I had an interview on December 22nd for my congressman's nomination committee. I have not heard back yet and I have a question regarding whether it would be appropriate to email his staff member who is in charge of the nomination process and ask him for an approximate date of the release of the nominations. My house had a fire 2 years ago and while my family was living in a rental house, we had our mail forwarded to our new rental address temporarily. Occasionally, some mail gets delivered to our old rental house mistakenly by the Post Office even though we moved back into our house over a year ago. I am fairly certain the MOC notifies via mail from research of previous years. I just want to be sure I have a time frame of delivery so I can contact the other house just in case, as this letter is extremely important. Do you think it would sound too "ancy" to email the staff member regarding the notify date, or is it a normal occurrence for candidates to ask the staff when nominations will be released? Thanks for any insight.
Appropriate to email MOC staff member?
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bearhunter66
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I agree with JMS.
Call or email... I would not get into a lot of detail re: addresses (hopefully the address/contact information on the nomination submission is what they will use). What you need is a) an update on your nomination status and if not available, b) when the decisions will be reached/communicated.
My DS reached out 2x. He interviewed in early Oct and was told he would be notified in 2 weeks. He followed up in early Dec when he received is LOA and was told "shortly". He followed up again in late Dec. Both times, he was told no decision had been made and the MOC appreciated his patience.
He wants to follow up a 3rd time but feels like he may be pushing the envelope.
The deadline to submit the noms is 1/31/2014 so it could be a nail biter for 3 more weeks.
Call or email... I would not get into a lot of detail re: addresses (hopefully the address/contact information on the nomination submission is what they will use). What you need is a) an update on your nomination status and if not available, b) when the decisions will be reached/communicated.
My DS reached out 2x. He interviewed in early Oct and was told he would be notified in 2 weeks. He followed up in early Dec when he received is LOA and was told "shortly". He followed up again in late Dec. Both times, he was told no decision had been made and the MOC appreciated his patience.
He wants to follow up a 3rd time but feels like he may be pushing the envelope.
The deadline to submit the noms is 1/31/2014 so it could be a nail biter for 3 more weeks.
Pima
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At this point I would not contact them again, because it is no longer thanking them for the interview, but being a squeaky wheel.
The noms. are due by the end of the month, and I have a sneaky suspicion that many candidates are feeling the same angst. It is not uncommon to have 150+ applicants when you combine all 4 SAs that require noms. If you do the math and if every candidate calls just 1x, taking up about 5-10 minutes that is a lot of hours diverted from their actual work just answering phone calls for that one question.
The noms. are due by the end of the month, and I have a sneaky suspicion that many candidates are feeling the same angst. It is not uncommon to have 150+ applicants when you combine all 4 SAs that require noms. If you do the math and if every candidate calls just 1x, taking up about 5-10 minutes that is a lot of hours diverted from their actual work just answering phone calls for that one question.
bearhunter66
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Pima,
I counseled the same. Told him he has been doing this since July so another 3 week is not going to kill him. I think he is reacting more to the "no" from the Senator.
I counseled the same. Told him he has been doing this since July so another 3 week is not going to kill him. I think he is reacting more to the "no" from the Senator.
Some general advice...
"Following up" is an important life/career skill that our future leaders need to learn early on. One of the differences that separate successful people from their counterparts is their persistence and courage in stepping out of their comfort zones to push things along.
So the question becomes what are the best methods and frequency for following up?
One answer that works well is the Offer Of Help approach. It's very gentle, professional and works in almost any situation as an early-on follow up step. It works like this...
1) You thank the person for whatever has already been done (interview, job scoping, etc)
2) You offer your help in the form of asking if there is any additional information you can provide to them.
3) You end with a question about timeline and again remind them of your offer.
"Dear Mr Claus,
Thank you for taking the time to review my Chistmas List last week. I will be glad to provide any additional information or clarity your team of Elves may need as they work through the list in the coming weeks.
As I understand it, the original timeline calls for having all Christmas presents decided upon and built by December 24th. Please let me know how I can help.
Thank you,
Tiny Tim"
"Following up" is an important life/career skill that our future leaders need to learn early on. One of the differences that separate successful people from their counterparts is their persistence and courage in stepping out of their comfort zones to push things along.
So the question becomes what are the best methods and frequency for following up?
One answer that works well is the Offer Of Help approach. It's very gentle, professional and works in almost any situation as an early-on follow up step. It works like this...
1) You thank the person for whatever has already been done (interview, job scoping, etc)
2) You offer your help in the form of asking if there is any additional information you can provide to them.
3) You end with a question about timeline and again remind them of your offer.
"Dear Mr Claus,
Thank you for taking the time to review my Chistmas List last week. I will be glad to provide any additional information or clarity your team of Elves may need as they work through the list in the coming weeks.
As I understand it, the original timeline calls for having all Christmas presents decided upon and built by December 24th. Please let me know how I can help.
Thank you,
Tiny Tim"
Last edited:
Pima
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For clarification my response was to bear.
For the OP I agree it is fine to send one.
I believe Member has a point, my only point would be there is a fine line between being assertive, and becoming a pain in the arse. This hurry up and wait is just a small sampling of what your military life will be like for the next 9 years (4 SA, 5 AD).
For the OP I agree it is fine to send one.
I believe Member has a point, my only point would be there is a fine line between being assertive, and becoming a pain in the arse. This hurry up and wait is just a small sampling of what your military life will be like for the next 9 years (4 SA, 5 AD).
Full Metal Bulldog
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Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
usna1985
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Personally, if I were the OP, I would wait until Monday.
My gut feel is that not much was done in the way of decision-making/notifications between Dec. 22 and Jan. 6. Not to mention that the MOC's office is probably swamped catching up with all of the unread stuff from the holiday break.
If you've heard nothing by the end of the week, on Monday you might want to follow up as others above have advised.
My gut feel is that not much was done in the way of decision-making/notifications between Dec. 22 and Jan. 6. Not to mention that the MOC's office is probably swamped catching up with all of the unread stuff from the holiday break.
If you've heard nothing by the end of the week, on Monday you might want to follow up as others above have advised.
This may sound more argumentative than I want it too sound, but if a Congressional office is spending too much time answering calls from applicants regards noms, then it seems they have all the incentive and means to control the number of calls. I'm thinking they could send an status update email to all applicants to answer the common questions and give a firm decision date; or they could take the nuclear option by revising the law and take congress out of the loop entirely... I mean if its all too much trouble to get the job done, why not? ....
I recall LineInTheSand knows about a small academy that operates that way.
I recall LineInTheSand knows about a small academy that operates that way.
Couldn't agree more!!!!
Just to add to this, please don't TELL them that they are going to be notified of their status on a certain date and then do nothing. It's been over a month since the interview. The candidates were to be notified within 7-10 days. Of the interview. There has been NO correspondence coming out of the MOC office. So yes, it is a bit frustrating to them, and I couldn't agree more that sending out an email letting them know of the delay, would certainly answer A LOT of questions.
Pima
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I mean this with kindness, I sincerely do!
This is a path many before have walked, and it was no different 3 yrs, 2yrs or even last yr than it is this yr.
If this is an issue for you, come this Nov. vote them out! However, I am willing to bet come Nov. you will vote on more pressing issues, such as the ACA, unemployment benefits, SS or maybe the DoD budget.
~~~ MOCs know that as fact.
I get it, for you right now it is pressing, but come 6-9 months from now, I am willing to bet that you will have moved on and this will be nothing more than a faint memory.
I am not saying you don't have the right to be frustrated, just saying that their offices are dealing with more than noms. They have a due date set by the SA, which is Jan. 31st. All of the rest is courtesy.
JMS, may I ask what state you are from?
~ CG is Homeland. Different budget. Much smaller budget.
~~ I lived in AK so I have the utmost respect for them, but let's keep apples with apples. IOWs how can you compare the Army personnel size to CG?
Here is a link for one of the public HS. in No VA. It is a magnet.
http://www.tjhsst.edu/research-academics/index.html
Can you imagine if we got rid of the MOC system and you live in a school district that the avg SAT is 1000, state ranked number 49 in the nation. The avg SAT for them (best, not super) is close to 1500 from a school that is nationally ranked. Where would be the diversity?
~~~ My bet would be that you will see less diversity. I look at their system like I look at public Ivy universities, such as UVA, UNCCH, etc. They have their own mandates regarding % that are IS vs OOS. It is their system.
If you want it gone, vote your MOC out and make it abundantly clear that was your number 1 reason.
I have no bone in that fight. Just saying IMPO, I see it from a national perspective why the MOC selection exist.
This is a path many before have walked, and it was no different 3 yrs, 2yrs or even last yr than it is this yr.
If this is an issue for you, come this Nov. vote them out! However, I am willing to bet come Nov. you will vote on more pressing issues, such as the ACA, unemployment benefits, SS or maybe the DoD budget.
~~~ MOCs know that as fact.
I get it, for you right now it is pressing, but come 6-9 months from now, I am willing to bet that you will have moved on and this will be nothing more than a faint memory.
I am not saying you don't have the right to be frustrated, just saying that their offices are dealing with more than noms. They have a due date set by the SA, which is Jan. 31st. All of the rest is courtesy.
JMS, may I ask what state you are from?
~ CG is Homeland. Different budget. Much smaller budget.
~~ I lived in AK so I have the utmost respect for them, but let's keep apples with apples. IOWs how can you compare the Army personnel size to CG?
Here is a link for one of the public HS. in No VA. It is a magnet.
http://www.tjhsst.edu/research-academics/index.html
Can you imagine if we got rid of the MOC system and you live in a school district that the avg SAT is 1000, state ranked number 49 in the nation. The avg SAT for them (best, not super) is close to 1500 from a school that is nationally ranked. Where would be the diversity?
~~~ My bet would be that you will see less diversity. I look at their system like I look at public Ivy universities, such as UVA, UNCCH, etc. They have their own mandates regarding % that are IS vs OOS. It is their system.
If you want it gone, vote your MOC out and make it abundantly clear that was your number 1 reason.
I have no bone in that fight. Just saying IMPO, I see it from a national perspective why the MOC selection exist.
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I know that in our District, the MOC's all coordinate their nominations. We are told they use this month to to the "horse trading" and that all candidates will be notified by the end of the month or first week in February.