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
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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.
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); or
- For more than 180 consecutive days, other than for training, any
part of which occurred after January 31, 1955 and before October 15,
1976; or
- During the period April 28, 1952, through July 1, 1955; or
- During the Gulf War from August 2, 1990, through January 2, 1992; or
- For more than 180 consecutive days, any part of which occurred
during the period beginning September 11, 2001, and ending on the date
prescribed by presidential proclamation or by law as the last day of
Operation Iraqi Freedom; or
- In a campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal has been
authorized, such as El Salvador, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, South-west
Asia, Somalia, and Haiti.
Campaign 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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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.)
Eligibility: To be eligible for a VRA
appointment, a veteran must:
- 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
CLICK HERE TO ORDER NOW
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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
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
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Use these resources to explore private sector jobs and to
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