Fort Belvoir, Va. –
Part 1: The application process overview
Navigating the federal job application process can be daunting, but with the right knowledge and preparation, you can improve your chances of landing a position at DCAA and other federal agencies. We recently met with our local DCAA Human Resource Specialist extraordinaire who shared some key insights on the application processes that are universal to the federal government and some that are a bit more unique to DCAA. In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the DCAA application life cycle and share valuable tips to help you get referred and secure interviews.
Traditional Federal Hiring Processes
USAJobs
For most federal agencies, USAJobs is the go-to place for job announcements. While the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) states USAJobs as the only place to find a federal job, the landscape is shifting. When applying for a job using USAJobs, you’ll encounter a more structured process.
- Job postings include a set of qualifying questions and require various attachments. They also include a full description of desired attributes, conditions of employment, and required qualifications.
- An executive order required federal job applications have a qualifying assessment. The assessment can be an essay, qualifying questions about your familiarity with the desired attributes, or another task depending on the agency and position of the job.
Contrary to popular belief, applications are manually reviewed here at DCAA. There is no need to obsess over your resumé format. Font size, font type, and fancy headers are not required to advance your application; however, less is not always more with a federal resumé. The only part of the process that involves a computerized system is the assessment or questionnaire scoring system. How you respond to the questionnaire is graded by a system, but the actual cut-off scores and final reviews are completed by a human (resource specialists). This facilitates larger application pools but also means that you need to be meticulous about what you submit in your application.
Applications are rated and ranked based on their qualifications and those who meet the qualifications are referred for consideration. Certain positions, such as auditors at DCAA, have special hiring authorities. One of the hiring authorizations DCAA uses is direct hire authority. This streamlines and simplifies the application process, reducing time it takes to complete the process.
Direct Hire Authority
Direct hire authority helps reduce the typically lengthy application process and provides additional benefits if you’re in the market for a job at DCAA.
- Recruiters can conduct on the spot interviews during recruiting events. DCAA recruiters are authorized to determine your eligibility to interview upon reviewing your resumé and transcript outside of USAJobs applications.
- This hire authority simplifies the application process and eliminates preference assessments that make it easier for qualified candidates to apply.
The direct hire process improves efficiencies but may provide less systematic and structured communication about the current stage of the hiring process compared to USAJobs. DCAA will always provide emails on the application status such as if your application was received and reviewed or if you’ve been offered an interview, but USAJobs provides a consistent location to check your application process.
Now that you have a bit of insider information about the hiring avenues DCAA uses, you can see if there are any recruitment events near you or if there are any USAJobs postings. In the next blog article, we have some information to help make sure your applications get referred and you’re securing interviews.