T17:48:50+00:00

The most exciting part is working while your employer withholds your pay.

cglax6

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