Effective immediately, Handbook EL-312, Employment and Placement, Subchapter 75, Supervisor Selection Process, is revised to document the Postal Service’s new process for selecting supervisors. Subchapter 75 was reserved as specified in “Handbook EL-312 Revision: Supervisor Positions,” in Postal Bulletin 22287 (6-17-10, page 68).
Handbook EL-312, Employment and Placement
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7 Assignment, Reassignment, and Promotion
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[Revise subchapter 75 as follows:]
75 Supervisor Selection Process
751 Purpose
The Supervisor Selection Process is an inservice announcement, assessment, and selection process exclusive to current career postal employees. It is used to fill two initial-level supervisory positions with the following job titles: (a) Supervisor Distribution Operations, EAS-17; and (b) Supervisor Customer Services, EAS-17. The goal is to select applicants who best meet the needs of the position.
Seminars may be held to provide information to employees interested in becoming supervisors. The seminars will include information on these topics:
n Supervisory positions, duties, and responsibilities.
n The application and selection process.
752 Noncompetitive Selection Procedures
Competitive procedures are not required when management initiates or an employee requests reassignment to the same level, or when an employee voluntarily accepts or requests in writing a position at a lower level.
a. An employee seeking noncompetitive consideration must submit a written request to the selecting official.
b. An employee may request noncompetitive consideration at any time — before a vacancy is posted, during the time it is posted, or after the posting has closed.
c. A noncompetitive applicant may be selected at any point — before the competitive process begins, during the competitive process, or after a competitive package has been considered.
d. Selection is solely at the discretion of the selecting official.
e. Employees selected in this manner must meet the qualification requirements for the position, except that such applicants are not required to meet the Examination 642 requirement.
Note: If an employee grade level EAS-17 or above chooses to compete in response to a vacancy announcement, the employee must follow the standard process for competitive consideration including submitting an application for the position via eCareer (see 753).
753 Competitive Process
If a position is not filled through noncompetitive procedures, then it is filled competitively through employee application in response to a vacancy announcement.
The following procedures apply:
a. The employee must submit the eCareer application during the posting open period.
b. Such application may be made for any position and location for which the employee is eligible for competitive consideration.
c. The employee will be assessed in accordance with the competitive process, including the requirement to qualify on Examination 642.
d. Selection will be made in accordance with the competitive process.
753.1 Area of Consideration
Selecting officials are responsible for defining the area of consideration. The minimum area of consideration should consist of all eligible career employees within a district. All eligible EAS and bargaining unit employees (including area, Headquarters, and Headquarters field units) may apply if their permanent current work location — where they physically report to work — is physically located within the geographic (service) area of the organizational unit stated in the job posting. Normally, it should not be necessary to relocate an employee to fill an initial level supervisory position.
753.2 Vacancy Announcement
The vacancy announcement is posted via the eCareer system, and it must be posted for no less than 15 calendar days. The announcement must include the following information about the vacant position:
a. Position to be filled.
b. Geographic area of consideration.
c. Duty station.
d. Starting and ending times.
e. Nonscheduled days of the vacant position.
If one or more of these elements requires frequent change in order to meet operational requirements, the announcement must so state.
753.3 Application Procedures
Employees apply by submitting an application via eCareer, by the date and time specified in the announcement.
754 Selection and Placement Process
754.1 Assessment Process
Competitive applicants are assessed by and must successfully complete the following:
n Examination 642.
n Application review.
n Interview.
754.2 Process Guidelines
Application reviews, interviews, and selections are to be: (a) made in accordance with Supervisor Selection Process guidelines provided by the office of Organizational Effectiveness (OE), Human Resources; and (b) conducted in a manner consistent with the philosophy and methods described in Personnel Selection Methods Web-based Training (Course 21553-00). Selecting officials and review committee members are required to take this course.
755 Roles and Responsibilities
755.1 Review Committees
If there are eleven or more applicants, a review committee is required. If there are ten or fewer applicants, a review committee is not required. Even when a review committee is not required, the selecting official may decide to convene a review committee.
A review committee must have at least three members who are EAS employees at a level equal to or higher than that of the vacant position. It is recommended (but not required) that the committee include at least one representative from each of the following:
n Customer Services.
n Distribution Operations.
n Human Resources.
The role of a review committee is to conduct the application reviews, but not the structured interviews. The selecting official is responsible for conducting the structured interviews.
If there is no review committee, the selecting official conducts the application review and documentation activities before conducting the structured interviews.
755.2 Local Services
In addition to general responsibilities related to posting vacancies and coordinating examinations, Human Resources Local Services has responsibility for the creation of a list of applicants to recommend to the selecting official for an interview (see 757).
755.3 Selecting Official
The selecting official is normally the manager with the vacancy. The selecting official must:
n Conduct structured interviews.
n Complete related documentation and eCareer activities.
n Choose the individual who best meets the position requirements.
n Select exclusively on merit.
If the selecting official does not convene a review committee, then the selecting official must conduct the application review and documentation activities before conducting the structured interviews.
756 Application Review
756.1 Process
The applications are reviewed for all applicants who earned a qualifying score on Examination 642, and rated based on benchmarks supplied by OE.
n If a review committee is convened, the committee conducts the reviews.
n If there was no committee, the selecting official conducts the reviews.
756.2 Documentation
The application review rating sheet must be completed with ratings for all the applicants and be retained as an attachment to the posting requisition.
n If a review committee conducted the reviews, the committee chairperson is responsible.
n If a selecting official conducted the reviews, the selecting official is responsible.
756.3 eCareer Questionnaire
The “Application Review” section of the eCareer questionnaires is used to indicate the results of the application review. Responsibility for completion is as follows:
n If a review committee conducted the reviews, the committee chairperson is responsible.
n If a selecting official conducted the reviews, the selecting official is responsible.
757 Recommend for Interview
757.1 Process
Local Services will identify the applicants with the top five Exam 642 scores who also qualified on the application review.
If more than one vacancy (on the same vacancy announcement) is to be filled, an additional applicant will be recommended for each additional vacancy (6 applicants for 2 vacancies, 7 applicants for 3 vacancies, etc.) as long as there are a sufficient number of qualified applicants.
Under no circumstance should an applicant rated as “Not Qualified” on Exam 642 or on the application review be recommended to the selecting official.
In the event that there are no applicants who meet the criteria for recommendation, the selecting official should consult with Human Resources about reposting the vacancy with an expanded area of consideration.
757.2 eCareer Questionnaire
Local Services will indicate the identified applicants as “Recommended,” via the eCareer questionnaires.
758 Structured Interview
758.1 Process
The selecting official conducts the structured interviews of the recommended applicants using the questions, worksheets, and rating benchmarks provided by SER.
If the selecting official does not make a selection from this group of recommended applicants, the selecting official can request another group of five recommendations from Local Services. Local Services can recommend additional applicants (as long as a sufficient number of qualified applicants remain) in accordance with the recommendation process described above.
If there was no review committee, the selecting official interviews the entire group of applicants, except those applicants deemed as “No Demonstration” on the application review.
Note: Whether or not a review committee was convened, the selecting official must not interview any applicant deemed as “No Demonstration” on the application review.
758.2 Documentation
The selecting official submits the completed rating sheet with the interview ratings for attachment to the posting requisition.
758.3 eCareer Questionnaire
The selecting official (SO) completes the SO questionnaires, indicating the selection.
759 Training Following Selection
Newly promoted supervisors will receive training after placement.
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We will incorporate this revision into the next printed edition of Handbook EL-312 and into the online update, available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
n Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
n Under “Essential Links” in the left-hand column, click PolicyNet.
n On the PolicyNet page, click HBKs.
(The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.)
— Organizational Effectiveness,
Employee Resource Management, 10-20-11
