This checklist is designed to assist in determining if USA Hire is a good fit for your recruitment.
Confirm the job series and grade combination is covered
USA Hire Standard Assessments are available for all nonsupervisory general schedule job series. Available series and grade combinations for Standard USA Hire Assessments can be found in the Competency Lookup Tool. This reference tool identifies the competencies measured for a specific job series and grade.
If multiple grade levels are being announced and not all grades have a USA Hire assessment available, USA Hire should not be used. If desired, two job announcements could be used to separately announce the grades with a USA Hire assessment and those without.
Use USA Hire as approved by your agency
Follow your agency’s standard operating procedures (SOP) for using USA Hire Standard Assessments or ask your agency USA Hire Point of Contact (POC) to approve. Your agency USA Hire POC is responsible for providing quality assurance including ensuring USA Hire JOAs follow the guidelines outlined in the USA Hire User Guide, as well as any agency-specific guidelines.
Review your hiring timeline
Your hiring timeline should allow for an OPM review process of the first five (5) job announcements your agency posts using USA Hire. Confirm you can comply with waiting 48 hours after requesting a review of your vacancy before posting your JOA to allow OPM to conduct the review. Your agency is responsible for establishing an internal review process and timeline for job announcements beyond the first five, before they are released to USAJOBS. Second, you must allow for 48 hours after the JOA closes or 48 hours after the last RA applicant’s request has been adjudicated, whichever is later, before you issue certificates for all JOAs using USA Hire.
Collaborate with the Hiring Manager
HR users have access to several resources on the USA Hire Resource Center to assist in discussing USA Hire with Hiring Managers. These include informational flyers and instructional videos for Hiring Managers and HR users.
- Assessment Strategy. Utilize your agency’s SOP or the Standard USA Hire Decision Tree to determine an effective assessment strategy with the Hiring Manager. This will likely include a decision whether or not to combine using a USA Hire assessment with a secondary assessment that measures technical competencies.
- Job Analysis Review and Assessed Competency Confirmation. Review the recruitment’s job analysis and ensure all competencies measured by the USA Hire Assessment are both important for the position and needed upon entry. The Competency Lookup Tool may be used as a reference to identify the competencies measured. If this cannot be verified for this particular recruitment, then a Standard USA Hire Assessment cannot be used, since all competencies will be measured as part of the assessment battery.
- Review Expected Timeframe. If USA Hire will be used, ensure the Hiring Manager is aware of the expected timeframe (e.g., assessment window closes 48 hours after the close of the announcement; RA applicants may have scores flow into USA Staffing up to five business days after the announcement closes; HR may need less time to review applicants depending on the volume of applicants in the best qualified group).