Some government job candidates miss a critical part of the hiring process. The step most often skipped is post-application follow-up. There are three reasons to follow-up after you submit your application. The first reason is to ensure the application was received or uploaded into the electronic system. The second is to strengthen your candidacy. The third reason is to stay on top of the status of the vacant position, as well as, changes in the announcement.
After your resume and application are received, the information will examined to determine if you are eligible and qualified. Even if eligible and qualified, you may not be referred to the hiring official. When you follow up, you may inquire if you were eligible, qualified, and referred. In some cases, you will receive an e-mail at every stage of the process. If the hiring agency is reaching out to you with regular updates regarding your application, a follow-up call to inquire about status is not necessary.
Sometimes announcements are deleted or shelved. That announcement may be re-issued at a later date. A follow-up call can provide you with that information so you know to look for the re-posting and re-apply.
If you were referred to the hiring official, you will either receive a phone call to schedule an interview or you will receive a notice that you were not selected. The time between referral and an invitation or rejection can be up to six months.
Copy and save (or print) the announcement so you have a record of the posting details, including the contact information. If you have not received a notice or phone call within thirty days of your application, it is time to follow-up. In many cases, you will reach a voicemail, so have a script prepared to leave a concise message that includes your full name, contact information, job title, department, and posting number. In most cases you will find the contact person on the job announcement, usually at the bottom.
Post-application follow-up is critical in government hiring situations. Errors can happen in the online application process. The agency could be flooded with applicants or the announcement could be shelved. You can navigate these situations by making a follow-up call. This could be the difference that leads to a referral to the hiring official.
I find that this advice is not critical nor helpful. Most points of contact for vacancies that are listed on the announcement are to the Central Human Resources Office for that region. If you call and follow-up with them they are going to give you an automated response that gives you no valuable information. ” Dear Applicant,
A certificate has not been issued for this recruitment. Once the list has been sent to management you will receive and updated status.”
Or something to that effect. The processing center doesn’t give any timelines that you should expect to hear anything because they don’t want to be held accountable to those timelines. My experience with Federal Job hiring process has been a frustrating one to say the least. Only because the lack of communication and the length it takes to hear anything back. The only expedited process that you will encounter is if you know someone with the organization that you’re applying to. Usually then the process takes less time (normally because your going to be an automatic candidate for an interview). If you are applying to a brand new organization where you don’t have a connection, hurry up to wait! I try to follow-up as much as I can with the Central Human Resource office, and if I get a POC at the hiring organization then I will follow-up once with them after some time has passed. The time in which you follow-up will be solely based on your preference. Some organizations will tell you when to expect to hear an answer by (if that is the case then follow-up exactly midway through that timeline).
A question, after being selected for a federal job, when one’s application materials have been sent to the hiring official is it ever advisable to contact the hiring official to express sincere interest in the position?
we specialize in state and local government hiring so we do not have that expertise for you, but check out this link and hopefully this will give you some additional guidance! https://forum.federalsoup.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=13650#post123665