Alucard

Take what you see under the "Application Status" as a grain of salt. While getting a callback [either email or phone call] for an interview on you application is possible, it can be quite rare. You will see application statuses such as "applied" "passed pre-screening" "position filled" most of that is HRIS on the back end. Even if your status goes to "passed pre-screen" in my experience on several hundreds of applications, the likelihood of contact is minimal. This may be ever more drastic if it's for a civil service title position, as most of those are not through application but off exam/eligible lists. If however the position is a "in need" and they on the HR side need to quick fill labor type positions [or provisional hires] they may have a higher rate of contacting individuals that placed application. As with all things with TA, don't hold your breath. Things take months, if not years, and at times half decades. Even IF you manage to get an interview, getting a position or getting appointed takes quite a long time. Think of it as apply & forget it. It's like a dice roll that you cannot see the results until way later down the line. Best advice is to take all the exams you are eligible for, pass them and let them sit in the back pocket until the times comes [for list establishment, then list certification, then hiring pools, then interviews] & those cards become ready to play. Good Luck in the hunt.

NYCT has sent out the official Notice of Results for these exams this week, which will have individual eligible list number [can also find at city data]. Also, they are presently setting up to do a hiring pool off the list for various TMA positions. Individuals would have been contacted prior to express interest to the positions. Interviews likely will be in several weeks time. Some position descriptions can be found here [https://new.mta.info/document/79731] *Prior posts have more details on the list/s & number of eligibles & establishment dates. The lists are small, but since many of the individuals on it are likely already in NYCT or at other city agencies, the number of eligibles or interested parties may be significantly less than the full list count.*

JC, Likely these positions just require one to be on board & doing the assigned work & being on time/schedule for the annual duration. Most all individuals on these Analyst lists have prior work experience in the office type environment, so that likely makes it an easy transition.

Certified/Eligible Lists for the Following Exams Have been established and are posted on DCAS City Data 9613, Assistant Transit Management Analyst, Exam Date- 11/18/2018 9614, Associate Transit Management Analyst, Exam Date- 11/18/2018 --- 9613, Assistant Transit Management Analyst, 101 ELIGIBLE, 75 Vacancies 03/09-04/11 Salary now: $61,246 9614, Associate Transit Management Analyst, 72 ELIGIBLE, 65 Vacancies 03/02-04/04. Salary now: $80,386 9718, Promotion Associate Transit Management Analyst, 7 ELIGIBLE Best of Luck to all in the future process to come! With the low eligible numbers, most on these lists who desire these open slots should get filled sometime. Passing numbers seem quite low considering how many took these exams! As an aside, DCAS has also established, Exam 9061 Associate Staff Analyst with 2521 Eligible, this list can be used citywide, Salary now: $70,611

just a heads up to anyone still tuning in here: Over the last few weeks, TA contacted & reached out to individuals that passed the 9613/4 exam for possible interest & interview setups for possible provisional appointments for exam 9613/4. Interviews were conducted last week, & there were about 10 departments, with possibly one to several available openings. No list has been established, and any placements/appointments would be on a provisional basis. GLTA. 9613, Assistant Transit Management Analyst, 11/18/2018 9614, Associate Transit Management Analyst, 11/18/2018

Thanks Young for spotting the new data, After parsing through the data, it would appear, this certification [thus far the 5th, will be active from 1/6 to 2/7] It only included candidates ranked in the following range, 11.5, 16, 28.5, 30.5, 34 then 60 through 171, roughly 121 ranked candidates are on this certification. So it would appear again those that had better scores are not on this current certification. At the same time 8 openings, and 120 certified and 100 requested, well those odds seem slim for most in the batch. Still, I suspect like before, that as with most all the other certifications [2,3 & 4] there may be a chance that nothing happens off this certification. To date, only the first certification resulted in people getting bought in with "conditional" job offer letters, and every certification since then has excluded that initial range group [candidates ranked 1-59] which in of itself doesn't make logical sense. I will say odds are this certification will be like the previous 3, and not much will occur. But if 8 or so get lucky good for them. At a certain point this list has to reset to calling the the candidates ranked with the highest scores/results, else they are going against the idea of moving from a ranked list by skipping over those that ranked highest.

TAAnalyst, Once the business consultants roll through these departments, it will be like most corporate head cutting affairs. Reduce cost, reduce redundancy, and save $ from future employee benefit costs. It's a huge win for the capital plan once they begin to eliminate. I do think it will be a swift cutting rather than a drawn out one [honestly this whole capitulation has been going on for several years] The administrative lists that are established like this one stand to get under utilized, or not used at all. The higher level exam lists may never get established, which would be an easy win for them. They can always re administer future exams if they deem more need. Even with those with selective service in certain fields the future doesn't seem to bright on the administrative/analyst side. Hopefully, for you as someone with several years of experience there it will allow for either a transition departmentally or you avoid the reductions when they come. This trainee list is at a 1 year point, and nothing has happened with it. Good luck to you there. These positions are good, but with so much emphasis being put on cost reductions, it seems they are the primary & easiest targets [those already in position/those on lists] to claw back some $ on the capital spending side. I suppose too, those analysts/admins making "more" would be for sure more endangered. Consultants will always agree to trim the fat off the top & use the lower paying ranks going forward. As for exams from other agencies, these analyst/admin type exams seem to come around very seldom, there were a few city analysts exams a few months ago, but it seems it's a once a decade timeline for them to administer it. Certainly it'd be nice if you could keep the board updated on things from the inside in the months to come, if you can, hopefully it works out okay for you. Good luck.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS | MTA to hire French Canadian businessman to reorganize struggling system, including job cuts NOV 13, 2019 | 7:18 PM The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday announced that Montreal-based business executive Anthony McCord will be hired to oversee a major shake-up that’s expected to include thousands of job reductions. McCord’s official title will be “Chief Transformation Officer,” a position approved by the MTA board in July as a part of a larger reorganization plan mandated by Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature. McCord, a francophone, will be tasked with consolidating the MTA’s redundant administrative offices like the agency’s seven human resource departments, seven legal offices, seven finance divisions. He’ll also work to centralize the MTA’s various engineering departments, a move that transit officials believe will help them better execute the agency’s $51.5 billion capital plan. Part of McCord’s work will be to reduce jobs — possibly as many as 2,700. According to MTA consulting firm AlixPartners, the reductions could save the agency up to $530 million a year. McCord will start in mid-December. In July, the MTA had said it would likely begin headcount reductions in December as part of a plan put together by AlixPartners and approved by the MTA board. On Wednesday, an agency spokeswoman said that timeline has since changed and no reductions are planned for next month. It’s unclear how long McCord will stay at the agency. AlixPartners managing director Foster Finley said at the July board meeting that the Chief Transformation Officer was meant to be an “ephemeral role.” The new executive will report to the MTA board, who must approve his hire at a meeting on Thursday. He’ll make a hefty salary of $325,000 per year. McCord said in a statement that he looks forward to “getting to work so that we can focus on delivering improved service for our 2.5 billion annual riders." The Canadian consolidator has held high level roles at private utility company Veolia and engineering firm Bouygues Energies & Services. He’s one of several big hires the MTA is planning this fall. The agency also looks to fill several new executive positions like Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Accessibility Officer. A shake-up at the MTA has been in the works since at least the start of the year when Cuomo said he intended to “blow up the MTA.” When the governor and state lawmakers in April passed congestion pricing — which will toll cars in Manhattan and will help fund the MTA’s capital plan — the legislation also came with a requirement that the agency complete an audit and produce a reorganization plan. Cuomo in July said the reorganization plan is “conceptually right” and that his office would check in on its progress in January.

Hard to think it's been close to a year since this list established. But thanks for spotting the new certification that occurred. It would appear, this certification [thus far the 4th, will be active from 10/21 to 11/22] It only included candidates ranked in the following range, 11.5, 28.5, 30.5, 34 then 60 through 115, roughly 62 ranked candidates are on this certification. So it would appear those that had better scores are not on this certification, how to explain that is a mystery. You would think the list fills from the lower/best scores/ranks first, but by this certification most who did well are not certified, and that's the best explanation. If you read the thread, this has occurred before [but those lists were never called to pools, it was purely just listed and expires] When you call DCAS, since you likely aren't in the current certified grouping #s, it will tell you you are not on the list. But it's really stating you are not in the current certified list of 62 individuals. How they are choosing their groupings is anyone's guess. It was my belief that these lists certified from the best scores/ranks first, but in the initial pool calling back in January they called the best scoring individuals [1-59, I think] and they didn't fill from them, so I suppose you can say they are onto the "next group" The other 2 certifications, were never called, they just expired. Once you are not on a certified list, I would not expect to be called in should vacancies exists & they decide to do interviews. Bizarre how they are doing things, the list if used this way will fill using worst scoring candidates rather than the ones who scored higher. At this point, it's been a year since this exam released an eligible list and nothing has occurred. In regard to the January pools that were hiring for their exams division, those positions never were opened up, so that pool went down the drain by the freeze & constraints. Will be interesting if they fill this list and don't start with the best scoring candidates.

MTA says it will cut up to 2,700 jobs as part of reorganization https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-reorganization-job-cuts-mta-20190717-j7jph2qxmnhf3ohsri3beljkdm-story.html Transit officials said Wednesday that they plan to slash between 1,900 and 2,700 jobs, or up to 4% of the MTA;s workforce, to save as much as $500 million annually over the next three years under the agency’s reorganization. MTA officials said they plan to reduce headcount at first by allowing people in administrative positions to retire or leave the agency. Pink slips would flow if not enough workers opt out. Other proposed cost-saving measures include changing the way construction is managed, officials said. The full 37-page plan, which was made public on Wednesday after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released a summary last Friday, proposes consolidating dozens of administrative offices at MTA headquarters, like its seven legal departments, seven human resource offices and seven finance divisions, accounting for the bulk of the cuts. The agency desperately needs the money that would be saved. MTA budget experts said earlier this year that it could find itself in a $1 billion hole by 2022. MTA chairman Pat Foye said the reorganization will allow the agency to “deliver better service, complete projects on time and on budget and use its resources effectively and efficiently.” MTA officials have not determined if they will fire any front-line transit workers, the bulk of whom are represented by Transport Workers Union Local 100 and have been without a contract since May 15. Officials said cuts to those jobs, like station cleaners, track workers and signal maintainers, will depend on whether or not Local 100 officials agree to integrate and expand techniques used by outside contractors that would make MTA workers more efficient. Train operators, train conductors and bus operators did not appear to be on the chopping block, according to the reorganization plan. “They’re smoking crack if they think they’re going to take our work,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen. “We’re in a good situation for negotiating. We own the exclusivity of the maintenance and operation of the subway system." MTA board members are scheduled to vote on the reorganization plan during their meeting next week, but agency officials said they will not be able to propose amendments to the reorganization strategy. “The public has a week to figure out what 37 pages mean for a $17 billion agency,” said Rachael Fauss, an analyst at good government group Reinvent Albany. “This is not a sustained and robust public engagement process that we have all been asking for.” The reorganization plan will take more than two years to implement, which did not sit well with Gov. Cuomo, who pushed through legislation earlier this year requiring the MTA to restructure. “I’m not satisfied with the preliminary report,” Cuomo said Wednesday. “To have no performance measures or goals or dates is a fatal flaw, especially at the MTA, where they never meet a deadline or date.” Cuomo also said the reorganization is a good opportunity to address the homelessness problem on the subway, but noted the plan did not include any reference to the issue. Some deadlines are included in the reorganization report, which was written by consulting firm AlixPartners. The MTA will begin laying off workers in December, according to the reorganization plan, and the cuts could last through the end of 2020. The agency will also hire a handful of new executives over the next eight months, including a chief operating officer, a head of engineering and a head of accessibility. “Within the next six months, they should be able to make marked progress,” said Cuomo. “Strip away all the press and all your theories and innuendo and drama, the trains run or the trains don’t run. They’re on time or they’re not on time.” <<>> Got to wonder if these established lists, will be eliminated with this attempt at $500M savings, by not filling it's a quick $25M or so saved per year. For sure it's not looking positive. Most of these positions would have been administrative types, and that's where the big gutting seems to be going towards. Tough/er times ahead for the TA,.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-mta-reorganization-plan-foye-release-20190712-m3o7klkvw5gytmkaqb4uit7qxy-story.html MTA officials have a plan to reorganize the agency that they hope will work better than its trains and buses now run. They plan to cut hundreds of jobs, hire a few new high-ranking managers and take away NYC Transit President Andy Byford’s control of major subway construction projects. The broad strokes of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s state-mandated reorganization plan were detailed in a 19-page summary released Friday. The full plan will be made public later this month. The proposals, which were put together in partnership with consulting firm AlixPartners, must be approved by the agency’s board at its next meeting July 24. The plan backed off from a prior proposal to strip Byford of his control over bus service, but does include a measure to consolidate the MTA’s three separate bus companies. Byford and the agency’s other division leaders will lose control of construction projects in order to have a “singular focus on safety, operations and maintenance,” according to the summary. All of those bosses will report to a new chief operating officer. That means Byford, a career railwayman who received accolades for his previous work as head of the Toronto Transit Commission, would not oversee the nuts and bolts of his “Fast Forward” plan to rapidly modernize New York City’s transit systems. Byford will still be tasked with maintaining the subway’s crumbling infrastructure, including keeping up recent efforts to clear clogged drains, deep clean stations and fix faulty signals. The most significant job cuts proposed in the plan are within the MTA’s redundant administrative offices. Officials plan to consolidate the agency’s seven human resource departments, seven legal offices and seven finance divisions. Many engineers will also get pink slips. The plan proposes shrinking the agency’s seven engineering offices into one, and adding a new “chief engineering officer” to lead it. It is not clear exactly how many people would be fired under the plan. A high ranking MTA official said the measures would save “hundreds of millions" of dollars. MTA Chairman Pat Foye said the reorganization is the beginning of a “new, modern MTA.” “This transformation will allow us to finally give our customers the system they deserve, and prepares us to execute on what is likely to be the biggest capital plan in MTA history,” said Foye. Some of the shakeup hinges on collective bargaining with transit unions. Transport Workers Union Local 100′s 41,000 members, who work on the city’s buses and subways, have been without a contract since May. It’s also unclear who will complete intensive subway drain maintenance work moving forward. Roughly three-quarters of the work to clear 10,000 clogged drains under Gov. Cuomo’s Subway Action Plan was done by outside contractors — Local 100 officials have previously said they want that work moving forward. The MTA will also have to negotiate with labor leaders to consolidate its three bus companies, which employ bus operators represented by four different unions. Cuomo said the reorganization plan is “conceptually right and has been recommended by various consultants and administrations over the years.” The governor added that his office will check in on the progress of the plan in six months. Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein said it’s more important than ever for Cuomo to be held accountable for the MTA. “Now the governor and his top managers must detail how they will overhaul the core infrastructure that millions of us depend on every single day,” Pearlstein said. Some transit leaders were unimpressed with the plan. One MTA board member said the proposals were “unremarkable.” “It’s exactly the type of things that I thought they would do,” said the board member. “It’s a common sense document.” >> Seems like this exam/list might be getting the last few nails in the coffin, with all the likely moving parts & people to come with this re-org, these exam positions likely will not get opened. With elimination & consolidation, the need for these jobs in large groups might be a thing of the past. Perhaps the dividing line will be those who have selected service experience areas in segments of need.

DCAS has two of these series exams open for application for the next 2 weeks or so through 6/25. https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dcas/downloads/pdf/noes/201909058000.pdf [Administrative Staff Analyst] https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dcas/downloads/pdf/noes/201909061000.pdf [Associate Staff Analyst] Exams are in Sept & October.

B607.. Don't hold your breath on this list being established anytime soon, the fact that only now appeal/disqualification notices are being handled means there is a long ways to go. At best I would look for these lists to get established some time in mid/late '20 or '21. And with the state of things currently that might be a generous timeline. The TMATrainee Exam took 16 months to establish and no one has been hired off it since it was established in Nov '18 due to hiring freezes & constraints. Best of luck to you on the appeal!

You never know, with the complexity of some of the questions there is a chance that some might get reviewed via protest, being that close [2 off] is always a sting. Which of the exams did you take? The one luxury of them was that they were given in sets [9613/9614] were given together & the time allotment was abundant really, think 6+ hours. With all that's going on with TA recently it might be tough goings with all these exams. The Trainee level eligible list was established in Nov '18 & no hires yet. These likely will not establish until sometime in '20 & it would seem they are doing their best at eliminating [or attempting] to eliminate people who took it already. Hopefully a protest may help you breach the pass line, you never know once the final answer/results are released. The "next" time with these exams seem to be 10 years, long waits seem to be the standard all around. Good luck to you.

Sure thing, here is the full annual exam list from dcas https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dcas/downloads/pdf/noes/yearly_examschedule.pdf [there are quite a few cancellations as well] When the application period begins, you will find the notice of exams (NOE) here: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dcas/employment/current-upcoming-exams.page under the "Other Open-Competitive" Exams section or Promotion if you are already in title.

Seems the Exams Unit have begun sending out ineligible letters on these exams [9613/9614] for various reason, giving 30 days for a filed appeal on their decision. Some of these exams required 1 year in the mass transit industry & some didn't, tough to lose out on these due that requirement especially if you passed the exams. It's kind of a wall built to only accept people who are already in the space. Tough goings. With TA in essentially a massive overhaul, hard to guess how fruitful these exams/lists will be in the future. Some might have just been a cash grab on one end. DCAS will have their own series of these Analyst exams upcoming in June.

It would appear that on DCAS Open Data the last sets of outstanding certification expired on 4/4 and no new one has been established. It very well could be that due to all current restraints [financial turmoil, hiring freezes, overtime issues at TA being brought to light] that this list might just not go anywhere for a good while [if ever at all] For the list, there is no more outstanding certifications, so it's truly at a standstill. Have to wonder if there have been in the past established eligible lists that never filled and just went to expiry. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-mta-transit-union-finances-cbc-20190430-z6hj2qm33bagllcdc6jhdiqqfq-story.html https://cbcny.org/research/reform-bargaining-table This was quite interesting https://nypost.com/2019/04/20/sanitation-department-to-trash-supervisors-exam-because-of-suspected-cheating/ Guess the way most of these exams are administered, some set of individuals always have a first look at what's to come.

This sounds accurate, however with these exams being administered once a decade it seems to run a bit different than most other lists. I would think that there were people working at TA who were provisional, say interns or college aides/students, that were given the provisional tittle contingent on passing or getting onto the eligible list. So I am sure some of the provisional individuals took this exam, and as I said they likely can slide into title. It was odd during the initial call in that there were individuals who were with TA as Associate Level TMAs and were there for this trainee list. I didn't know what to make of that, whether they took in as a requirement to be "in title" or what. The more you read on the state of TA and the chaos that seems to be brewing over control/revenues/fares etc the more murky hiring becomes in a cost conscious environment. Not filling anyone from this list is a roughly $23M cost savings at its base, much less employee benefit costs etc. The hiring freeze has been mentioned since August 2018 in some publications, and there really doesn't really seem to be any relenting as of yet. They also have the capacity to wait and establish the higher level TMA lists & take from there instead. Initially it was nice to see this list get established, but the more time that erodes, it would probably have been better suited had the list not been established until the hiring freeze thawed a bit. Maybe by November [one year into the list establishment] it will be a bit clearer as to how it's going.

Well this certification [in 3 batches] went and made 155 individuals onto a new outstanding certification list, along with the other 252 on the previous [this one however will expire in a week] Can't say that we can read too much into the list since it's become essentially an inactive list, meaning it's not moving. I think some of it is TA HR having to process something on a certain time basis to/from dcas. But these certifications have shown no continuity. The pieces of data are usually erroneous at times [ie on the 659/660 certifications, the salary data is from the NOE, vs the current] The number of openings states 100, but that's just a number, it would constitute 20% of the whole list and that doesn't seem likely. Until someone actually gets appointed from this list [who is a non TA individual, as they could just slide over on title if they are already in there] then this list of eligible individuals seems to be going nowhere. Least that's how I see it. Unless they hire, the list will not move. The certifications does allow them to call individuals in, but if there's no job the whole thing ends up just being keep busy work for the employment center. As to why some got left off, no clue, These 3 certifications seems very random in picking by list number, it skips all over the place. What I do know is when batches get called in the true order does get recognized, so you can take a batch of all groups and rankings, but when you get in they will sort all by list/rank order for processing and interviews, so there is a bit of an equalizer there. I suggest if you want more actual details on this list to call the employment center [347-643-7413] & ask for the individual that is working or responsible for this particular list/title. they perhaps can shed some light on if there is any true momentum outside of the data lists. the young lady there, I didn't get her name but she was forthright with information & about the process, just ask. Might be a a task tho to get to her, the first person that picks up will have to have some knowledge or experience, if not ask them to ask someone who the individual is that handles the TMAs lists. Honestly, this might have never occurred. Even though that 2nd certification existed, it very well could be that nothing progressive happened past it. Hiring freeze definitely a major hindrance.

Pathway, just curious what is the source that provided that info you stated above(looks like a copy and paste)? [As that 14 ties into the certification list # stated of number of vacancies] Also to be exact, the actual eligibles for DCAS current certification #69446 that expires on 3/15, are #s 11.5, 28.5, and #s 60-298, the block from #1-59 [except 11.5 & 28.5] are not on the current outstanding certification. I'd be curious if this occurs normally, it just seems odd that the block that had the lower ranked listings are not eligible, while those higher are. Just seems odd, especially considering there we no fills from the initial lower ranked group.

BronxRider... The letter was dated 1/18, it was mailed [from Brooklyn] and arrived after the MLK holiday on 1/22, requesting people show up on 1/23. If you sense that that was very tight timing, I can only imagine some missed the date entirely due to mail being delayed or just not checking their mail with that sense of urgency. Very poor protocol in my opinion there on TA's part. Certainly the first batch was called, but there were no hires [per someone at TA employment] the list was sent back to dcas and there was a subsequent new certification that didn't include anyone one the first certification, so essentially the new certification begins with around eligible rank #60. Again very strange, as the people who were in 1-59 are no longer on an outstanding certification. How that makes sense I can't figure out, the higher scoring individuals aren't at this time seemingly eligible for appointment. In regards to the employment center, expect to wait [if you are in TA already you will get expedited it seems & be out of there much faster, but 5-8 hours seems average] You will enter into there as go through "final processing" which is quite a misnomer, as nothing is final, and you might interview but the letter you get will explicitly state that by the time you are to interview, positions may already have been filled by individuals in front of you. So if you're say 1-10 on the next called group [the will interview in rank order] you might get a shot. But, it would honestly appear that, there is an explicit hiring freeze & any and all hiring for this title/position must get approved, so you're interviewing for a position that might be fictional. Honestly there is not too much paper work, you maybe sign a couple of forms, they collect your letter, you wait to get called for an interview which may be panel, 2 or 3 people, and it's going to run like a mill. They will interview,, and tell you there is a hiring freeze and there is no true position. Now this was the story for the first group, your experience might differ. Until the hiring freeze ends, I would not expect much to happen on this title. It likely deemed non critical to operations & seeing the financial perils they are in it might just be another cost saving measure. If you do get a letter certainly will be informational to let the board know. Good Luck.

I have say you've presented some of the more informative posts in regards to these positions. From experience I have actually been to these interviews & been told the odds of getting the job were low not due to qualifications or experience, but just due to the fact that those in TA will get priority. Taking and passing the open competitive exams seems to be a viable route, but still has it's complications. With limited openings, the eligible list start to erode as soon as they are established & the agency doesn't for any given reason fill off of it [ie. hiring freeze, budgetary etc] So a list say like the Trainee list established in November '18 has just been sitting and losing time toward it's expiry, and no hires have come off of it to move the list along. Even with the higher level exams [Assistant, Associate] there were promotion exams that coincided with it so the candidate pool for say Associate will be both a promotion list & a competitive list, which honestly puts all those on the competitive at a disadvantage out the gate. I also sense that there are tiers on each/some of these titles, as I have seen Assistant TA II or Associate TA II, perhaps time allows for those elevated titles, with higher pay. I will look into the other DCAS exams, certainly get the idea that the more agency lists one gets on the higher the odds of perhaps an opening occurring. Still it's sort of the thing you dort of have to forget about, you take the exam & maybe it comes to fruition in several years at best. Do you have any thoughts on this: I guess getting in at level 1, assures you level 2 after 1 year, then it's about waiting & seeing if a level 3 becomes available. TA definitely is a challenge to get into on many levels. But I do agree that it does offer a bit of security over the private sector where you sort of never know when the finish line will show up at a private sector gig these days. Thanks again for the thoughtful responses, certainly is a bit insightful into hear about the inner workings a bit.

There appears to be a high degree of difficulty to get into TA as an analyst, I have interviewed for several Associate Level positions [as a pure outsider, prior to taking any exams] and it appeared that there was a stone wall for entry (especially for someone outside TA) Deciding to take the exams seemed to be the best option, but the duration which it seems to take to get the process moving is a bit daunting for anyone seeking to find a landing spot at TA. There was a time the positions would be posted up so one could apply, but since the hiring freeze all those positions have disappeared. These exams to point of hire are seeming like 3 to 5 year processes. By the availability of public records, that Principal TA title has not been utilized broadly for a decade, it would seem that either the title is being resurrected for some purpose, or will be used to replace perhaps some supervisory titles. It may be one of those titles that ends up having a few limited slots, especially considering there were promotion exams for it. The open competitive one might not get touched. So you may be right in that it could have been a bit of a cash grab. Several hundred took it for sure. Since you're on the inside, would you say the better path is to wait for one's slot on the higher titled exam? Say for example, one passes all the exams from trainee [level 1] to Associate [level 3] Is it best to enter in at the higher/highest title? As from what you say it seems like there's a lot that has to go right for a bit of forward momentum to occur. And if one starts at trainee, after year 1 they move up to assistant title, but after that it may begin to to move like a slow crawl. Thanks for the info. It's really good to hear what the position & internal environment is like from someone who's actually there already.

Could you shed some light on the Analyst positions within TA? How's the experience been, has there been mobility & upward or lateral progression in the position since you've done it for a while. Any insight would be welcome, these exams/lists from the trainee level onward might be hitting a wall due to the hiring freeze that has been in effect since fall of '18. The quick observation is there used to be many postings for open TA positions on the MTA employment site, but those have all evaporated. In regards to the disqualification, good luck. Once you have the time in position & the staff supervisory experience it should be a valid appeal. You're already in the door, seems like a tough door to get into these days! :)

It appears hiring for this list/position is on ice. Someone at the Employment Office mentioned that this list was sent back to DCAS with no hires coming off it. Those who interviewed on that first batch called in were told that indeed there was a hiring freeze & it would require approval by TA for any opening of hiring/positions off this list to occur, and it seems that was turned down. So likely, due to the hiring freeze & the likelihood that these positions are not deemed critical for operations & the financial perils that are currently existing, this list might just not be going anywhere for quite a while. Which likely will be detrimental to some on the lower end of the list, as time for the list is eroding, and with no fills it's just purely eroding without moving. Maybe later down they will extend the list time due to these issues, but for now I have to think there's not much to expect on this list in the near term. I would also think any other individuals called in will face the same "hiring freeze, need of approval to hire" issues that occurred with the first batch that went in. A quick look at the MTA employment site shows how depleted open positions are due to the freeze, normally there would be 100s of postings, now there are less than 40 or so.