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Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions

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Standards

Introduction

This section contains the group coverage qualification standards, associated individual occupational requirements (IOR), and individual qualification standards covering white collar occupations in the Federal competitive service. These standards describe the minimum qualification requirements (for example, educational, medical, age, experience, etc.) for each occupational series. You may search for information about specific qualification requirements using either the Index by Series Number or Index by Series Title.

The standards are written broadly for Governmentwide application and are not intended to provide detailed information about specific qualification requirements for individual positions at a particular agency. Such information (i.e., a description of the specialized experience requirements for a particular position) should be included in the vacancy announcements issued by the agency. Information about the work performed in a General Schedule occupational series is contained in the Handbook of Occupational Groups & Families and the Introduction to the Position Classification Standards, and is not repeated on this site.

Many occupations or positions that are covered by a group coverage qualification standard also have Individual Occupation Requirements (IOR). Some series are covered by a separate stand-alone individual qualification standard.

Each of the following Group Coverage Qualification Standards includes a list of covered occupations:

An occupational series has not been assigned to the following:

They should be used in conjunction with the appropriate qualification standard for the specific occupational series. For example, an agency may plan to recruit for a supervisory computer scientist position. In this situation, the agency should use the qualification standard for the 1550 occupational series in conjunction with the Supervisory Guide.

The following links may be helpful in locating additional qualification-related information.