42 Announcement and Application Process

421 Announcing Vacancies

421.1 When to Announce Vacancies

Selecting officials must announce vacancies when necessary to meet Postal Service staffing needs. When authorized to fill a vacant position externally, they must use the competitive selection process (see chapter 2). The selecting official starts the process to post the vacancy. Selecting officials must post external vacancies on www.usps.com/careers.

421.2 Announcement Period

Human Resources or Talent Acquisition are responsible for ensuring that external announcements are posted on www.usps.com/careers for a minimum of 3 to 5 calendar days.

421.3 Attracting Applicants

The following apply:

1. The announcement must include the following information about the position:
1. Job title and pay grade.
2. Functional purpose, duties and responsibilities, and position requirements.
3. Duty station.
4. Work hours and nonscheduled days.
5. Employee health insurance benefits.
2. See 421.4 regarding restricting the area of consideration.
3. To attract diverse candidates, it is beneficial to partner with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion personnel (see 22 and 122).
4. Announcements must be posted online. To generate widespread publicity, announcements may also be distributed strategically for posting in the following:
1. Public and employee bulletin boards in Post Offices and in installations covered by the announcement.
2. Public bulletin boards in local Post Offices and Postal Service facilities.
3. Public bulletin boards in local, federal, state, and municipal buildings, as appropriate.
4. Local federal job-information centers.
5. Local state employment offices.

421.4 Area of Consideration

421.41 General

An eligibility statement regarding the area of consideration may be used on external postings. When limiting consideration to a specific geographical area, the selecting official must include a descriptive statement, such as “Must be willing to participate in screening at the local office,” and include the following statement (see 421.43 and 421.43):

“Note: Veterans who are entitled to veterans’ preference or covered by the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act may apply for any posted position.”

Alternative arrangements must be made as necessary for an individual performing military service.

421.42 Area of Consideration Exceptions

Applicants who are entitled to veterans’ preference or covered by the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (see 421.43) may apply for any externally posted vacancy regardless of the applicant’s geographical location. Human Resources personnel are responsible for determining the eligibility of individual applicants and justifying any rejection based on the eligibility statements.

421.43 Veterans Employment Opportunities Act

The Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) provides that agencies must allow veterans’ preference eligibles (see subchapter 48) and other eligible veterans to apply for all positions announced externally without regard to geographic limitations.

1. To qualify as a VEOA eligible, an applicant must be:
1. A “preference eligible”;
2. A veteran separated from the Armed Forces after 3 or more years of continuous active service performed under honorable conditions;
3. A veteran who was released shortly before completing a 3-year tour.
2. Active service, as defined in Title 37 U.S.C. means active duty in the uniformed services and includes the following:
1. Full-time training duty;
2. Annual training duty;
3. Full-time National Guard duty; and
4. Attendance, while in the active service, at a school designated as a service school by law, or by the secretary of the military department concerned.