From USAJOBS Help
Type of Work
Applicants may choose to search from a variety of types of work. These include:
- Permanent
- Temporary
- Detail
- Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)
- Student
Permanent Appointment
A permanent appointment is an appointment to an Excepted Service position that is not a temporary or time-limited appointment.
Temporary Appointments
A temporary appointment is an appointment lasting one year or less, with a specific expiration date. An agency may make a temporary appointment to:
- fill a short-term position that is not expected to last more than one year; or,
- meet an employment need that is scheduled to be terminated within one or two years for reasons such as reorganization, abolishment, or the completion of a specific project or peak workload; or,
- fill positions that involve intermittent (irregular) or seasonal (recurring annually) work schedules.
A temporary employee's appointment may be terminated at any time and the employee is not eligible for promotion, reassignment, or transfer to other jobs.
Time limits
Generally, an agency may make a temporary appointment for a specified period not to exceed one year. The appointment may be extended up to a maximum of one additional year. Appointments involved with intermittent or seasonal work may be extended indefinitely if extensions are made in increments of one year or less and the employment totals less than six months (1,040 hours) a year.
Selecting a Temporary Employee
Most positions are filled competitively from applications received through USAJOBS. However, an agency may give a temporary appointment noncompetitively to certain individuals, e.g., a reinstatement eligible, certain present and former Peace Corps employees, a 30% disabled veteran, and veterans eligible for a Veterans Recruitment Appointment.
Benefits
Temporary employees are eligible to earn leave and are covered by Social Security and unemployment compensation, but do not receive the other fringe benefits provided to career civil service employees. Current law allows temporary employees to purchase health insurance after they have one year of temporary service, but the employee must pay the full cost, including the Government's contribution. Employees are not eligible for coverage under the Federal Government Life Insurance program or the Federal Employees Retirement System.
Term Appointments
A term appointment is an appointment lasting more than one year but less than four years, with a specific expiration date. Reasons for making a term appointment include:
- project work;
- extraordinary workload;
- scheduled abolishment of a position;
- reorganization;
- uncertainty of future funding;
- contracting out of the function.
Selecting a term employee
Most positions are filled competitively from applications received through USAJOBS. However, an agency may give a term appointment noncompetitively to certain individuals, e.g., reinstatement of those eligible, veterans eligible for a Veterans Recruitment Appointment, and 30% disabled veterans. The employment of a term employee ends automatically on the expiration of the term appointment. The first year of service is considered a trial period and the agency may terminate a term employee at any time during the trial period.
Benefits
Term employees are eligible to earn leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including health and life insurance, within-grade increases and Federal Employees Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage.
Detail
A temporary assignment of an employee to a different position for a specified period, the employee will then return to his or her regular duties at the end of the detail.
Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)
Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) gives an eligible, well-qualified employee selection priority over almost any other applicant from outside the agency. Under ICTAP, employees must apply for positions in the local commuting area and include proof that they were displaced. For example, a Department of Defense employee with a Reduction in Force (RIF) separation notice could apply for a competitive service vacancy in the local commuting area at the Department of Education. In most cases, Education must select this well-qualified person for the position before choosing another applicant from outside the agency.
* Note to DoD Employees: The Department of Defense (DoD) does not provide agency selection priority through CTAP. Instead, DoD uses the Priority Placement Program (PPP) to help place its surplus employees. DoD also provides career transition services to its employees to the extent possible. Displaced DoD workers can also register for their local Reemployment Priority Lists, and request selection priority for jobs in non-DoD agencies using the ICTAP.
Presidential Management Fellows Program
For more than three decades, the PMF Program has been the Federal Government’s premier leadership development program for advanced degree candidates. In contrast to the programs described above, this is a centralized program with a yearly application cycle. Additional information can be found by visiting: www.pmf.gov
Pathways Programs: The Way Forward
While SCEP and STEP are currently the primary programs for student entry into the Federal government, they will be evolving in the near future. On December 27, 2010, President Obama signed Executive Order 13562, entitled "Recruiting and Hiring Students and Recent Graduates." For more information on this exciting new program, please go to: www.opm.gov/hiring reform/pathways. These new programs will not be operational until final regulations are implemented sometime in 2012. Until the new regulations are implemented, agencies may continue using the STEP, SCEP and PMF programs.
Entry Level Employment upon Graduation
If you are close to graduation and looking for a Federal opportunity after you receive your degree, it is helpful to target your search to entry-level positions, but not all, positions in the Federal government use the General Schedule (GS) for pay. You can target your search to the GS levels that are typically considered "entry level" for Federal employment. For example, individuals with an Associate's degree or equivalent will generally be considered at the GS-4, with a Bachelor's degree at the Grade 5 (GS-7 with superior academic achievement), with a Master's degree at the GS-9, and a PhD at the GS-11.
