Opportunities For Veterans
AFCS is, and has always been, committed to hiring veterans. While there are Federal laws providing hiring preference and special appointing authorities for veterans, more than ever, AFCS recognizes that hiring veterans just makes sense. By actively recruiting veterans, AFCS gains the value of their experience and provides them with a means to continue their service to our country.
To meet veterans' employment information needs, the US Office of Personnel Management created a website to act as the pre-eminent source for Federal employment information for Veterans. Visit FedsHireVets.gov for post-military career information.
Veterans’ Recruitment Appointment (VRA)
VRA is an excepted hiring authority that allows AFCS 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 separate 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)
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.
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.
- Are disabled