Veterans Hiring Information
The OO-ALC is, and has always been, committed to hiring veterans. To meet veterans' employment information needs, the US Office of Personnel Management created a website to act as the preeminent source for Federal employment information for Veterans. Visit https://www.fedshirevets.gov/ for post-military career information.
Veterans’ Recruitment Appointment (VRA)
VRA is an excepted hiring authority that allows OO-ALC to hire eligible veterans without competition, who meet any of the following requirements:
* Served on active duty and received a campaign badge for service during a war or in a campaign or expedition
* Served on active duty and received an Armed Forces Service Medal for participation in a military operation
* Have recently separated (within the last three years), and separated under honorable conditions (an honorable or general discharge)
* Are disabled
Veterans can be given an excepted service appointment under this authority at any grade level up to and including a GS-11 or equivalent. After an individual successfully completes two years of service, that individual will be converted noncompetitively to a career-conditional or career appointment in the competitive service.
Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA)
VEOA gives eligible veterans access to jobs that otherwise would have been available only to current competitive civil service (status) employees. Veterans are not accorded preference as a factor in the application process, but they are allowed to compete for job opportunities that are being filled under internal merit promotion procedures—they are not available to the general public. A VEOA-eligible who has competed under Air Force merit promotion announcements open to status individuals outside the AF workforce, and who is selected, will be given a career or career-conditional appointment. To be eligible for a VEOA appointment, a veteran’s latest discharge must be issued under honorable conditions (an honorable or general discharge), and the veteran must be either a preference eligible OR have substantially completed three or more years of continuous active service. Visit USAJobs.gov for more information on VEOA at https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/veterans/veoa/.
Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW)
Under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, active duty service members are treated as veterans and given preference-eligible status (when applicable) for purposes of appointment in the competitive service for up to 120 days prior to their actual discharge/release from active duty service. Along with the job application, a service member in this situation submits a “certification,” which is any written document from the armed forces that certifies he or she is expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. Learn more about VOW at https://www.benefits.va.gov/VOW/.
30 Percent or More Disabled Veterans
This hiring authority can be used to make appointments of eligible candidates to any position for which they are qualified, without competition. Unlike the VRA there are no grade-level limitations. Initial appointments are time-limited, lasting more than 60 days; however, the veteran can be converted to permanent status at any time during the time-limited appointment without competition.
Eligibility applies to the following categories of veterans:
* Disabled veterans who were retired from active military service with a disability rating of 30 percent or more; and
* Disabled veterans rated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as having a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more.
180-day Waiver
Airmen retiring from military service no longer must wait 180 days before accepting a federal civilian position within an air logistics complex thanks to a recent temporary authority enacted to help fill jobs lacking potential candidates.