interview i thought went well, but didn't get job!

Maybe someone else with more experience or more qualified got the job? (15 years experience, etc.) Hard to know. Good luck in the job hunt. I am looking too, and it's tough even for those of us with experience.

IMHO, the federal hiring process is insane. I applied for one awhile ago, had a fabulous interview, got a preliminary offer from the manager, and then 2 wks later informed that another candidate was chosen. No explanation. It took over a month to get a straight answer.

The whole process kinda burned me out on federal jobs. It was difficult to wait so long without being able to plan for the future.

Good luck.

Thank You!!! I feel burnt out as well waited a whole month with no reply neg or pos. To be honest that's what really upsets me is the not knowing for such a long period of time.

First of all, I'm a completely nonpolitical person.....most of the time. Where I live, it's a well known UNSPOKEN fact, that government jobs are SOMETIMES given out to applicants for reasons other than experience or merit. I live in Illinois. Need I say more?

I have a federal job. It is extremely hard to get in here. The hiring process has a minimum of 5 or 6 more steps than the private sector does. You either have to be in the right place at the right time to get in, have preferential hiring (as you do), or be someone they absolutely cannot pass up (and those candidates almost don't exist these days with the glut of unemployed nurses out there.) You also need to have a good nurse recruiter that stays on top of things throughout the process *** I could comment more on that one, but I'm not going to go there. Let's just say I'm going to recommend to you that if you choose to pursue this route again, that you follow up at least 1x/week.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they possibly took an internal applicant. Federal facilities are well known for having staff that have long careers and retire in the system, so there is a LOT more moving around to different units than there is in the private sector (seems like people job hop from facility to facility more in the private sector.) In my unit we have been taking a mix of internal applicants with less experience and experienced (ONLY) external applicants. You probably just hit it wrong this time.

If you actually got an interview, I would reapply to what is available. Don't do this on paper -- call the nurse recruiter and tell her that you want to be considered for what is open now. (They should have your paperwork still, right?) You got through quite a few steps in the hiring process already if you got an interview. You sound like you are well qualified; hopefully something for you will open up at some point.

i dare say to land a federal or satate job here in mississippi you must know someone on the inside or meet a certain quota requirement. education and skill level be damned.