    |
|
|
|
||
FAQs
General QuestionsWhy did we integrate with USAJOBS? The President's Management Agenda (PMA) calls for one-stop recruiting for all Federal jobs. Applicants to USAJOBS can search and apply for all Federal jobs. By eliminating the multiple sign-ins necessary to apply for different agency staffing systems, applying has become easier and more consistent government-wide. How does the integration affect our applicants? Impacts to applicants include the following:
What happens in DOE's Jobs ONLINE automated staffing system? In the DOE Jobs ONLINE automated staffing system you will answer vacancy-specific questions necessary to evaluate your qualifications for the specific job to which you are applying. When completed, the information you provided at USAJOBS and the answers to the questions will become your application. After the vacancy closes, a Human Resource Specialist uses the DOE Jobs ONLINE system to identify well-qualified candidates and refers them for consideration for the vacancy. What if I need help applying? For assistance on applying for a DOE Jobs ONLINE vacancy, please contact the HR Specialist listed in the vacancy announcement OR send an email to USAJOBS contact page) for password support. Nothing is missing that is what USAJOBS will give the applicant... Password support Can I create a resume online? Yes. During your registration with USAJOBS, you can create and store up to five resumes. How can I set up a USAJOBS search agent to receive DOE announcements only? To make sure you don't miss any DOE-only announcements, be sure to set up your search agent using the DOE job search page. The search page will allow you to find ALL open DOE vacancies, including those open only to current DOE employees. To set up a search agent for all DOE vacancies, including DOE-only announcements, select "Energy" under "Agency Search." Once you have finished defining your search criteria, go to the bottom of the page and click on "Search for Jobs." This will take you to a listing of all positions that meet your criteria. Click on the "Save This Search and Email Me Jobs" link at the top right of the page. Your search specifications will be provided to you for review. You can then designate how often you would like to receive email notifications of available vacancies. Finally, save the search agent. How can I be sure my electronic application was received? After an applicant has answered the job-specific vacancy announcement questions, there are two buttons he or she needs to click on. First, click on "Submit Application." Then scroll to the bottom of the screen that previews your resume and your answers to the questions and click on the "Finished" button. There will be a delay before a confirmation page on USAJOBS appears on the screen. About the SystemIf I am already registered on USAJOBS, will I need to re-register? No, current registered users of USAJOBS may use their existing USAJOBS account to apply for positions posted via DOE Jobs ONLINE. How will jobs display? There will be two USAJOBS links on the Energy page at http://www.energy.gov/ under the DOE Jobs links for status and internal jobs. Internal jobs will display exactly like other jobs posted to the USAJOBS site; however, if an applicant attempts to apply for an internal job for which he or she is not eligible, he or she will be stopped by the core question logic in DOE Jobs ONLINE. When exactly do jobs close? DOE Jobs ONLINE positions close at midnight, Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the closing date of the vacancy announcement. After midnight EST, jobs that have closed will not be available for review or application. How does DOE Jobs ONLINE work? DOE Jobs ONLINE automates the federal hiring process. Interested applicants can review vacancy announcements and answer position-specific questions while at this Website. After the vacancy closes, the HR office uses the system to automatically rate, rank, and certify candidates. Top talent is instantly identified and ready to be forwarded to the selecting official. When submitting my application, I get an error message that the primary key was violated when I hit the "Submit" button. This happens when applicants click on the "Submit" button more than once, which causes the application to be submitted as two new applications. DOE Jobs ONLINE then will send applicants an error message that the primary key was violated. This violation does not affect your application since the data was saved the first time it was submitted. Applicant / Employee InformationCan I be automatically notified of vacancy announcements? Applicants no longer receive new job listing notifications from DOE Jobs ONLINE. All email notification of job listings will come from USAJOBS based on your profile setup. What if I forget my password? Contact the USAJOBS help desk (http://www.usajobs.gov/jsfeedback.asp) for login and password management assistance. Where do I enter my knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs)? The position-specific questions and KSA are included in the online application process. Applicants will be required to respond to these questions via the USAJOBS application process. How are my answer rated? You are rated and referred based on your responses to the position-specific questions as supported by information in your resume. Questions are derived from competency questions defined by the selecting official in consultation with a human resource specialist, and validated by DOE subject matter experts as appropriate for the job vacancieson USAJOBS. Note that not all DOE HR offices are using the online process for their vacancies. Please always read each announcement in its entirety to ensure you have met the intent of the application process. How do I apply for other DOE jobs that are not online? You should follow the instructions outlined in the vacancy announcement on how to apply. I would like to send my application via email. We will not accept resumes via email. In order to apply for jobs through DOE Jobs ONLINE, you must log into the system and apply online by answering the position-specific questions and submitting your resume via the website. If the system only accepts online applications, how do I send other attachments such as my college transcript, SF-50, etc? You should follow the instructions in the vacancy announcement about submitting the required supporting documentation. If there is nothing in the announcement about supporting documentation, you should contact the HR specialist identified on the vacancy announcement. How do I find the status or vacancy listings of the jobs for which I have applied? Applicants will be able to check the status of all jobs applied for through USAJOBS in My USAJOBS. How is my application rated? The responses you provide to the questions are the basis for the numerical rating calculated by the system, in accordance with the weighting of questions as determined by the selecting official/subject matter expert and HR staffing specialist. Is my application rated instantly? Yes. However, the rating will not be finalized until midnight Eastern Standard Time of the closing date of the announcement. Prior to this date and time, you can go back into the system and change your responses or update your resume. Since the system rates me according to my self-assessment and responses to the questions, what prevents me from selecting choices that will give me the highest scores? Falsifying or answering questions to mislead the system's automated process is no different than providing false or misleading information on your application under the old process. Applicants are reminded that this is a Federal job application system. Providing false information, creating fake ID's, or failing to answer all questions truthfully and completely may be grounds for not hiring you, for disbarment from Federal employment, or for dismissal after being hired. Falsifying a Federal job application, attempting to violate the privacy of others, or attempting to compromise this system is punishable by fine or imprisonment (US Code, Title 18, section 1001). I am uncomfortable using my Social Security number to establish my account in the system. Is there any way I can apply for a position on-line without my SSN? Your SSN is one of the few reliable means that government agencies have of distinguishing one applicant from another. Many applicants have the same name and may even have the same dates of birth. The SSN is the identifier suggested for use by the Office of Personnel Management for Federal job applications, and is the only way we can definitively differentiate between applicants. How do you confidentially collect EEO data from applicants? Applicants have the option to voluntarily provide demographic information when initially registering with DOE Jobs ONLINE. To ensure candidates' confidentially, the data is immediately encrypted and cannot be tied to a specific candidate. Once the position closes, a demographic report can be generated; however, neither the HR staff nor selecting official are able to associate the demographic data to an individual. The data is also encrypted within the query processing tool. The encryption code is proprietary information in Hiring Management; DOE's tool for collecting and processing applications under Monster Government Solution, which they will not release. If I am not selected for a position, whom should I contact to find out why? If you are found ineligible for a particular position, you should receive an email from the HR office explaining the reason why. You may contact the human resource specialist listed on the announcement for further details. What if I want to submit a long-version resume or additional documents? Resumes should be as brief as possible. You should only include relevant work experience, with short descriptions and your education. The resume is a different type of document than the SF-171, which has a great deal of narrative information. Should you rank among the top-qualified candidates and be scheduled for an interview, you may wish to share additional documents or information with the selecting official or interview panel at that point. Information for Human Resources Professionals and ManagersWhy are we using automation to improve our process? So that the DOE will become more competitive in attracting qualified applicants by providing a quicker and easier application process. Who has access to the Hiring Management system? Designated Human Resources staff are authorized for certain levels of access. Different user privileges allow all necessary parties to be involved in the hiring process. Your HR site administrator will determine who has access to this information. How easy is it to build and post a vacancy? Hiring Management vacancy builder walks you through the process so you can quickly build a vacancy profile. It then can be posted on the Website with the click of a button. What do you mean when you say that we can ask position-specific questions? Hiring Management allows you to create, categorize, and store questions for each vacancy. Questions pertain to both minimum qualification requirements and ranking questions (formerly referred to as KSAs). Asking questions in the beginning of the process automatically pre-screens and ranks candidates for you. Questions can be formatted in a variety of formats, such as yes/no, true/false, number, date, short answer, long answer, multiple choice, multiple choice/multiple answer, and matching. I routinely send my vacancy announcements to local and national organizations. Can Hiring Management help me with this? Yes, through the Diversity Notification (DIN) List feature, you can save, categorize, and store recruitment sources. As you set up each vacancy, select the community organizations, professional associations, or educational institutions that you would like to receive the vacancy announcement. The system can then automatically send an email to those organizations informing them of your vacancy announcement. How can we tell if someone has applied? When creating a vacancy in the vacancy builder, you may designate a point of contact to be notified via email every time someone applies to that job. Also, any user with privileges for the vacancy can view the ranked pool of applicants at any time during the hiring process using the Applicant Manager. Data are available instantly. How will the public status feature work? Applicants will now be able to check the status of applications on USAJOBS as opposed to logging into DOE Jobs ONLINE. Each custom status code will have to be associated with one of the 13 standard public status codes used by USAJOBS. What are the 13 public status codes for USAJOBS? Can they be changed? The 13 Recruitment One Stop (ROS) Applicant Public Status Codes, which can not be changed, are as follows:
How can Hiring Management help me organize the hiring process? The applicant-tracking feature easily stores correspondence, internal notes, and cost items to keep you organized as you move through the hiring cycle. Using email templates, you can notify eligible or ineligible candidates. With just a click, you can store an email, enter a note to the file, change a status, or enter a cost item. Can I run reports from Hiring Management ? Yes. There are several standard reports delivered with the software, such as vacancy and EEO statistics. The query tool also allows for ad-hoc type reporting. How easy is it to learn to use Hiring Management? Whether you elect a pre-installation training seminar or one-on-one training for your staff, you can learn how to use the system in a matter of hours. After initial training, the online help index guides you through the software. If the system rates and ranks candidates, do I still need a ranking panel or input from subject matter experts? The intent is for the system to relieve the HR specialist from having to go through the manual process of determining basic qualification requirements and to eliminate the need for the ranking panel process. HR specialists will now consult up-front with managers or subject matter experts to determine the questions that will be included in the vacancy and the weights to be assigned. The system does not replace the need for subject matter input; it automates the rating and ranking process. I understand the system is based on applicants self-certifying their responses to the questions; how do I verify if they are answered honestly? Applicants will be reminded in the vacancy announcement about the penalties for providing false or misleading information. However, the HR specialist can still conduct a quality review prior to issuing the Certificate of Eligible Candidates to the selecting official. The quality review can be compared to an applicant's resume entered in the system. HR specialists also request additional information (e.g., college transcripts, SF-50's, SF-15, DD-214's, etc). The selecting official should use the interview process to ask clarifying questions when applicant's experience and response to questions are not commensurate with each other (selecting officials can receive a copy of applicant responses to questions). Can I automatically post vacancies to USAJOBS? Yes. Hiring Management allows authorized users to send vacancy announcements to OPM. Will I have to input the same questions into the system every time? No, questions are stored by category in the system. Managers can view and select the questions online; questions currently are maintained in the system's library organized by series. When consulting with your manager, you will decide which questions from the list you want to use for each vacancy. When building your vacancy, you will assign the agreed-upon questions. Typically, the HR specialist already will have selected the questions that pertain to basic qualifications and educational requirements for the job series. What if I need to add a new question that has not been used before? If a new question is needed, the site administrator(s) can input/load the question into the system. It will become part of the library and then can be used for future vacancies. What other agencies already have integrated their Hiring Management systems with USAJOBS? Integrated departments as of August 22, 2006, include the Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, Smithsonian, Department of State, and DOI/Bureau of Reclamation. Not that we know of For additional questions, please refer to the USAJOBS "Frequently Asked Questions" page. Page last updated: 09/29/2008 |
||
