You can’t tell. I do yell at other managers that have jobs open for only 5-14 days and they actually want candidates. I’d think a 5 day window would signal that they have an inside candidate they want. I’ve seen plenty advertise for short periods of time for now reason.

Anonymous wrote:I just accepted a federal job that was only posted for 5 days and I was not connected at all so there’s still a chance

Congratulations!!!!!🎉

Anonymous wrote:That's usually my assumption but if it's something that many people could potentially qualify for, they might be trying to limit the numbers they need to review and/or are in a hurry. The people who are most interested tend to apply immediately. If there's something unique in the qualifications where you know there has to be just a handful of people in the entire country who could say they did that, that might be a sign they have someone picked out. My husband applied for one the other day that basically asked, have you ever done this exact job in this particular office before. Obviously they had someone in mind already.

Ugh. I’m sorry for your husband. I’ve seen that question only shared deep in the questionnaire after I’d done a lot of work to tailor the resume. So annoying.

NO! My agency posts everything with 5 day windows. It's awful. We keep asking them to do longer windows and they refuse. We barely have time to share the posting before it closes.

I was the preferred internal candidate for a position with a short posting and didn’t get the job. The successful applicant was a subject matter expert (and not a veteran who shot to the top of the applicant pool) with more experience than me. They just happened to apply out of the blue. I would have selected them over me too given their expertise. There were no hard feelings after they were hired. All this is to say that a good hiring manager will hire the best applicant even if they aren’t the preferred candidate, and the preferred candidate can handle being passed over in a professional manner.

I’ve also heard of announcements being cancelled if the preferred candidate doesn’t filter to the top. YMMV with these short duration vacancy announcements, but it’s not necessarily a waste of time to apply and interview.

Anonymous wrote:I just accepted a federal job that was only posted for 5 days and I was not connected at all so there’s still a chance

I got a job that way too. And congrats!

Anonymous wrote:I just accepted a federal job that was only posted for 5 days and I was not connected at all so there’s still a chance

Congratulations !!!

I just accepted a federal job that was only posted for 5 days and I was not connected at all so there’s still a chance

That's usually my assumption but if it's something that many people could potentially qualify for, they might be trying to limit the numbers they need to review and/or are in a hurry. The people who are most interested tend to apply immediately. If there's something unique in the qualifications where you know there has to be just a handful of people in the entire country who could say they did that, that might be a sign they have someone picked out. My husband applied for one the other day that basically asked, have you ever done this exact job in this particular office before. Obviously they had someone in mind already.

Anonymous wrote:I interviewed for a federal job earlier this week. When I went back to look at the listing I saw that it was only open for 5 days. Does this indicate that they likely have a preferred candidate and are only interviewing me to fulfill a requirement? I've had other interviews where this seemed to be the case. I'm just curious whether this interview was a waste of my time or if I have a legitimate shot (the interview went well, BTW).

Probably. But you can't know for sure and who knows what will happen so ride it out.

When I worked for DOI/BLM 20 years ago, "fit" was very important because of remote field camps and long hours in Alaska. If the preferred candidate was beaten out by (for example) someone with Veterans Preference points, the hiring manager would just close the announcement and select no one. Rinse and repeat until you grab the right guy or gal. I know it sounds bad, but it was the right call for the situation, which HR dweebs in DC were never going to understand.

Sometimes it’s because they want to limit the number of applications since they get a ton.

So you’ll see some postings say it’s open until so and so date or until they get 500 applications, whichever is first.

I interviewed for a federal job earlier this week. When I went back to look at the listing I saw that it was only open for 5 days. Does this indicate that they likely have a preferred candidate and are only interviewing me to fulfill a requirement? I've had other interviews where this seemed to be the case. I'm just curious whether this interview was a waste of my time or if I have a legitimate shot (the interview went well, BTW).