u/Adventurous-Grab9154

I’m hoping to hear from people who have experience with state government hiring.

I interviewed for Position X at Organization Y.

Some facts:

• The interview lasted about 80 minutes instead of the scheduled 60.

• The hiring manager gave me a tour of the department.

• He discussed responsibilities that weren’t listed in the job posting, and my experience matched all of them.

• He voluntarily talked about hybrid work, overtime, and vacation accrual.

• He told me not to worry if I didn’t hear back right away because he would be away.

About two weeks later, HR sent me this email:

“While the hiring manager is still finalizing the decision, he spoke very highly of you. Based on that, we thought you might be interested in Position Z. If you are ultimately selected for Position X, you can simply withdraw from consideration for Position Z. This is not a guarantee of any outcome, but given the hiring manager’s strong impression of your qualifications, we wanted to make sure you were aware of the opportunity before the posting closed.”

I applied for Position Z.

A few days later, I received a rejection from HR stating that another applicant had been selected for Position X.

I’m not asking anyone to judge the hiring decision. I’m trying to understand the process.

For those who have worked in state government hiring:

• How would you interpret the sequence of events?

• Does this suggest the hiring manager genuinely wanted me but the final decision involved other factors?

• Or is this fairly typical and I’m reading too much into the positive signals?

I’d especially appreciate input from hiring managers, HR professionals, or anyone familiar with state hiring practices.

Hi everyone,

I’ve applied for over 10 positions with the State of Minnesota. In each case, I received an email saying I met the minimum qualifications and that my application had been forwarded to the hiring managers. However, after waiting at least a month, every one of them eventually came back with: “This is to notify you that you have not been chosen to proceed further in the selection process.”

What’s confusing is that, based on my skills and experience, I honestly feel overqualified for many of these roles. At this point, I really don’t know what’s going on or what I may be doing wrong. Has anyone else experienced something similar with the state hiring process? Thank you.

Edit: I’m not unemployed — I currently work in the private sector. In fact, all of the state positions I applied for pay less than what I’m currently making. My interest in state jobs is more about stability, long-term opportunities, and work-life balance.