Starting September 11 of this year qualifying spouses will have an edge when applying for certain federal jobs. The
“quick hire” rule removes competitive barriers as a means for allowing military spouses the benefit of a quicker hiring process. This allows for spouses to more quickly enter the work force when a PCS or other career barriers due to military life occurs.
This benefit is not just for active military, but under certain circumstances, spouses of Reserve and Guard members may qualify. Also listed as eligible are spouses of military members who are 100% disabled and separated or retired as well as the widows/widowers of fallen military members who have not remarried.
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Quick Hire of Military Spouses Starts in September
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2009 – Under a personnel rule that takes effect next month, some military spouses could be quickly hired for federal jobs without going through the usual competitive process.
The new hiring authority takes effect Sept. 11. The Office of Personal Management issued the authority’s final regulatory guidelines Aug. 12. The guidelines are posted in the Federal Register under the title: “Noncompetitive Appointment of Certain Military Spouses.”
The intended effect of the rule, according to documents listed in the Federal Register, “is to facilitate the entry of military spouses into the federal civil service as part of an effort to recruit and retain skilled and experienced members of the armed forces and to recognize and honor the service of members injured, disabled, or killed in connection with their service.”
“Military spouse employment is a key to the quality of life of our military families,” Kathleen Ott, director of talent acquisition, development and management in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy, said yesterday during an interview with Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters.
The availability of jobs for military spouses contributes to the sustainment of the all-volunteer force, Ott said, citing a recent survey in which employed military spouses reported that their work income constitutes about 48 percent of total family income.
“But, it’s really hard to keep a job if you have to move from station to station,” Ott said. Federal employment, she said, offers military spouses a portable career with transferable benefits and worldwide presence.
“We thought, in order to help our military spouses continue their employment, it would be a good thing for us to facilitate their entry into the federal government,” she said.
Eligible individuals, Ott said, include spouses of active-duty servicemembers who have been called on to relocate. This includes spouses of Guardsmen or reservists who’ve been called up for more than 180 days of active service other than training. Eligible spouses must be moving to another duty station accompanied by their servicemember husband or wife.
Spouses of former servicemembers listed as 100-percent disabled and separated or retired, as well as widows or widowers of servicemembers who died on active duty and who have not remarried also are eligible.
The new hiring authority does not constitute a hiring preference for eligible military spouses, according to OPM. “This authority is a noncompetitive hiring mechanism; it does not establish or constitute a hiring preference for eligible spouses, nor does it create an entitlement to a federal job for an eligible spouse,” according to regulatory documents listed in the Federal Register.
Applicants still must meet specific job-qualification criteria listed for individual positions, according to OPM documents.
“This is not a preference. We firmly believe that our spouses can compete on their own merits,” Ott said, noting that the new hiring rules provide military spouses with “a streamlined, facilitated means of obtaining federal employment.”
Use of the new hiring authority “is completely at the discretion of hiring agencies,” according to OPM documents, and “it is one of many hiring tools agencies may use to recruit needed individuals.”
Spouses who complete three years of continuous satisfactory service will be converted from a career-conditional appointment to career appointment, Ott said.
Personnel officials do not anticipate that the new military-spouse hiring authority would adversely affect the hiring of military veterans into the federal government, Ott said.
Military spouses can find out about federal job opportunities through OPM’s USAJobs Web site, Ott said.
Is this the same appointment or a revision of the Military Spouse Preference Program (MSPP)? And if not, how is it different?
I am the spouse of axtive duty AF member in Afganistan (from Cannon AFB, NM). His deployment is for 1 year. I moved back to MD to find a job since there were no jobs in New Mexico (however not much luck in finding a job w/o preference here in DC.) He is scheduled to PCS to Dallas, TX in Jan 2010 and was informed that I should have orders by 1 Oct to travel before my husband. I am planning to travel to TX 2-3 months before him to set-up home and find a job. By arriving in TX 2-3 months before him does this void my opportunities to take advantage of the Nonompetitive Appointment?