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Yes, there are concerns about a hiring freeze under the new administration, thus the dates have been moved up, way up apparently.

Interesting. Will there still be two classes, or have they cut it back to one? This has got to be very hard for the PTO support staff. It normally takes much longer to make decisions, put together offers, contact references etc.

I think the start date for the class is January 17th. They are looking to hire between 20-25 people for the class. I do not know how many people total they are interviewing. There may be another class sometime in the spring, but that depends on what the new administration is going to do. Does anyone know the time frame for when offers are going to go out? I guess it should be soon, since the start date is in January. Good luck to everyone!

Just got a soft offer call. They wanted permission to contact my references. I interviewed on Monday, 12/5. I asked whether this was for the January 17 start date and they indicated it was. This is my second time applying for the position.

Anonymous User wrote:Just got a soft offer call. They wanted permission to contact my references. I interviewed on Monday, 12/5. I asked whether this was for the January 17 start date and they indicated it was. This is my second time applying for the position.

Congrats!

It's also good to know the interview window, mine is next week. Hopefully they save a spot for me!

By interview window do you mean that they told you calls for your interview date would go out next week?

I didn't ask when calls would be make when I interviewed, so of course I'll be on pins and needles until Christmas Eve, which I believe is the absolute latest that they would make an offer...

Time for me to buy a well I suppose: https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/805516488421638144.

Has anyone else who interviewed last week received a tentative offer?

How did everyone handle "thank yous" after the interview? It seems impracticable under the circumstances to send a personalized note to each individuals on the panels.

Anonymous User wrote:Has anyone else who interviewed last week received a tentative offer?

What do you mean by "tentative offer"? I believe they are checking all of the references of everyone who interviewed, as is standard with government HR, but I do not think the federal government has anything akin to a "soft" or "tentative" offer unless they have actually offered you the job pending a reference check and are just waiting for it to be processed through HR.

They absolutely don't check all of the references of everyone who interviewed. They only check your references AFTER they have decided to extend you an offer. As long as your references check out (they confirm work history and don't call you a psychopath), you will receive a formal offer letter.

Anonymous User wrote:They absolutely don't check all of the references of everyone who interviewed. They only check your references AFTER they have decided to extend you an offer. As long as your references check out (they confirm work history and don't call you a psychopath), you will receive a formal offer letter.

Well I had not heard that before, but that's good news then!

Anonymous User wrote:Has anyone else who interviewed last week received a tentative offer?

So the PTO is making offers the same week they are doing interviews this time?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Has anyone else who interviewed last week received a tentative offer?

So the PTO is making offers the same week they are doing interviews this time?

Many interviews were last week and the week before, I believe. As far as I can tell, only calls asking permission to check references have gone out - I have not heard of any actual offers being made.

Does anyone know if they are still interviewing?

Does anyone know if they are still interviewing?

Anonymous User wrote:They absolutely don't check all of the references of everyone who interviewed. They only check your references AFTER they have decided to extend you an offer. As long as your references check out (they confirm work history and don't call you a psychopath), you will receive a formal offer letter.

They specifically told me when they asked to check my references that it was NOT a job offer and the offer would come from HR. Did they tell you something different?

No, I didn't hear something different. It has just been their custom and practice to eventually extend offers to everyone who they ask to check references. See this post. Yeah, its possible that they might be doing things differently this time but I doubt it. I am guessing the supervising attorney emphasized that it was not a job offer in case of the remote possibility that your references don't check out but I think that is very unlikely. Its clear they are under time pressure to fill these slots before the inauguration. I am surprised they are calling people during the interview window (maybe they did that before and I never realized it) but I always thought they waited until all interviews had been completed to notify people and check references.

Anonymous User wrote:How did everyone handle "thank yous" after the interview? It seems impracticable under the circumstances to send a personalized note to each individuals on the panels.

i was wondering the same thing! does anyone know how that works? because of how expedited this process is, they might not even get a thank you before deciding to extend/not extend an offer to someone...

Anonymous User wrote:No, I didn't hear something different. It has just been their custom and practice to eventually extend offers to everyone who they ask to check references. See this post. Yeah, its possible that they might be doing things differently this time but I doubt it. I am guessing the supervising attorney emphasized that it was not a job offer in case of the remote possibility that your references don't check out but I think that is very unlikely. Its clear they are under time pressure to fill these slots before the inauguration. I am surprised they are calling people during the interview window (maybe they did that before and I never realized it) but I always thought they waited until all interviews had been completed to notify people and check references.

This.

I've been reading this thread for a while, so I have a few things to add. It looks like in the last round of hiring, the "soft offers" went out before the final week of interviewing was complete. In the history of this thread, and from the couple of people I know who are examiners, no one who has received a "soft offer" has not gotten an official offer.

I interviewed during the week of November 28 and received a call with a "soft offer" last week. The exact words used were "We are considering extending you an offer and would like your permission to contact your references." Then they said that an actual offer would come from HR. It's not impossible that an official offer won't follow the references phone call, but it seems like something would have to go very wrong -- a reference throwing you under the bus or something. I'll certainly feel much better when I have something official in my hand, but if you've gotten the references phone call, you should be good to go.

Called by HR today and received official offer. I'm the above poaster that interviewed on 12/5 and soft offered on 12/9. From what I remember from the interviews, they are filling the positions on a rolling basis for the 1/17 start date. Good luck to all other applicants.

Thank you so much for keeping everyone else informed - I shall have to apply yet again, but congrats to everyone who made it through the gauntlet this time.

I'm the poster from the last page who interviewed during the week of November 28, and I also got the call from HR with the official offer today.

Anonymous User wrote:Thank you so much for keeping everyone else informed - I shall have to apply yet again, but congrats to everyone who made it through the gauntlet this time.

In my interview they said that once they take care of the January class they would move on to hiring a spring class and not to necessarily worry if I didn't hear back right away. Obviously Trump can throw a wrench into everything and there's a lot of uncertainty, but I wouldn't give up hope yet.

Anyone receive a call today with a tentative offer? I interviewed Fri 12/9, so I'm not sure when they would get back to me if there is positive news. Based on experience, I know if there is no offer, a rejection doesn't come until much later. Any data from others regarding when they interviewed and when they heard back would be much appreciated! Thanks to the posters who already commented regarding when they heard back.

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone receive a call today with a tentative offer? I interviewed Fri 12/9, so I'm not sure when they would get back to me if there is positive news. Based on experience, I know if there is no offer, a rejection doesn't come until much later. Any data from others regarding when they interviewed and when they heard back would be much appreciated! Thanks to the posters who already commented regarding when they heard back.

I am in the same boat. Interviewed on 12/9 but have not received any news (good or bad).