I thought I’d start this thread for people to share updates on the recent hiring freeze and buyout offers across the IC. It looks like a lot of CJOs might be in jeopardy as they’re being paused and reviewed so a lot of uncertainty for many of us here.
As for myself, I was notified by a recruiter in December 2024 about moving forward in the process and towards formal approval/FJO, but my PO said last week everything was on hold. As of today, my application still shows processing status, but I’m not holding out much hope. Good luck, y’all who are in the same boat!
My IC agency sent us the email yesterday, I dont think many folks are gonna take the offer. Agency also stated its mission based too, so not everyone will be eligible to take the offer even if they wanted to. Orientation classes are still in progress, hiring is no longer frozen, was temporary while waiting to get the exemptions.
Great update, thanks for sharing! I have a feeling that they will cut down some of the outstanding CJOs to align with whatever the new mission priorities are but for now there’s still hope, I guess.
My DOD agency internship (at least for now) have told me and other interns that our processing is still ongoing and that our roles are exempt from the hiring freeze.
Those are very helpful updates. Thanks, everyone, and good luck with your applications! I haven’t checked in with my PO since my initial post but my status on the portal remains actively processing.
Another follow up question given whats going on in other federal agencies, are probationary employees in the IC also at risk of being fired or are the IC agencies exempt?
I was going to post the same question - you beat me to it! I haven’t heard anything yet. All I know is that the VA agency is still processing applicants but no word about layoffs.
It’ll be much appreciated if people here share their updates, although obviously not everyone wants to advertise being fired from a job they worked very hard to get. I haven’t heard about anyone getting hired either, which would be much more encouraging news.
@RandomMan I was wondering if you could provide any more insight maybe?
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their updates and fingers crossed!
Don’t really have more info unfortunately. I’m not in HR or anything, but I can still say that there are orientation classes being conducted, and hiring doesnt appear to be frozen or anything.
@returned86form I havent seen or heard anything at this point about probationary employees being at risk in my IC agency. And im one of them so it would impact me for sure, since I just started recently.
Of course with this administration, who knows what is safe. What’s safe today could be in danger tomorrow…
At least something reassuring for now, although, as you say, things can change day to day. But a big thank you for being a part of this conversation and sharing what you can. It is very much appreciated. I have another contact inside the agency, fairly senior and not necessarily aware of all things recruitment and processing, but who says exactly the same thing.
I hope you are settling well in your role and hopefully won’t have to face any bad surprises down the road!
@RandomMan hope you’re doing well at your agency. This is CapeKid from Reddit, you helped me with my process. Things are going well over here where I’m at but again haven’t heard anything. Supervisor told us not to be worried, and we are still hiring. Cheers!
Move went well, the agency paid for it all. Didn’t have to lift a finger, so that was nice. Moved to the DC metro area right as a blizzard started, so that was fun lol. Now im just trying to learn the 68,000 acronyms I come across daily.
The news is that DOGE is proposing firing all employees who are still in probationary status. They are the easiest to fire and don’t require any explanation or are subject to any legal recourse.
The others who are past their probationary period are much harder to get rid of legally.
I’m sure most of us here have been tracking this and yes, probationary employees are getting fired from a number of agencies. But someone posted in another topic here a day or two ago that they had just been hired by the NSA, if I’m not mistaken. So clearly there are some exemptions.