Senior Managers

"Senior managers (aka "Big Wheels") at the Maryland State Highway Administration are unclassified positions that require no testing or merit exams. This one fellow applied for a job as an assistant to a senior manager and did have to take an exam for the job.

In the meantime, though, the senior manager position itself opened up, because of a retirement. He applied for that, and was hired.

Some time later, this same fellow got a letter in the mail advising him he did not qualify for the position of the assistant senior manager. The letter was signed by him, as part of his new duties.