Conflicting referral notices from usastaffing.gov

[Anonymous]

I received two automated notices yesterday from usastaffing: 1) Referred to the selection official as “best qualified,” following a review by ERB at 11AM (yay!) and “not referred” at 10PM (boo!) Any guesses as to what happened? Is it worth it to reach out for clarification? My status reads “not referred.”

[Anonymous]

Maybe nobody was referred because they are cancelling the posting, or maybe you were among the best qualified but others with preferences were referred instead.

[Anonymous]

I think perhaps that HR said you had the qualifications and the HR office forwarded all the qualified candidates to the hiring office and the hiring office only decided to interview the top X people. It was probaly based on some obscure reading of what they do and/or what was on your resume or KSR answers.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it wasn’t a multigrade position? You could have been referred for the lower grade but not the higher one.

[Anonymous]

It’s not a multi grade, but there may have been two different hiring paths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think perhaps that HR said you had the qualifications and the HR office forwarded all the qualified candidates to the hiring office and the hiring office only decided to interview the top X people. It was probaly based on some obscure reading of what they do and/or what was on your resume or KSR answers.

This is my guess as well.

[Anonymous]

I've got the same messaged OP. I may be wrong but I know there's multiple vacancies for the same position. Perhaps they're being referred to different hiring manager? Anyone else with a best guess or actually knowledge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think perhaps that HR said you had the qualifications and the HR office forwarded all the qualified candidates to the hiring office and the hiring office only decided to interview the top X people. It was probaly based on some obscure reading of what they do and/or what was on your resume or KSR answers.

Op here and that’s my hunch, too. Of course, I was hoping it was a mistake. It feels like a bad joke.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t get too excited for an auto message from usastaffing about referral.

I’m excepted service and found them meaningless. I didn’t always get referral messages. I may have received referral messages for some positions for which I got an interview.

That said, I did get excited when I got a notice of referral because it feels good, it’s just mine never seemed to lead anywhere. And I feel like I got some interviews where I had not received any message about referral status. I also think I may have gotten a referral message after I got an interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t get too excited for an auto message from usastaffing about referral.

I’m excepted service and found them meaningless. I didn’t always get referral messages. I may have received referral messages for some positions for which I got an interview.

That said, I did get excited when I got a notice of referral because it feels good, it’s just mine never seemed to lead anywhere. And I feel like I got some interviews where I had not received any message about referral status. I also think I may have gotten a referral message after I got an interview.

How does excepted service impact the referral process? I’m new to all this. Most of the positions I’ve applied to are excepted.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me once and it ended up going nowhere. Why is the federal hiring process still so clunky in this day and age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think perhaps that HR said you had the qualifications and the HR office forwarded all the qualified candidates to the hiring office and the hiring office only decided to interview the top X people. It was probaly based on some obscure reading of what they do and/or what was on your resume or KSR answers.

But then wouldn’t it say, not selected? It was referred. Then not. Does usastaffing update several times along the way? I’m trying to figure out if this was the case, or it’s an error. I did call the HR number to get clarification, but haven’t heard back. Maybe I’ll never know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t get too excited for an auto message from usastaffing about referral.

I’m excepted service and found them meaningless. I didn’t always get referral messages. I may have received referral messages for some positions for which I got an interview.

That said, I did get excited when I got a notice of referral because it feels good, it’s just mine never seemed to lead anywhere. And I feel like I got some interviews where I had not received any message about referral status. I also think I may have gotten a referral message after I got an interview.

How does excepted service impact the referral process? I’m new to all this. Most of the positions I’ve applied to are excepted.

It doesn’t have much of an affect. Theoretically, excepted service isn’t as stringent as competitive but, realistically, it is very similar.

[Anonymous]

There are many reasons this could have happened but I’d not hold your breath for an interview.

It could have been a simple mistake, or it could have gone to a review group prior to the hiring manager (sometimes they send the resumes to a person or group with knowledge of the position but not the hiring manager. That group reviews resumes and recommends for interview. It’s possible they didn’t move you forward. Of course, there is no way to know. You can always call the HR number listed on the announcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many reasons this could have happened but I’d not hold your breath for an interview.

It could have been a simple mistake, or it could have gone to a review group prior to the hiring manager (sometimes they send the resumes to a person or group with knowledge of the position but not the hiring manager. That group reviews resumes and recommends for interview. It’s possible they didn’t move you forward. Of course, there is no way to know. You can always call the HR number listed on the announcement.

Thanks, this one was weird. Several weeks ago I received a notice that my application was referred to an ERB panel to determine best qualified candidates. Then I was referred to the selection official. Then later that same day, I was not referred. So confusing.