with ‘Severe Shortage of Candidates’
By Kathryn Troutman President, The Resume Place, Inc.
and Ten Steps to a Federal Job Certification Program Director
January 24, 2018
The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a few good professionals. This recent article from Government Executive Magazine describes the Expedited Hiring Authority to hire 15 Critical positions at the VA hospitals throughout the US!
Actually, the VA is looking for tens of thousands of employees in scores of occupations, from healthcare to IT to building maintenance.
The VA considers this a critical personnel situation because overworked staffers in understaffed occupations can have higher rates of attrition. And with the U.S. economy near full employment and millions of jobs open in the private sector, the situation is growing more dire by the day.
This staffing crisis, many years in the making, is particularly acute in 15 occupations for which the VA has declared a “severe shortage of candidates.” So it’s for these vacancies that the VA has petitioned for – and recently received – authority to hire through a rare, expedited process.
What does expedited hiring mean to potential candidates for these challenging, well-paying, secure jobs with great benefits? It means you’ve got a greater chance than usual of getting hired, and faster. It means that for these jobs, the VA is setting aside time-consuming processes like veterans preference and competitive rating and ranking, to get new employees in the door sooner rather than later.
But enough with the suspense. Here are sample openings for the
15 VA occupations, many with vacancies across the country, that are – or soon will be – posted with expedited hiring authority:
Accountants: An opening in Fort Lawton, Washington, pays $43,930 to $84,514.
Biomedical Equipment Support Specialists: Baltimore, MD, pays $57,948 to $91,147
Boiler Plant Operators: Salem, VA, $24.05 to $28.06 per hour
General Engineers: Orlando, Florida, $72,168 to $93,821
Social Workers: Multiple Locations, $73,623 to $95,710
Health Technicians: Louisville, KY, $41,365 to $53,773
Histopathology Technicians: North Las Vegas, Nevada, $41,766 to $54,295
Human Resources Specialists: Battle Creek, MI, $50,598 to $79,586
Information Technology Specialists: Marion, Indiana, $47,686 to $81,400
Police Officers: Shreveport, LA,$37,223 to $48,385
Realty Specialists: Vacancies should post soon
Repair Specialists: Vacancies should post soon
Security Specialists: Boise, Idaho, $41,365 to $65,778
Utility Systems Operators: Charleston, South Carolina, $21.28 to $24.82 per hour
EXPEDITED HIRING AUTHORITY FOR THESE 15 OCCUPATIONS! Keep in mind that these are representative job postings for each of the 15 occupations for which Veterans Affairs has received expedited hiring authority. Some of these openings have restrictions on who may apply, but additional similar vacancies should be posted soon.
The federal resume and application process are still demanding, even under expedited hiring authority. To apply for any federal job, you need to start from scratch to create a resume that’s much longer and more detailed, uses just the right keywords, and is organized the way human resources professionals at the VA or anywhere in the civil service expect.
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Kathryn is the author of 27 books on federal resume writing, including:
- Federal Resume Guidebook, 6th Ed.
- Writing The New SES Application, Jobseeker Guide
- Ten Steps to a Federal Job for Military and Spouses
- Stars are Lined Up for Military Spouses
- Student’s Federal Career Guide, 3rd Ed.
- Creating Your First Resume.
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