Holly Bates

Remember the GS-7 job I decided I wasn’t sure I wanted anymore? Well, according to my USAJOBS notification, I didn’t pass the online questionnaire. Huh?

Here’s what the email said:

“To be considered for this position, an applicant must attain a passing score on our online assessment tool. Unfortunately, you did not receive a passing score on the assessment.”

I have worked for the federal government for 20 years and I have never received a reply like this before. I was so certain I would get the job simply because I didn’t want it. I guess karma really will bite you when you cop an attitude.

While I awaited for what turned out to be this awful response, I applied for other jobs, including several GS-9 and GS-11 positions. I hoped to get referred for one of these positions before the GS-7 job came back which would force me to take that job or lose my Spousal Preference. You’ll recall I mentioned in my previous post that I must submit an application for any position CPO contacts me about or lose my eligibility under PPP, Program S. 

I was happy to see I qualified for most of these GS-9 and GS-11 positions. Unfortunately, however, I wasn’t in the group of “best-qualified applicants.” Basically, I was classified as at least minimally qualified, but not in the group referred to the hiring official for consideration. 

Anyway, I contacted the HR Specialist at CPO who notified me of the positions. I want to find out which of my answers resulted in me not passing the online assessment. However, I haven’t heard back from her yet. Meanwhile, hubby is increasing the pressure on me to find a paying job especially as the holidays are quickly approaching and shortly thereafter, his retirement. 

Sometimes, it feels like we’re moving backwards. When we first married, we both worked. We had a significant amount of disposable income, which we freely spent enjoying our time in the DC/Baltimore area. And this is how we’ve pretty much been able to live our life up until these last two duty stations, when I didn’t work. 

We should be sitting on a large retirement nest egg, not struggling on one income, but that is where we are now. I can only hope and pray there is an awesome job out there waiting for me and that we just haven’t found each other yet because the timing isn’t right.