The Government Hiring Process — What to Expect After Submitting Your Job Application

Thinking of applying for a government job opening? Well, we have some bad news. Once you send in your application, you set off a long process that is largely out of your control. This is because most government organizations are bound by laws and regulations that take time to play out.

This is so the process is fair for all applicants. However, some job application systems like USAJobs have built-in functionality that allows applicants to keep track of their application status.

This makes the entire process highly effective and efficient, by greatly reducing the number of phone calls and emails that need to be made to the human resource department. The process is also highly functional because it lets applicants look up information themselves.

Wait For The Job Posting To Close

First things first, once you submit your job application, you’ll need to wait for the job opening to close. All government jobs have an application deadline, after which they will stop accepting applications from potential candidates and will start looking through the applications submitted.

This is done to make it easier to manage the number of applications received, so they can quickly move forward with the hiring process. In an effort to practice fairness, the human resource department stops receiving applications after the closing date and does not allow individual managers to do so either.

Your Application Will Then Be Screened By the Human Resource Department

The application acceptance procedure is halted after the closing date has passed. Once the human resource department knows that they have all the applications that need to be considered, they begin to screen them.

Each application is sorted through, making sure it meets the minimum requirements specified for the job. For example, if a job specification says that the new hire needs to have a specific degree, all applications that do not feature the stated degree are removed by a human resource specialist.

This is why it is important for applicants to go through the job description thoroughly and make sure they fit the criteria before applying.

Finalists Are Then Shortlisted And The List Is Made Public

While screening, as discussed before, applications by the candidates fitting the minimum job criteria are set aside while all other applications are rejected.

Then, the human resource departments and the hiring manager go through the selected applications again and make a shortlist of selected candidates who will have the interviews.

During this time, candidates and applicants are also likely to be contacted for further references or information to help decide if they will be shortlisted or not.

Once The List Is Compiled, Interviews Will Be Scheduled

Interviews are then scheduled, and the human resource department calls the applicants who need to show up for interviews. In case an applicant chooses to withdraw their application, the human resource department then needs to decide the most qualified candidate to take their place.

They might choose to consider an applicant who wasn’t previously selected for the interview round, or continue with the selected pool and finish the interview round with one less finalist. This decision depends mostly on how close the next most qualified applicant was to being chosen to take the first one’s place.

If you’re one of the lucky ones who gets called in for the interview, there are chances that you will either be interviewed on the phone, or in-person depending on the position you applied for.

For example, there are some positions that a lot of potential candidates apply for, and in this case, it becomes necessary to conduct a screening interview over call to help narrow down the pool of applicants.

Background And Reference Checks Are Conducted

As this is one of the most crucial rounds of the entire process, there is a need to background and reference check the applicant to make sure they are a good fit for the role.

Once the final list for the interview round is confirmed, the concerned organization makes the necessary calls required to confirm the information and aptitude of the applicant. The reason these checks are run at this point is so that there is no additional delay if the selected finalist rejects the job offer.

Even then, some organizations do wait until after the interviews when they are ready to make the final offer to conduct these checks to reduce the cost of running them.

Finally, Interviews Will Be Conducted

At this point, the large pool of hundreds of applicants is reduced to a group that is usually fewer than ten people. In a lot of cases, this group may even be as little as four to five people.

This number also often determines how long the interview process is supposed to take. If there are fewer than ten finalists, the interview process may only take a couple of weeks to get done with. However, in other cases, where there are more candidates, this process can take much longer.

The New Hire Is Selected And Agreed Upon

After the interview process is over, the new hire is selected by the interview panel. This panel will also rank the other finalists according to the order in which they will be considered if the first finalist turns the offer down.

The Job Is Offered And The Offer Is Discussed

Finally, the job offer is extended to the selected finalist. This is usually done verbally at this point so that further negotiations like compensation or benefits can begin. When these things are agreed upon, a letter documenting the terms of the agreement is created and sent over to the finalist to sign.

Once the chosen finalist reads through the offer letter, they can then sign it as a legal record of government employment, and this the end of the hiring procedure.

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