My hr told me that an exemption was filed for me 3 weeks ago but seemingly no luck. Has anybody had an exemption approved with MD?
You and I are in the same boat. Have you heard anything?
I have not. I reached out a week ago to see if they were going to reimburse my moving costs, and i was told no. They are waiting for further guidance.
I was going in as a 12/5, and the sec def denied the waiver list for onboarding regardless of the memo that said they would consider making exceptions.
I have wrote them off at this point and have already sought work as a Contractor again.
My advice is to continue contracting. No one knows when the freeze will end (supposedly end of April). And with all the layoff and let goâs, the pool of cleared people is going to make it hard to get hired if you dont switch your thinking now and move on to get hired elsewhere. Iâm already hired again by a previous employer, with the same clearance, getting paid 25k more than the Agency offer. Iâm good now.
I will perhaps try again in a few years, but not any time soon. This event has seriously caused some ptsd since I had given up everything to move and make this happen. They closed the door, so im keeping it shut for a while.
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Yeah in the same boat. Gone contracting for more money, but damn
I do wonder though why we are still here? So many other potential feds got dropped completely when the freeze. But we are still âprocessingâ. It gets even more confusing when people are still having their processing trips and I believe even some CJOâs are still going out
If youâre in HR, youâd much rather let people get to the end of suitability processing and then deliver bad news versus cutting off the flow of people into the start of the process. With the former, youâre technically ready to go and offer FJOs as soon as the hiring freeze is lifted. With the latter, they would likely be approaching a point where the suitability pipeline is completely dry and nobody is ready to fill open positions.
The budget for processing applicants does still exist, even if they took the alleged 8% DoD-wide cut from it. When I look back at what my processing costs probably were, they could have saved 40-50% just by not being disorganized.
You may be on to something 
Just saw this White House updateâŚ
April 17, 2025
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Extension of Hiring Freeze
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby extend through July 15, 2025, the freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees within the executive branch, as initially directed in the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 (Hiring Freeze). No Federal civilian position that is presently vacant may be filled, and no new position may be created, except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or required by applicable law. In addition, once a merit hiring plan has been adopted pursuant to Executive Order 14170 of January 20, 2025 (Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service), any hiring shall be consistent with that plan.
Except as provided below, this freeze continues to apply to all executive departments and agencies (agencies) regardless of their sources of operational and programmatic funding. This memorandum does not affect the deadline for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a plan for reducing the size of the Federal Governmentâs workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition, as provided in Executive Order 14210 of February 11, 2025 (Implementing the Presidentâs âDepartment of Government Efficiencyâ Workforce Optimization Initiative).
This memorandum does not apply to military personnel of the Armed Forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety, and does not apply to the Executive Office of the President or the components thereof. Positions that fall within these categories do not require review by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Moreover, nothing in this memorandum shall adversely impact the provision of Social Security, Medicare, or veteransâ benefits. In addition, the Director of OPM may continue to grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary. Exemptions previously granted by OPM shall remain in effect unless withdrawn by OPM.
Contracting outside the Federal Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum is prohibited.
In carrying out this memorandum, the heads of agencies shall seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of those services. Accordingly, this memorandum does not prohibit making reallocations or reassignments to meet the highest priority needs; maintain essential services; and protect national security, homeland security, and public safety.
This memorandum does not restrict the nomination and appointment of officials to positions requiring Presidential appointment or Senate confirmation; the appointment of officials to non-career positions in the Senior Executive Service or to Schedule A or C positions in the Excepted Service; the appointment of officials through temporary organization hiring authority pursuant to section 3161 of title 5, United States Code; or the appointment of any other non-career employees or officials if approved by the head of an agency appointed by the President. Moreover, it does not limit the hiring of personnel where such a limit would conflict with applicable law.
This memorandum shall remain in effect for the Internal Revenue Service until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of OMB and the Administrator of the United States DOGE Service, determines that it is in the national interest to terminate the freeze and publishes notice of such determination in the Federal Register.
This memorandum does not abrogate any collective bargaining agreement in effect on the date of this memorandum.
DONALD J. TRUMP
This does not really apply to us. Ours is the DOD freeze, which is a different issue
Are DOD employees not Federal employees?
DoD had a complete blanket exception under the previous executive order, only to instead be frozen by the SecDef. I donât imagine the SecDef will budge while the executive hiring freeze is active.
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Some positive news on my end. Iâve been approved for the travel reimbursement and am now in a hold/hire status. Basically, Iâm waiting for the freeze to be done.
They asked for me to confirm my interest still. So i did. I will contract still in the mean time. I dont think anything is changing until Sept/Oct. If it happens sooner, then thats ok too. Funny enough my contract job is on Meade.
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Congrats! Happy for you!
How are you getting reimbursed if youâre already in the area?
I had travel orders already issued. I fully relocated, and they stopped my EOD 72 hrs before reporting.
They approved my reimbursement but did not ask if I was still interested. Pain
aah makes sense. Yea I got the same email from my recruiter in regards to asking if I want to continue processing.
I havenât heard anything yet since they cancelled my EOD, which was set to be in June. However, I am done with them. I may try for federal employment in my local area in the future, but I like what I am doing now as a contractor and pulled the trigger on buying a new house after I sold my last one.
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