Board of Veterans Appeals (Attorney Advisor)

[Anonymous]

The turnover indicates these are not desirable jobs. If you cannot get anything better, take it and use it as a stepping stone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The turnover indicates these are not desirable jobs. If you cannot get anything better, take it and use it as a stepping stone.

That's one way of looking at. Another way is that people who take this job have no practical experience and struggle to succeed. This job is honestly a cake walk for many people. And being 100% remote is amazing. Not every position is meant for every person. A person who wants to be in court arguing will not enjoy this position, which is writing based. But a person who wants no contact with litigation would likely love this position. There are so many factors one has to consider. Some people here make it sound like no one succeeds in the job, which is absolutely not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The turnover indicates these are not desirable jobs. If you cannot get anything better, take it and use it as a stepping stone.

That's one way of looking at. Another way is that people who take this job have no practical experience and struggle to succeed. This job is honestly a cake walk for many people. And being 100% remote is amazing. Not every position is meant for every person. A person who wants to be in court arguing will not enjoy this position, which is writing based. But a person who wants no contact with litigation would likely love this position. There are so many factors one has to consider. Some people here make it sound like no one succeeds in the job, which is absolutely not true.

If the BVA attorney position is a cake walk, why do so many BVA attorneys hate the job and leave within two years?

I agree that some BVA attorneys aren’t suited, personality wise, for decision writing. However, the decision writing attorneys at the Social Security Administration perform similar work as BVA attorneys for less pay, and their attrition rate is much much lower than at BVA.

I attribute the high attrition rate at BVA to the high quota (which is much higher than SSA) and the toxic work environment where judges and managers are freely allowed to bully/harass attorneys without any consequence (we all know who the toxic ones are, but nothing ever happens to them).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The turnover indicates these are not desirable jobs. If you cannot get anything better, take it and use it as a stepping stone.

The turnover is not because the job is not desirable. The job is good once you have passed probation and you have developed a working relationship with your VLJ. The problem is the impersonal online training and lack of mentoring that leaves the new hires to figure out things for themselves. Many of them get frustrated and leave or get invited to leave the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The turnover indicates these are not desirable jobs. If you cannot get anything better, take it and use it as a stepping stone.

The turnover is not because the job is not desirable. The job is good once you have passed probation and you have developed a working relationship with your VLJ. The problem is the impersonal online training and lack of mentoring that leaves the new hires to figure out things for themselves. Many of them get frustrated and leave or get invited to leave the first year.

Did you think people go to law school so that they can review thousands of pages of medical documents and draft a largely boilerplate decision every 8-10 hours? I think not. Let’s be honest, attorneys with options generally do not join BVA.

The attorneys that do tend to fall into the following four camps: doc reviewers who have never held the job title of “attorney” and desperately want that title; new law school graduates who desperately need a job; SSA attorneys who desperately want a job that offers the potential to earn more than a GS-12 salary; and attorneys in rural states who can’t move and desperately need a remote attorney job that pays more than their solo practitioner salary.

Unfortunately, many new hires soon realize that working at BVA sucks even more than wherever they came from.

[Anonymous]

There are probably as many different motivations as there are people at the Board. You sure are convinced that they are desperate. I can assure you that many of my colleagues are quite well off and have professional connections that allow them to go somewhere else if they choose.

I've seen enough people who lasted less than a year to know that it was usually not because they got there and discovered they did not like the job. Switching jobs with less than a year in time looks bad. At least half the turnover is due to not being able to make quota or having poor quality, and then being let go during probation.

I'm not sure why you would spend so much time attempting to profile your dream BVA straw man employee and then attacking your made up profile of an employee. It's frankly bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Does BVA offer overtime?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does BVA offer overtime?

Yes, you may work as much unpaid overtime as you wish to meet your quota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does BVA offer overtime?

Yes, you may work as much unpaid overtime as you wish to meet your quota.

that.

And yes, if you are "on pace" you can get overtime, but you must do more cases. If you need more than 40 hours to do your 3 cases, then the overtime is unpaid, and management pretends that it never happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The turnover indicates these are not desirable jobs. If you cannot get anything better, take it and use it as a stepping stone.

That's one way of looking at. Another way is that people who take this job have no practical experience and struggle to succeed. This job is honestly a cake walk for many people. And being 100% remote is amazing. Not every position is meant for every person. A person who wants to be in court arguing will not enjoy this position, which is writing based. But a person who wants no contact with litigation would likely love this position. There are so many factors one has to consider. Some people here make it sound like no one succeeds in the job, which is absolutely not true.

If the BVA attorney position is a cake walk, why do so many BVA attorneys hate the job and leave within two years?

I agree that some BVA attorneys aren’t suited, personality wise, for decision writing. However, the decision writing attorneys at the Social Security Administration perform similar work as BVA attorneys for less pay, and their attrition rate is much much lower than at BVA.

I attribute the high attrition rate at BVA to the high quota (which is much higher than SSA) and the toxic work environment where judges and managers are freely allowed to bully/harass attorneys without any consequence (we all know who the toxic ones are, but nothing ever happens to them).

You just assume the answer to your own question. Why bother posting here if you already know all the answers to your own questions? Hmmmm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does BVA offer overtime?

Yes, you may work as much unpaid overtime as you wish to meet your quota.

BVA DOES offer overtime since the new chairman took over. Please ignore this ignorant troll poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does BVA offer overtime?

Yes, you may work as much unpaid overtime as you wish to meet your quota.

that.

And yes, if you are "on pace" you can get overtime, but you must do more cases. If you need more than 40 hours to do your 3 cases, then the overtime is unpaid, and management pretends that it never happens.

Wow. You just seem to a disgruntled person in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does BVA offer overtime?

Yes, you may work as much unpaid overtime as you wish to meet your quota.

that.

And yes, if you are "on pace" you can get overtime, but you must do more cases. If you need more than 40 hours to do your 3 cases, then the overtime is unpaid, and management pretends that it never happens.

Wow. You just seem to a disgruntled person in general.

EDIT* Wow. You just seem to be a disgruntled person in general.

[Anonymous]

Also, I just want to call out the same poster for all the complaining/moaning/whining. On the basis of the comments, it sounds like you worked at the Board can couldn't handle it and were asked to leave. If you didn't work here, then why are you so obsessed. Same thing happens at law firms. Make the cut. And if you don't, move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, I just want to call out the same poster for all the complaining/moaning/whining. On the basis of the comments, it sounds like you worked at the Board can couldn't handle it and were asked to leave. If you didn't work here, then why are you so obsessed. Same thing happens at law firms. Make the cut. And if you don't, move on.

I think there are more than a few people posting negative things. how do you know that it is the same person?