So what happens after I apply through USAJOBS?

This is another of the most common questions I get from job seekers, especially those people who’re unaccustomed to applying for jobs online.  My best advice is, once you’ve revised your resume and submitted the best possible package that you can, forget about it and find more positions to apply to!  Sometimes it seems like you’re sending these applications off into a black hole, but that’s really not too far from the truth.

Make sure to read the vacancy announcement closely, and pay careful attention to the closing date listed.  If the vacancy is marked “Open Continuous,” that means that the manager is anticipating a steady turnover rate for the work, and they’re just seeking to collect resumes to have a pool of candidates on hand for when people leave.  If that’s the case for the position you’ve applied to, please don’t hold your breath until someone calls you for an interview!  Keep a record that you’ve applied for the position, but definitely don’t let your job search grind to a halt.

On the other hand, the hiring process might move slightly faster than glacial speed if the vacancy announcement has a set closing date.  If that’s the case then the announcement will come down off of the USAJOBS website after that date.  From there, all of the resumes will be collected and screened for competitiveness, with veterans’ preference points added in on top of the overall score.  While a HR technician MAY take note of your qualifications, you can’t count on them to be familiar with the terminology of the job that you’re applying for, so make sure to be as thorough and detailed as possible. 

Once all of the numbers are crunched, the best qualified candidates are forwarded to the hiring manager for his or her review.  This list of eligible candidates is often called a hiring certificate, or “cert” for short.  You’ll sometimes hear people describe this pre-selection process as “making the cert.”  At this point, the applicant will generally receive an automated email message about their change in status, or the information will be updated in their USAJOBS account.  With a few exceptions, the form message will use vague language that says “not qualified,” “qualified but not referred,” or “referred to hiring official.”

If you receive one of the “not qualified” messages, you either didn’t fit the requirements of the position, or you didn’t properly word your resume as required by the vacancy announcement, so you’re pretty much out of the process at this point.  Occasionally HR people can go the extra mile to make sure that a personal referral of the hiring manager is considered, but most new applicants can’t count on this.  If you’re in the unenviable position of receiving that “qualified but not referred” type of message, there’s still a chance that you might get called if the best qualified candidates don’t meet the hiring manager’s needs.  Needless to say, you can’t really count on that happening.

Even if you receive a message that you were found to be among the best qualified candidates and your resume has been forwarded to the hiring official, don’t get too excited just yet!  It might take weeks (or even months) for you to get contacted, depending upon the agency’s need or projected budget.  Even though you’re one step further along in the hiring process, it’s still very hard to predict just how soon you can expect to be brought on board.

If there’s one thing you should take away from this post, it’s that you should keep up the momentum with your applications.  Don’t stop applying to interesting positions until you have a final, written job offer in hand, because the federal hiring process is generally a slow one!