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Frequently Asked Questions

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Safe Job Searching	CONSUMER ALERT - FEDERAL JOB FRAUD Information on job vacancies with the Federal Government and the Postal Service is provided free of charge. However, many Americans are victimized by scam artists selling information about Federal job opportunities. These scam artists place classified advertisements in newspapers, magazines, and periodicals offering--for a fee--to help Job Seekers locate and apply for Federal jobs. Some companies go so far as to use names that imply affiliation with the Federal Government, such as the "U.S. Agency for Career Advancement," or "Postal Employment Service." For more information, click here.
Multiple Selections	Some fields allow you to select more than one option. For multiple selections, hold down the CTRL key (the Command key for Macs) while clicking selections.

Keyword Search	Enter Keywords for the Job Titles and Job Descriptions you would like to see. Keywords are words, phrases, and terms that you can enter to describe educational and professional experiences, skills, and agency names. They are used to search for Jobs containing those words in their Descriptions. By typing in various Keywords, you will maximize your chances of retrieving Jobs that most accurately match your search.
	Examples include: Job Title, Job Description, Agency Name, Vacancy Announcement #, Pay Plan, Control #, Occupation Code, Appointment Term, Duty Location.
	For more information, consult our Keyword Search Tips.
Location Search	Select Location(s) by clicking inside the Location Search box, scrolling to see selections, and clicking on your choices.
	For multiple selections, hold down the CTRL key (the Command key for Macs) while clicking selections. Type the first letter of the state to get closer to the state in which you wish to search.
Category Search	Select Categories by clicking inside the Category Search box, scrolling through the selections, and clicking on your choices. The Category selection allows you to choose to view jobs for only the occupations in which you wish to work. If you have no industry preference, you can choose Select all. If you're unsure of which Keywords to use to describe your Job, you can use the Categories box to show all the Jobs in selected occupations. Once on the search results page, you can then use Keywords to refine these results to find the types of Job you are looking for. For multiple selections, hold down the CTRL key (the Command key for Macs) while clicking selections.
Agency Search	Select Agencies by clicking inside the Agency Search box, scrolling through the selections, and clicking on your choices. The Agency selection allows you to choose to view jobs for only the Agencies for which you want to work. If you have no Agency preference, you can choose Select All. If you're unsure of which Keywords to use to describe your Job, you can use the Agency box to show all the Jobs in selected occupations. Once on the search results page, you can then use Keywords to refine these results to find the types of Job you are looking for. For multiple selections, hold down the CTRL key (the Command key for Macs) while clicking selections.
Applicant Eligibility	There are two classes of Jobs in the Federal Government: Those that are in the Competitive Civil Service Those that are in the Excepted Service Competitive service Jobs are under OPM’s jurisdiction and subject to the civil service laws passed by Congress to ensure that applicants and employees receive fair and equal treatment in the hiring process (Title 5, USC). Excepted service agencies (Legislature, Judicial, CIA, and others) set their own qualification requirements and are not subject to appointment, pay, and classification rules in Title 5, USC. Positions may be in the excepted service by law, by executive order, or by action of the Office of Personnel Management. In filling competitive service jobs, agencies can generally choose from among 3 groups of candidates: A competitive list of eligibles administered by OPM or by an agency under OPM's direction. This list consists of applicants who have applied and met the qualification requirements for a specific vacancy announcement. A list of eligibles who have civil service status consist of applicants who are eligible for noncompetitive movement within the competitive service because they either now are or were serving under career-type appointments in the competitive service. These individuals are selected under agency merit promotion procedures and can receive an appointment by promotion, reassignment, transfer, or reinstatement. A list of eligibles that qualify for a special noncompetitive appointing authority established by law or executive order. Examples of special noncompetitive appointing authorities include the Veterans' Readjustment Appointment (VRA), the special authority for 30% or more disabled veterans, and the Peace Corps. Veterans' preference recognizes the economic loss suffered by citizens who have served their country in uniform in times of strife, restores veterans to a favorable competitive position for Government employment, and acknowledges the larger obligation owed to disabled veterans. More information about Veteran's Preferences is available at http://www.usajobs.gov/EI3.asp THE VETERANS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES ACT (VEOA) This act gave veterans who qualify as preference eligibles and veterans with 3 or more years of continuous active service access to jobs that might otherwise be closed to them. More information about VEOA is available at http://www.usajobs.gov/EI52.asp There are only two areas of consideration for SES position and SES Candidate Development Program (SESCDP) vacancy announcements: 1) All Federal Civil Service Appointees or 2) All Qualified Persons. Federal Civil Service Appointments: The "civil service" consists of all persons who occupy positions in executive, judicial, and legislative branches, except positions in the uniformed services (the armed forces, the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Included are experts and consultants who occupy appointive positions, and individuals in the Postal Service and Postal Rate Commission. The District of Columbia Government is not part of the Federal Civil Service. A person is considered to be in the civil service only if occupying a civil service position at the time of application. For example, an individual who is not a civil service appointee but has reinstatement eligibility to the competitive service is not eligible for a SES position or a SESCDP announced for "All Federal Civil Service Appointees." Persons who have noncompetitive eligibility for career SES appointment include: A former career SES appointee who has career reinstatement eligibility (to qualify, you must have successfully completed a one year career SES probationary period or been exempted from that requirement); and A graduate of an OPM-approved Federal agency SES Candidate Development Plan who has been certified by a Qualifications Review Board. NOTE: An agency has the option of applying the SES merit staffing process to persons who have noncompetitive eligibility for career SES appointment. If you have further questions about the SES, please consult OPM's SES Web Page.
Pay	The actual salary that an agency offers will be dependent on your qualifications. The general qualifications needed to receive that pay (and equivalent GS grade) are shown by the salary. Please see the announcement for specific education and experience requirements for the position. For more information, click here. Pay Grade Range General Schedule Announcements are also classified by the Federal Government's General Schedule (GS) pay scale. As a result, announcements usually provide the salary as well as their GS equivalents. To search for positions by GS Grade Level, specify a low and high GS level using the provided drop-down lists. For example: To search for positions that fall within the GS-9 and GS-12 levels, select 9 (as the low) and 12 (as the high) values. To review current Federal pay, please see the 2006 Locality Pay Charts. Note: Grade Level search is not available on the Senior Executive Search page. Searching by Grade Level is currently done for annualized jobs only (not summer or seasonal jobs).
Targeted Work Environments	Select Work Environment (s) by clicking inside the Work Environment Search box, scrolling to see selections, and clicking on your choices. The Work Environment selection allows you to choose a work environment that meets your needs. More information about Work Environment is available at: http://www.usajobs.gov/infocenter/workenv/ For multiple selections, hold down the CTRL key (the Command key for Macs) while clicking selections.
Job Title	Enter all or part of a Job Title that you would like to see. You will maximize your chances to get better results if you know the exact title for the position. Otherwise, the system will match as many words of the job title to give you a relevant search result list. For example, entering “Auditor” will retrieve all Job Titles with the word “auditor”, yet it will also retrieve other titles with “auditor” in it as well, including “Supervisory Auditor” and “Information Systems Auditor”, among others.
Series Search	Federal occupations are grouped into series that are given a numerical code for identification. This search allows you to search by that code. Click here for a brief description of the occupations covered by each series. Please use all 4 digits including any leading zeros when typing the occupational code. You may also search an occupational group by typing the first two digits (e.g. 08 for engineers).
Occupational Series (General Schedule Occupational Groups)	Federal occupations are grouped into series that are given a numerical code for identification. This search allows you to search by that code. The General Schedule is the basic classification and compensation system for white collar occupations in the Federal Government as established by chapter 51 of title 5, United States Code. Click here for more information on GS groups.

Sorting	Your list of matching Jobs can either be sorted by date posted or by their relevance (how closely the Keywords match words within a Job Posting) to the search Keywords you entered. Choose the sorting method from the drop-down list.
Viewing Results	Brief View: The following information appears for each Job in the Brief View: Date, Job Title, Agency, and Location.
	Detailed View: The Detailed View displays all the information included in the Brief View, as well as the first couple of lines of the Job Description, the Job Type, the Job Status (e.g. Full-Time, Part-Time, etc.), and Salary. This View allows you to make a better decision on whether a Job interests you enough to want to read its entire description.
Search For Jobs	Click this button to view the Jobs that match your Search criteria.