Get Educated on Schedule A Letters!

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donotfeedbsugar

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Good morning all,

I felt that this thread coincides with the American Disablilities Act in terms of placing people with Disabilities in the U.S. Government for work. Some people are not familiar with this. I was one of them until about 5 years ago. All my life I have worked for the government during summer breaks from school. Now that I am finish with school as a whole and despite me having a degree from college, nobody would take me for work. Finally, I landed a contract job with the government in something that I had no relation with in my schooling. Despite the fact that I did get a job in the government, I wanted to be a government worker. That's where the Schedule A Letter comes in.

So...what the heck is it???? The Schedule A Letter is your Disney Land Ticket to the front of the line. No BS. I kid you not. You know how it is hard to get a job in USAJobs because you are competing with other applicants. The Schedule A Letter will put you to the front of the line. Mind you, this letter is only for people with disabilities. This is how the procedure would go down if an Human Resourcer is viewing applications.

  • First, they would view ALL Veterans applications in a noncompetitive format.
  • Second, if they have scouted out all the Veterans that they considered eligible or not they will go to people with Schedule A Letter and view their applications.
  • Third, once that is done they view all over COMPETITIVE Applicants.

You say, that's not fair....why are they doing this...considered cheating much? I understand. I thought the same way too but the government has been penalized/punished years before for not employing people with disabilities and that's where the Schedule A Letter comes into play.

So why are you telling us this? I feel that because I have used it and got to where I am today in a very EXCELLENT and BETTER Government Job that I feel that it's my need to share it on and not keep it to myself. It may be helpful to those that need a job right now. I must say however, expect some frustrations as just because you got a Schedule A letter doesn't mean you get a job automatically. They WILL see if you have the skills they need of course. So....that's my.....eh...novel....hope you get into it!!! LET'S GO!!!!
Resources:
Federal Employment of People with Disabilities
 
donotfeedbsugar said:
Good morning all,

I felt that this thread coincides with the American Disablilities Act in terms of placing people with Disabilities in the U.S. Government for work. Some people are not familiar with this. I was one of them until about 5 years ago. All my life I have worked for the government during summer breaks from school. Now that I am finish with school as a whole and despite me having a degree from college, nobody would take me for work. Finally, I landed a contract job with the government in something that I had no relation with in my schooling. Despite the fact that I did get a job in the government, I wanted to be a government worker. That's where the Schedule A Letter comes in.

So...what the heck is it???? The Schedule A Letter is your Disney Land Ticket to the front of the line. No BS. I kid you not. You know how it is hard to get a job in USAJobs because you are competing with other applicants. The Schedule A Letter will put you to the front of the line. Mind you, this letter is only for people with disabilities. This is how the procedure would go down if an Human Resourcer is viewing applications.

  • First, they would view ALL Veterans applications in a noncompetitive format.
  • Second, if they have scouted out all the Veterans that they considered eligible or not they will go to people with Schedule A Letter and view their applications.
  • Third, once that is done they view all over COMPETITIVE Applicants.

You say, that's not fair....why are they doing this...considered cheating much? I understand. I thought the same way too but the government has been penalized/punished years before for not employing people with disabilities and that's where the Schedule A Letter comes into play.

So why are you telling us this? I feel that because I have used it and got to where I am today in a very EXCELLENT and BETTER Government Job that I feel that it's my need to share it on and not keep it to myself. It may be helpful to those that need a job right now. I must say however, expect some frustrations as just because you got a Schedule A letter doesn't mean you get a job automatically. They WILL see if you have the skills they need of course. So....that's my.....eh...novel....hope you get into it!!! LET'S GO!!!!
Resources:
Federal Employment of People with Disabilities
Click to expand...

Does this work for USDA-FSIS-MPO-WAE? I do believe those are GS-05/07 positions.
 
I was also hired through Schedule A as well, but that wasn't the really the way I got my current job. What happened was the recruiters came to my college during career fair and I got to know and talk with them. Then, I just sent in my resume. Two months later, they asked me to come in and do an interview with two people, then one month later, I got the job. The HR people told me I can just use the Schedule A as one way to be directly hired.

Dixie, I'm GS-03, so I guess Schedule A can be used for any grade?
 
sheila022 said:
I was also hired through Schedule A as well, but that wasn't the really the way I got my current job. What happened was the recruiters came to my college during career fair and I got to know and talk with them. Then, I just sent in my resume. Two months later, they asked me to come in and do an interview with two people, then one month later, I got the job. The HR people told me I can just use the Schedule A as one way to be directly hired.

Dixie, I'm GS-03, so I guess Schedule A can be used for any grade?
Click to expand...

From what I understand all USDA-FSIS line positions start at GS-05. The VMOs I believe are GS-10/11.
 
posts from hell said:
Dixie, It is for any federal government positions, as long as you qualify for it.
Click to expand...

I hope so, but I will be contacting the VMO at Dardanelle to get a confirmation as well as the regional office in Springdale.
 
Okay, question.

If I already have Schedule A letter, how do I go about to submitting it? USAjobs.gov does not give you an option to just submit your Schedule A and resume. Do you have to contact a particular person?
 
lanapoo said:
Okay, question.

If I already have Schedule A letter, how do I go about to submitting it? USAjobs.gov does not give you an option to just submit your Schedule A and resume. Do you have to contact a particular person?
Click to expand...

From what I understand you have to contact an SEP manager within your agency that will handle the process for you. I don't know, but I'm about to find out for myself what it will take.
 
To apply through Schedule A, find the Selective Placement Program Coordinator within the agency. I suggest going through both routes: via usajobs.gov and find the coordinator and email him/her your resume (along with a cover letter about apply via schedule A and what your disability is).

From what I understand, it is for any grade.
 
lanapoo said:
Okay, question.

If I already have Schedule A letter, how do I go about to submitting it? USAjobs.gov does not give you an option to just submit your Schedule A and resume. Do you have to contact a particular person?
Click to expand...

You have to complete your resume on USAJOBS.GOV and Apply a job application on each vacancy and write job vacancy number down on the paper then find a Selective Placement Program Coordinator at the federal agencies on the OPM website and send your resume and Schedule A letter included seperation of the disability documents for two letter is Proof of the disability letter and certification of job readiness to SPPC.

GS-05/07 Bachelor degree
GS-04 Assoicate degree
 
roughcowboy25 said:
You have to complete your resume on USAJOBS.GOV and Apply a job application on each vacancy and write job vacancy number down on the paper then find a Selective Placement Program Coordinator at the federal agencies on the OPM website and send your resume and Schedule A letter included seperation of the disability documents for two letter is Proof of the disability letter and certification of job readiness to SPPC.

GS-05/07 Bachelor degree
GS-04 Assoicate degree
Click to expand...

GS-05/07 - A Bachelor's Degree is applicable for this pay grade but they are looking for experience in a related field where applicable I am told. For example - I want to be a USDA Food Safety Inspector that works with poultry products. I don't have a Bachelor's Degree but I do have 18 months of applicable experience as a USDA Helper for Tyson Poultry, Inc. as well as experience in other various positions in other poultry plants. Altogether, I have roughly 5-6 years of poultry experience. The experience is valuable meaning they don't have to spend as much time training me to look for things that don't belong in the product. However if I wish to be promoted to positions that require an educational background, the Bachelor's Degree will begin to work for me. I have a friend that has a Bachelor's Degree and applied for full-time inspection and she was offered only a part-time position (fill-in) because she has no poultry experience whatsoever. If she had poultry experience she might have gotten an offer for a full-time position elsewhere. I've noticed the Gov't can be a bit funny with their hiring processes sometimes, but that's what I've noticed.

As for GS-04, I've never heard of that pay grade - and I am only 12 hours away from an associates of General Education/Electives. However, I wish to complete my Bachelor's Degree - it's hard to put an Associates to use these days as most employers require a Bachelor's Degree at the minimum for white collar jobs at the entry level position. You remain stuck at that level until you have completed your master's degree. High School Diplomas and GED will get you only low-paying physically demanding hard labor jobs. It's sad but true from what I've noticed.
 
Dixie said:
GS-05/07 - A Bachelor's Degree is applicable for this pay grade but they are looking for experience in a related field where applicable I am told. For example - I want to be a USDA Food Safety Inspector that works with poultry products. I don't have a Bachelor's Degree but I do have 18 months of applicable experience as a USDA Helper for Tyson Poultry, Inc. as well as experience in other various positions in other poultry plants. Altogether, I have roughly 5-6 years of poultry experience. The experience is valuable meaning they don't have to spend as much time training me to look for things that don't belong in the product. However if I wish to be promoted to positions that require an educational background, the Bachelor's Degree will begin to work for me. I have a friend that has a Bachelor's Degree and applied for full-time inspection and she was offered only a part-time position (fill-in) because she has no poultry experience whatsoever. If she had poultry experience she might have gotten an offer for a full-time position elsewhere. I've noticed the Gov't can be a bit funny with their hiring processes sometimes, but that's what I've noticed.

As for GS-04, I've never heard of that pay grade - and I am only 12 hours away from an associates of General Education/Electives. However, I wish to complete my Bachelor's Degree - it's hard to put an Associates to use these days as most employers require a Bachelor's Degree at the minimum for white collar jobs at the entry level position. You remain stuck at that level until you have completed your master's degree. High School Diplomas and GED will get you only low-paying physically demanding hard labor jobs. It's sad but true from what I've noticed.
Click to expand...

That is exactly! That I was told by some recuriters about grade scale and Schedule A at same time. So I am junior student and I will graduate at FSU in may 2012 for two degrees. WHOO!!..

If you are in college then you should look at on WRP website and every year, recuriters visit all colleges and will interview with disability with students for a federal job. Thats i did before and I worked for US dept of Air Force for summer.
 
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