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It happens all the time. The easiest way to rig the hiring process is for the hiring official to add a specific skill or qualification to the announcement that only one person in the world has.
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MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P
MSgt James Mullis, I saw that all the time in the SAP/SAR World. The Boss likes a particular person so s/he writes the vacancy announcement in such a way that the chosen person is the only one to qualify. And the flip side to that coin.... The announcement gets written so that "undesired" personnel are disqualified.
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MSgt James Mullis
MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P - It definitely happens. I remember a GS-11 Ground Safety Position that required the prospective employee to be jump qualified. A completely unnecessary skill for the position (FYI: no one on the base jumped out of planes) and one that literally only one person could fill. Then there was the GS-15 Safety position that required completion of Squadron Officer School. This effectively wiped out the entire 018/803 (Civilian Ground Safety Manager/Engineer) corp and allowed them to hire a retired officer into the position. FYI: The person they hired was a retired Colonel, fighter pilot, and had less than 4 years experience as a Chief of Safety during his entire career. Somehow his vast experience was able to beat out GS-14's with 30+ years of experience, degrees in Safety Management/Safety Engineering, and Civilian Certification.
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Tough love stump speech time. Are there some cases of rigging? You bet. Is it pervasive? It's much more rare as urban myth would say. I've seen few individual experiences out there but a majority of MILs just recite the urban myth. I was a senior hiring manager for many years. We hired a lot of Vets but turned away many more, mostly due to crappy resumes, poor interviewing, and skill sets that wouldn't pass muster.
Have I seen the merit system get bypassed? Yes, but very rarely. The most egregious was the Skipper out on Adak falling in lust with a sales girl at the NEX. She couldn't qualify for the secretary position so he downgraded it to mostly nothing, hired her, and then had her move into his house. I recall the subsequent divorce was a slam dunk for 1/2 his retirement.
Bottom line, there's a lot of stories out there that get recycled so much, the hiring process and individuals get stereotyped as basically crooks. Some Vets have repetitive failure to get hired on because they presume the system is rigged vs. finding out what's wrong with their package. Saw that a lot. And when the Vet was shown what was wrong, he/she was too proud to fix it. Saw that a lot too. Saw "entitled" Vet types who wondered why we weren't interested in them either.
Have I seen the merit system get bypassed? Yes, but very rarely. The most egregious was the Skipper out on Adak falling in lust with a sales girl at the NEX. She couldn't qualify for the secretary position so he downgraded it to mostly nothing, hired her, and then had her move into his house. I recall the subsequent divorce was a slam dunk for 1/2 his retirement.
Bottom line, there's a lot of stories out there that get recycled so much, the hiring process and individuals get stereotyped as basically crooks. Some Vets have repetitive failure to get hired on because they presume the system is rigged vs. finding out what's wrong with their package. Saw that a lot. And when the Vet was shown what was wrong, he/she was too proud to fix it. Saw that a lot too. Saw "entitled" Vet types who wondered why we weren't interested in them either.
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