Hiring - Shutdown Question Forum

[els18]

I had an interview with a federal agency a few days before the shutdown began. A few days after Christmas, one of the people I interviewed with called me to tell me that they wanted to hire me, but he needed the HR people to come back before he did so. He expected the government to open by New Year's and told me to call him if I didn't hear from him the next week. I still hadn't heard from him, so I emailed him on Jan 4 to check in. He emailed me back and said that he talked to someone in HR and was working on it and that he would call me early the next week. It's now been almost two weeks.

Is it safe to assume my hiring is just on pause until the government opens back up? Should I reach out to him again so he knows I am still interested in the position? Should I be looking for other jobs in the meantime? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Anonymous User]

If the agency isn’t funded, then chalk it up to the shutdown. HR people aren’t excepted. In my office all the admin people are out.

I don’t think you need to let them know you’re still interested - they’ll assume that till they hear otherwise from you - but if you aren’t currently employed/need a job on a particular timeline, my policy is keep applying till you have a job absolutely locked down. That said, I think you can assume the job will be fine, you’ll just have to wait till the shutdown.

[Npret]

Keep looking. You have nothing to lose. Who o owls what the government will be like when it reopens or how long it will take things to be processed.

People for sone reason underestimated this shutdown. It’s not going to be back as business as usual for a while even after they start up again.

I know people think their jobs may be fine, but be proactive and look for something else in the meantime.

[els18]

Thank you for responding! It is an agency without funding. I appreciate your thoughts and will continue to apply for jobs. I am currently doing a clerkship, so I have a few months before I need to have something finalized. I've been trying to be optimistic about the shutdown ending soon because I was excited to complete my job search, but there is no harm in continuing to apply. Thanks for the help!

[Anonymous User]

Keep looking. You have nothing to lose. Who o owls what the government will be like when it reopens or how long it will take things to be processed.

People for sone reason underestimated this shutdown. It’s not going to be back as business as usual for a while even after they start up again.

I know people think their jobs may be fine, but be proactive and look for something else in the meantime.

Anon from above. I think there’s going to be a backlog when people start back up again, but I don’t think it’s going to transform anything.

That said, I agree that applying for more stuff is always reasonable.

[Anonymous User]

At least in my agency, some HR people are still around and they said that they will continue to process new hire paperwork for jobs that were posted before the shutdown (which is apparently their interpretation of how to implement the hiring freeze). Obviously the new hires wont be paid if the government is shutdown when they start, but it sounds like they will still be able to start.

[Anonymous User]

This is based on information from current clinics/externships that are supposed to be starting in federal offices:

The part of the DOJ that handles security clearances is furloughed. So depending where you are in that process (and what the specific office requires), it might not matter whether the HR team is around.

[Anonymous User]

At least in my agency, some HR people are still around and they said that they will continue to process new hire paperwork for jobs that were posted before the shutdown (which is apparently their interpretation of how to implement the hiring freeze). Obviously the new hires wont be paid if the government is shutdown when they start, but it sounds like they will still be able to start.

My office had a new hire scheduled to start on Jan 7, and they still have not started, and won't until the shutdown is over.

[Anonymous User]

I had an interview with a federal agency a few days before the shutdown began. A few days after Christmas, one of the people I interviewed with called me to tell me that they wanted to hire me, but he needed the HR people to come back before he did so. He expected the government to open by New Year's and told me to call him if I didn't hear from him the next week. I still hadn't heard from him, so I emailed him on Jan 4 to check in. He emailed me back and said that he talked to someone in HR and was working on it and that he would call me early the next week. It's now been almost two weeks.

Is it safe to assume my hiring is just on pause until the government opens back up? Should I reach out to him again so he knows I am still interested in the position? Should I be looking for other jobs in the meantime? Any advice would be appreciated!

I wouldn't worry. I was excepted to do some work last week, and our office is dead. A different scenario, but our office has a full-time intern this semester who hasn't been able to start. My boss wasn't even sure who contacted her because everything goes through HR.

The hiring and onboarding processes are also a surprisingly elaborate HR process. They seem to have different people designated to handle each part of it. I would assume they can't do much, at least at my agency, until they have a full HR staff.

OP - if you're worried at all, I don't think there's much of a downside to emailing your contact. I'm sure he/she will understand if you send a short email asking for an update, especially if you haven't heard anything in a few weeks. It's also possible that your contact has been furloughed and just isn't checking work email much.