+2 votes
asked ago in Job Market - Candidate Questions by (210 points)
As someone on the job market this year, naturally I'm worried about how the government shutdown will affect my interviews!

Does anyone have any idea which places might or might not have to cancel? I already received an email from the FDA saying they won't even be able to communicate with us if they have to cancel interviews. Should I be worried that other places may not even be able to tell me that they have to cancel? Is it worth reaching out to them to ask if they are still coming, and if so, when?

Thanks for the advice!

1 Answer

+6 votes
answered ago by (1.3k points)
Some agencies have a budget for the full year and are not affected by the shutdown. These include the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor (includes the BLS). Some agencies are not funded by Congressional appropriations and are also not affected (Fed Board, FDIC, CFPB, and some of the other financial regulatory agencies).

Agencies that are affected by the shutdown are the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, State, Interior, Agriculture, Treasury, Commerce (includes Census and BEA), Homeland Security and Justice. Plus some independent agencies (the FTC is the only one I can think of in this group that hires economists). These agencies will not be able to interview during a shutdown. The key day for the shutdown to be resolved is next Wed. That will be the first workday of the shutdown (Monday and Tuesday are holidays). On the first day of the shutdown, you go to work for 4 hours to do shutdown related work (set an auto response on your email, put stuff away, and turn stuff off). Affected agencies that are planning to interview in Atlanta should use this time to contact the candidates to let them know what the plan is. After Wed morning, the agencies go into shutdown mode and won't be able to contact the job candidates or reply to emails until they reopen.  It is also likely that they will have to use these 4 hours to cancel all upcoming trips, so even if the shutdown is resolved on 12/31 they might not be able to rebook everything in order to interview in Atlanta. In the case that the shutdown is resolved between now and the meetings, they'll be able to let you know what their plans are once the government reopens.
commented ago by (210 points)
Thank you very much!
commented ago by (400 points)
My agency has permission to use carryover funds and is expected to be open through next Friday. I've searched for articles that might list agencies that are in similar positions and cannot find anything detailed that I'd recommend. I'm sure your interviews will let you know their status, but it couldn't hurt to check in.

(Note to budget wonks: prior to this administration, shutdowns were shutdowns, regardless of carryover funds, and I don't know what's changed.)
commented ago by (290 points)
I know that at least one of the agencies affected by the shut down is still interviewing. They e-mailed us to confirm.
commented ago by (1.3k points)
As Will said above, the use of carryover funds is making this shutdown different from the others. I know of a couple of affected agencies that are still interviewing. Hopefully everyone has communicated with the JMCs to let them know the plan.
commented ago by (110 points)
I believe SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is also shut down. But they could be interviewing based on the above.
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