The Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process Series: Searching and Applying for Vacancies Using USAJOBS First – Find a Vacancy. Federal Agencies, DLA included, post nearly all of their vacancy announcements online at USAJOBS (usajobs.gov). You can do a basic search for positions in a certain location or by keyword, job title, announcement number, etc.; or, use the Advanced Search option to narrow your search to specific grades, occupational series, departments or agencies, etc. The DLA Human Resources Website includes a direct link to all DLA vacancies (hr.dla.mil/career/SearchApply/).Helpful hint: In both the basic and Advanced Search options, be sure to select your appropriate status – you have the option to select whether you are a current federal employee (or a veteran eligible for veteran’s preference, or if you are eligible for a non-competitive appointment) – if you select “US Citizens” (or “no” in Advanced Search), you will only see job announcements open to the general public. Apply for a Position. Carefully review the entire job announcement, including the “Who May Apply” and “Qualifications Required” sections to determine whether you are 1) eligible to apply, and 2) your qualifications match the position’s requirements. You don’t need to create a USAJOBS account to search for vacancies, but you will need to create an account in order to apply. Upload your resume or create one using the USAJOBS Resume Builder. Be sure to pay close attention to the “How to Apply” section of the job opportunity announcement to be sure that you include all required information and documents. If your application package is missing a piece of required information or a required document, you may be disqualified from consideration. Helpful Hint: Allow yourself plenty of time. Be sure to include everything needed, and it’s always a good idea to tailor your application for the specific job (rather than submitting a standard resume). OPM maintains a good FAQ page – located here: opm.gov/FAQs/topic/employment/index.aspx?cid=5d9058d6-78fb-42a2-9d2a-9d14c22982f0 In addition, the USAJOBS Resource Center provides a wealth of information: https://help.usajobs.gov/index.php/Main_Page How long will it take and when will I hear something? Most key events that occur during the recruitment process trigger either automatic notifications from USAJOBS or manual notifications from our HR Specialist. One of our key operational metrics in DLA Human Resources is the timeliness of filling jobs (aka, “time to fill). On average, the Office of Personnel Management expects us to fill a job in 80 days. Our goal in DLA is to fill jobs in 70 or fewer days (on average). Some jobs take far less time to fill, and for a variety of reasons, some jobs take longer. To help understand what happens during that time, we’ve laid out a typical timeline of events, including applicant notifications, as follows: Day 0: Management submits a recruitment request to J1, identifying the need to fill a vacancy. Day 2: Job announcement has been built by the HR Specialist and reviewed by the selecting official. All required qualifications and competencies have been identified in the announcement. Day 3-Day 10: Announcement is posted on USAJOBS (typically, DLA positions are open for 7 business days; however, if the area of consideration is outside of DLA, management has the option to open for a longer period of time). After you complete and submit your responses, you will receive an automatic, system-generated Acknowledgment Letter confirming that your application has been received. Helpful Hint: Each job opportunity announcement includes a point of contact, under “Agency Contact Info.” Make note of the specialist’s contact info – you may contact him/her with any questions you have relating to your application package or for status updates throughout the process. After the job opportunity announcement closes, and typically within 48 hours, the HR Specialist will review your application to determine eligibility and if you meet minimum qualification requirements for the position. If you are not eligible/not qualified, you will not be considered for the job. If you are eligible and qualified, your application will be reviewed along with other qualified candidates to determine if you are among the candidates referred to the selecting official for consideration. Day 12: A certificate is issued to the selecting official with a list of the Best Qualified candidates that have been referred for the position. The HR Specialist issues Notification Letters to applicants to inform them of their referral status. Day 13-Day 43: The organization reviews candidates and may conduct interviews; reference checks are completed; and a finalized selection is made and approved. This is the lengthiest period of the recruiting process. The hiring organization may schedule interviews with candidates – in which case, the selecting official determines the questions to be used for the interview based on the required competencies; conducts initial resume screenings; coordinates availability and times for both the interviewer (or interview panel) and candidates; conducts all interviews (including any second- and third-round interviews); conducts reference checks; and obtains approval for any selection that is made. Day 44: After a selection has been returned by the recruiting organization, the HR Specialist contacts the selectee to make a tentative job offer. Additionally, the specialist provides the selectee with information related to security screening, physical screening, and drug-testing as applicable. Once all conditions-of-employment are met (that is, the selectee has completed all documents – and any additional eligibility requirements, such as drug testing, physical, etc.), the HR Specialist will update the status of all applicants and issue Disposition Letters to notify applicants of their non-selection. On those occasions when the conditions-of-employment are unusually lengthy, we will occasionally “code” the non-selections prior to completion of this step. [As you can see, while initial updates come relatively quickly, there are no interim updates during the period when management is making the selections.] Day 57: After all the required paperwork has been returned and all other conditions-of-employment have been met, the HR Specialist will coordinate a start date with both the selectee and the selecting official. Day 70: Employee enters into new position. I know this was a lengthy post,
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 22:16:20 +0000
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