Federal employment is an attractive opportunity for Veterans and military spouses, but the federal hiring process can also be fraught with frustration. Still, for many job seekers, the potential goods of Federal employment outweigh the headache of navigating the process.
As of January 2017, the federal hiring process got a little more complicated due to a Federal Hiring Freeze memorandum. If you were planning to apply for a federal job, already have an application in the works, or have been hired for (but haven’t started) a federal job, you may be wondering how this freeze impacts your chances at federal employment.
The reality is there’s a lot of information out there; it’s coming at us rapidly, and it can be difficult to distinguish the known from the unknown. This is a fluid situation, and we’ve run into exemptions and clarifications up to our publication deadline. However, we can state the following with a reasonable amount of certainty.
What We Know
As of the publication of the February MSEJ, we know that:
1.On January 23, 2017, President Trump signed a memorandum regarding the Hiring Freeze.
2.Under that memorandum and as a part of the freeze:
-No existing civilian federal vacancies can be filled unless they fall under an exemption clause.
-No new federal positions may be created “regardless of the sources of their operational and programmatic funding” (though there are some exceptions).
-Federal agencies and departments can’t fill open positions or create new ones, except where they deem it a matter of national security or public safety. Agencies have some latitude in how they enact this requirement and what they prioritize.
3. This freeze does not impact military personnel or Federal uniformed personnel.
4. This freeze does impact contractors, as well as full-time staff. According to a 1 February follow-up memorandum, agencies are not allowed to use contractors as a
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Where Do We Go from Here?
Federal Employment in 2017