VETERANS PREFERENCE &
THE VRA PROGRAM

• Introduction

• Veterans Preference

• Veterans Recruitment Appointments (VRAs)

• Military & Civilian Sponsor Dependent Hiring 

• Disabled Veterans (Hiring Programs)

• Federal Resume Writing Service (Specializing in Military to Federal Transition)

• Military to Federal Career (The Transition - How, What & When)

• Private Sector Job Resources (Department of Labor & More) Play ALL of Your Cards

• Clearance Jobs Career Center (Matches job seekers that hold active or current security clearances to hiring employers and recruiters looking for skilled cleared candidates.)

• Health Care Jobs (Explore High Paying Health Care Jobs and Careers)

 

INTRODUCTION

There are several special emphasis civil service employment programs available to veterans. Veterans Preference, discussed in this section, and the Veterans Readjustment Act (VRA) are two of the better known programs. Unknown to many, dependents and spouses of active duty personnel receive hiring preference for government jobs under the Military Spouse Preference program and the Family Member Preference Program.

The Book of U.S. Government Jobs describes the entire federal employment process and includes easy to use checklists and sample applications with over 1,000 resources. Recommended by LIBRARY JOURNAL

When vacancies are announced by an agency, selecting officials can fill the position by:

1. Internal promotions or reassignments of existing federal workers;

2. Re-employing former employees;

3. Using approved special purpose noncompetitive appointments such as the VRA, Spouse Preference, and Military Dependent programs; and,

4. Appointing a new employee who has successfully completed an examination. The examination can be either written or an extensive examination of your past work experience and education as listed on a Federal Employment
Application.

VETERANS PREFERENCE

When an agency advertises job vacancies through the Office of Personnel Management or locally through direct hire authority the agency must select from the top rated eligible applicants. The official may not pass over a Veterans Preference eligible, however, and appoint a nonpreference eligible lower on the list unless the reasons for passing over the veteran are sufficient.

Veterans preference gives special consideration to eligible veterans looking for federal employment. Veterans who are disabled or who served on active duty in the United States Armed Forces during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over nonveterans both in hiring into the federal civil service and in retention during reductions in force. There are two classes of preference for honorably discharged veterans:

Five Point Preference

Five-point preference is given to those honorable separated veterans (this means an honorable or general discharge) who served on active duty (not active duty for training) in the Armed Forces:

• during any war (this means a war declared by Congress, the last of which was World War II);
• For more than 180 consecutive days, any part of which occurred after 1/31/55 and before 10/15/76.
• during the period April 28, 1952, through July 1, 1955;
• in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal has been authorized, such as El Salvador, Lebanon, Granada, Panama, Southwest Asia, Somalia, and Haiti.

Medal holders and Gulf War veterans who originally enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered on active duty on or after October 14, 1982, without having previously completed 24 months of continuous active duty, must have served continuously for 24 months or the full period called or ordered to active duty.

Effective on October 1, 1980, military retirees at or above the rank of major or equivalent, are not entitled to preference unless they qualify as disabled veterans.

Ten Point Preference

Ten-point preference is given to:

• those honorably separated veterans who 1) qualify as disabled veterans because they have served on active duty in the Armed Forces at any time and have a present service-connected disability or are receiving compensation, disability retirement benefits, or pension from the military or the Department of Veterans Affairs; or 2) are Purple Heart recipients;

• the spouse of a veteran unable to work because of a service- connected disability;

• the unmarried widow of certain deceased veterans; and

• the mother of a veteran who died in service or who is permanently and totally disabled.

When applying for Federal jobs, eligible veterans should claim preference on their application or resume. Applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete form SF-15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference. This form is included in the Quick & Easy Federal Jobs Kit Software program. Veterans who are still in the service may be granted 5 points tentative preference on the basis of information contained in their applications, but they must produce a DD Form 214 prior to appointment to document entitlement to preference.

Note: Reservists who are retired from the Reserves but are not receiving retired pay are not considered "retired military" for purposes of veterans' preference.

The Office of Personnel Management provides abundant information on these programs.  To find out whether you qualify for veterans' preference, visit OPM's Veterans Preference Information page. (State employment service offices have veteran representatives available to assist veterans in gaining access to this information.)

What Does This Mean?

If you apply for a federal job, your knowledge, skills and abilities will be
rated on a point system. You will receive points for related education, experience, special skills, awards, and written tests if required. The maximum points anyone can accumulate is 100. If an eligible five-point preference candidate accumulates 90 points, five additional points are awarded on preference for a total score of 95. Therefore, the preference veteran, in most cases, must be hired before an agency can hire anyone with less than 95 points in this example. A 10-point preference vet would have a total score of 100.

Hiring preference in civil service examinations is awarded regardless of scores. Qualified veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more are placed at the top of most civil service examination registers, except for scientific and professional jobs at GS-9 or higher.

A federal agency hiring candidates from an examination list must consider the top three available candidates for each vacancy. An agency may not pass over a candidate with preference and select an individual without preference who has the same or lower score, unless OPM approves the agency's reasons.

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VETERANS RECRUITMENT APPOINTMENTS (VRAs)

The VRA is a special authority by which agencies can appoint an eligible veteran without competition. The VRA is an excepted appointment to a position that is otherwise in the competitive service. After 2 years of satisfactory service, the veteran is converted to a career-conditional appointment in the competitive service. (Note, however, that a veteran may be given a noncompetitive temporary or term appointment based on VRA eligibility. These appointments do not lead to career jobs.)

When two or more VRA applicants are preference eligibles, the agency must apply veterans' preference as required by law. (While all VRA eligibles have served in the Armed Forces, they do not necessarily meet the eligibility requirements for veterans' preference under section 2108 of title 5, United States Code.)

• have served on active duty in the Armed Forces for more than 180 days and received other than a dishonorable discharge. The 180-day requirement does not apply to veterans released from active duty because of a service-connected disability, or to members of a Reserve component ordered to active duty during a period of war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign or expeditionary medal is authorized.

For VRA eligibility, the term "period of war" includes the Vietnam era and the Persian Gulf War beginning August 2, 1990 and ending November 30, 1995, but does not include other operations such as Panama and Somalia.

There are 2 groups of eligibles under the VRA:

1) Vietnam-era veterans, i.e., those who served between August 5, 1964 (or February 28, 1961 for those who actually served in the Republic of Vietnam), and May 7, 1975, are eligible for a VRA appointment until the later of December 31, 1995, or 10 years following their last release from active duty. (This time period does not apply to 30 percent or more disabled veterans.); and

2) Post-Vietnam-era veterans, i.e., those who first served after May 7, 1975, are eligible until December 31, 1999, or 10 years following their last release from active duty, whichever is later.

The Book of U.S. Government Jobs provides detailed information about these programs and provides all of the information you need to fill out your applications and investigate jobs with all agencies. This title further clarified the VRA options such as:

Terms of Employment
How to Apply
Excepted Appointment Under Schedule B
30% Disabled Employment Options

ORDER The Book of U.S. Government Jobs - 9th edition
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MILITARY & CIVILIAN SPONSOR DEPENDENT HIRING

These programs are covered in detail in the all new 9th edition of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs. The programs covered are:

• Military Spouse Preference Program
• Military Dependent Hiring Programs
• NAFI Non-Appropriated Fund Positions
• Family Member Preference

Military to Federal Career (Making the Transition)

The keys to landing a federal job are to first understand the federal job market from the inside out and then know how to write a federal resume that incorporates your military experience and relates it to a comparable federal civil service occupation. The Book of U.S. Government Jobs will help you understand the federal job market from an insider's perspective. Dennis Damp, the author, retired from federal service in 2004 with 35 years and 7 months service. He began his government service in 1968 when he was drafted during the Vietnam war. After leaving the military he landed a job with the Department of Defense and after three years was selected for a position with the Federal Aviation Administration. Damp spent a total of 10 years in the military and his active duty time counted towards his benefits and retirement. He knows first hand how to make the transition from the military to federal civil service. His last position with the federal government was Technical Operations Manager for the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Control Tower at the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport.

Recently we discovered a valuable resource that compliments The Book of U.S. Government Jobs and personally assists military personnel with writing their federal resume This resource helps military personnel target specific federal civil service jobs that suit their unique military work experience, skills, knowledge, and training. This valuable guide takes military personnel step-by-step through the federal resume writing task. The federal style resume is nothing like the private sector resume. You must have over 42 specific blocks of information on your federal resume or it may not be accepted and the data must be properly formatted and organized. In the "Military to Federal Career Guide" federal resume writing expert Kathryn Troutman walks you through the steps of creating a powerful new-style military federal resume. This book and CD is loaded with sample resumes for many military occupations and the graphs and charts help you focus on your military skills and converts them to specific federal civil service occupations.

A professional Federal Resume Writing Service can assist you with your application package. They will work with you by phone and email to package a federal style resume specifically tailored to the job announcement that you are bidding on.

We are offering a special on these two resources so that you will have everything you need to make the transition from the military to a high paying and secure federal government job. See the special offer on our shopping cart and save 20% off list. 

Private Sector Job Resources

Use these resources to explore private sector jobs and to improve your chances. These resources will help you compare what you find in the federal sector to private sector jobs and you can assess the pros and cons of both options. The more jobs you apply for the better your chances. 

• The U.S. Department of Labor hosts a comprehensive career website for hiring veterans of America's military. Their site at Visit http://hirevetsfirst.gov is a wealth of information for vets looking for employment in the private sector. You will find abundant resources including a military skills translator, resume writer, information on one-stop career centers you can visit for personal assistance, and much more. There is even a section on small business ownership.
• General Electric hires many veterans. Visit http://gecareers.com to search for jobs.
• Find a Job - Administrative and Support Services
• Find a Job - Information Technology
• Find a Job - Retail/Wholesale
• Find your dream job! Post your Resume Today.
• Health care jobs - Determine comparable private sector health care skills and locate jobs in the allied health care field.
• Home Depot - http://careers.homedepot.com
• Environmental Health & Safety EHS Jobs
   

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