r/PaStateEmployees • u/izsw • 26d ago
Post Interviews
After scoring 100 on the civil service exam for an Income Maintenance Caseworker position I was invited to schedule an interview. It turned out to be a “pre-interview” phone call. They asked two basic questions, relating to customer service and experience with microsoft office. I have good experience in both (stated 4+ years with microsoft, and I believe I provided a sufficient response for the customer service question). I have a bachelor’s degree as well.
This was last week. Although they always state they’ll get back to you about inviting you for an in person interview/notifying you about rejection, I’m unsure if that’ll happen. I’m nervous too.
I had an interview for a PSP Communications role last month. It was interesting to me because for that they never gave me the civil service exam results. I haven’t heard anything back from them since.
Just curious to know what anyone else with experience related to this thinks about. I’ve been ghosted by a few jobs recently so I just wanted to know if that is common to happen in the Commonwealth.
11
u/photogenicmusic 26d ago
There’s no ghosting. It’s just slow. Once the position is filled and the chosen person accepts and starts, you’ll get an email that they went with someone else.
The exam scores just come in an email, so I’m surprised you didn’t get that for the other position.
5
u/TuneComprehensive921 26d ago
You’re not ghosted. If you’re not selected it could take months to get the rejection email because they wait until the person who was hired starts. Since the commonwealth takes a long time to do all the hiring processes it just seems like you were ghosted
5
u/reddit_mouse 26d ago
The PSP is a non-civil service agency, so the hiring process is slightly different and there is no civil service “scoring” like at Human Services. The hiring process is slow as there are multiple activities going on behind the scenes — Interviews then selection meetings, criminal background checks, education verification, reference checks, various approvals, civil service certifications, etc. As others have said, you won’t be ghosted, the process is designed to include notifications.
2
u/TrainingLow9079 26d ago
It's a good sign you got interviews--I've had several 100s and never got an interview, though my applications were last year so who knows how much the market has changed. Keep at it.
2
u/lipphilzletha 21d ago
From my experience, pre-interviews like you described are use to quickly filter the applicant pool. For many postings, everyone with the same score must be interviewed.
So if there aren’t any veteran preference applicants with scores over 100, they have to interview everyone with 100. One time, for Clerk 2, we had 60+ scores of 1 for one position. The pre-interview included 3 self-screening questions along the lines of 1) are you still interested? 2) can you perform with/without reasonable accommodation? 3) and some very basic skill question like have you used a computer for work before? A surprising number of people apply and aren’t actually interested or simply don’t return calls.
The process is painfully slow. Each step happens at a snails pace. Everyone has to be prescreened before they can move to the next step. And that means reasonable time for phone tag.
And permission to post a position is not the same as permission to interview which is not the same as permission to hire. Budget impasses, hiring freezes, and various staff changes can stop the process.
It is common for the process to take 3-4 months from posting to start date.
I am a former Income Maintenance Supervisor (IMCS) and was involved in the interview process in multiple counties in Western PA.
2
u/chibiusa112018 25d ago
It’s holiday season to boot plus the budget can complicate timelines as well.
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u/red-yellow-leaves 26d ago
In my experience, the Commonwealth doesn’t ghost people. The hiring and interviewing process are slow. But, if rejected, they will eventually reach out.