Employment Opportunities
For all Civil Service vacancies posted on USAJOBS, please click here, and choose "Civil Service."
The U.S. Department of State, along with other federal agencies, is governed by the Office of Personnel Management which provides a centralized resource for applying to our opportunities. If you’re interested in pursuing a Civil Service career with the U.S. Department of State, you can start by choosing your area of interest or expertise from the different categories below:
- Business Management /Finance/ Economics/Accounting
- Engineering
- Foreign Affairs and International Policy and Operations
- Human Resources/Information Technology/Legal
- International and Domestic Security
- Office Support Professionals
- Senior Executive Service
A career in the Civil Service is a unique opportunity to represent America to the world. There are various job opportunities available that allow you to make a difference in our global society. For specific job listings and to apply, please click here. Additional employment opportunities are available that require a separate application process. All necessary employment forms can be found here.
- Student Programs (Presidential Management Fellows, Co-op, Summer Internships)
- Career Entry Program
- VEOA
- VRA
- Temporary
- Competitive Exemptions
- Excepted Service
Career Entry Program (CEP)
The Career Entry Program (CEP) is a two-year career development program. Positions are in professional and technical career fields such as contract management, personnel management, financial management, security and intelligence, foreign affairs, consular affairs, management analysis, and information technology. Entry is at the GS-05 or GS-07 grade levels. Individuals are subject to OPM qualifications and are appointed in the excepted service. Program participants undergo a rigorous, structured two-year program of formal training, rotational assignments, on-the-job training and self-development activities. CEP positions are limited and highly competitive. However, applications are accepted on an on-going basis. Applicants must submit the following materials in order to receive consideration:
- Resume or Federal job application, including:
- Social Security number
- Citizenship (must be a United Stated citizen to apply)
- Position for which you are applying (e.g. Foreign Affairs, Human Resource Specialist)
- College Transcript (unofficial copy is acceptable)
If claiming Veteran's preference, you must submit form DD-214.
NOTE: Selectees must be able to obtain a Top Secret security clearance and will be subject to random drug testing.
BASIS FOR RATING: Applicants will be rated on experience and education based on applications, transcripts and responses to the Supplemental Qualifications Statement which will be provided after review of a resume.
Email applications to: cspapps@State.gov Attn: Career Entry Program
Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA)
Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) of 1998 gives eligible veterans access to jobs that otherwise would have been available only to status employees. In VEOA appointments, veterans are not accorded preference as a factor, but they are allowed to compete for job opportunities that are not offered to other external candidates. A VEOA eligible who is selected will be given a career or career-conditional appointment. Agencies may appoint VEOA eligibles who have competed under agency merit promotion announcements when they are recruiting from outside their workforce. VEOA eligibility applies to the following categories of veterans:
- Preference eligibles; and
- Service personnel separated after 3 or more years of continuous active service performed under honorable conditions.
Veterans' Recruitment Appointment (VRA) (Formerly, Veterans' Readjustment Appointment)
Veterans' Recruitment Appointment (VRA) allows appointment of eligible veterans up to the GS-11 or equivalent. Veterans are hired under excepted appointments to positions that are otherwise in the competitive service. After the individual satisfactorily completes 2 years of service, the veteran must be converted noncompetitively to a career or career-conditional appointment. VRA can be a good tool for filling entry-level to mid-level positions. VRA eligibility applies to the following categories:
- Disabled veterans;
- Veterans who served on active duty in the Armed Forces during a war declared by Congress, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized;
- Veterans who, while serving on active duty in the Armed Forces, participated in a military operation for which the Armed Forces Service Medal was awarded; and
- Veterans separated from active duty within 3 years.
Temporary Appointments
A temporary appointment is an appointment in the competitive or excepted service for a specified period of time that cannot exceed 1 year. A temporary appointment may be used to meet any short-term employment need that is expected to last less than a year. Work may be performed on a full-time, part-time, or intermittent basis.
The initial 1-year appointment may be extended for up to 1 additional year for a 24-month maximum length of service. Appointment to a "successor" position, i.e., a position that replaces and absorbs the duties of the initial position, is viewed as an extension of the original appointment. Similarly, an appointment to a position with the same basic duties, in the same major organizational subdivision, and in the same local commuting area as the original position is also regarded as an extension under Office of Personnel Management rules (5 CFR 316.401(c)).
Anyone eligible for a permanent appointment is also eligible for a temporary appointment. These types of appointments are most likely to appeal to retirees (including the military), students, people with disabilities, or former overseas family members with executive order eligibility.
Rights and Benefits
Leave. Temporary employees with regularly scheduled tours of duty, i.e., either full-time or part-time, earn sick leave on the same basis as nontemporary employees. Employees appointed for a period of 90 days or longer will also earn annual leave. Employees with shorter appointments will be entitled to annual leave only after they have been employed for a continuous period of 90 days, i.e., through an extension of the current appointment or a succession of different appointments. After completing the required 90-day period, the annual leave earned is retroactively credited.
Reduction in Force (RIF). Temporary employees who have completed 1 year of continuous service with no break in service of 1 workday or more are in tenure group III for RIF purposes.
Retirement. Temporary employees are covered by Social Security only and do not participate in the Federal retirement program.
Health Insurance. Temporary employees that complete 1 year of continuous employment, excluding any break in service of 5 days or less, are eligible to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB). They are, however, required to pay the full cost of the premium.
Disciplinary Actions. Temporary employees generally, have no appeal rights in adverse and disciplinary actions.
Competitive Exemptions
While competition is very much the norm in Federal hiring, certain individuals, those with non-competitive eligibility, are allowed to bypass the competitive examining process and may enter the competitive Civil Service without having to compete with the general public. They may be appointed without competition in some cases, or they may compete under the Department of State’s Merit Promotion and Internal Placement procedures.
Examples of Non-competitive Eligibles:
- Certain former overseas family members;
- Peace Corps volunteers and staff;
- Employees who complete an internship under the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP); and
- Certain Veterans
Excepted Service
By definition (5 U.S.C.) excepted service positions are outside the competitive and senior executive service. Excepted service positions have been "excepted" from the requirements of the competitive service by law, Executive Order, or OPM regulation (5 U.S.C. 2103 and 5 CFR part 213). When recruiting for these positions, (e.g., law clerks, attorneys, students, USUN positions and political appointees) competitive service rules and procedures do not apply. Due consideration, however, must be afforded to preference eligible veterans who apply for positions in the excepted service.
Employees in excepted service positions do not acquire competitive status unless specifically permitted by law, Executive order or OPM regulation, (e.g., Presidential Management Fellows (PMF)).
Similar to any other employer, the U.S. Department of State requires a 90-day probationary, or trial, employment period. In general, the first year of service for an employee given a career-conditional appointment in the "competitive" civil service is considered to be the probationary period. (Under an equivalent type of an appointment in the "excepted" service, this is usually called the "trial" period.) In addition, under certain circumstances an employee given a "career" appointment in the competitive service may be required to serve a probationary period (e.g., selection from a competitive examining certificate).
During the probationary period, the supervisor determines whether the employee is performing satisfactorily. If not, the employee may be dismissed and he/she normally does not have appeal rights. Civil Service employees serving on an initial appointment to a supervisory or managerial position are also required to serve a probationary period, which is, usually, one year. Generally, if the employee does not perform satisfactorily during this period, he/she shall be returned to a position in the agency of no lower grade and pay than the position he/she left to accept the managerial supervisory position. In some instances, however, the employee may be terminated and does not have appeal rights. (See 5 CFR part 315, Subpart H and I).
