USAJobs.gov

I am a former federal employee, 15 years with NATO. I have attempted the last few years to get back on board as I am a career employee with with no break in service limitations. The USA jobs website appears to almost be a dormant website. Rarely, if ever, are positions that one is referred for updated. I have called and emailed several times the hiring official(s), for a particular position, to be advised of the current status. I have absolutely lost count of how many times the hiring official/entity I end up speaking
To tells me the position was already filled or deleted for some unspecified reason. For those interested in a federal career and you are highly qualified, your opportunities are limited and rendered useless on this USA Jobs website. The best opportunity is to gain a position with a government contractor. I find that those people tend to be hired on into federal positions that are posted on USA jobs. Not sure why the jobs are posted in the first place, because they (the contractor) normally slide right into the position. The position will be immediately filled...however, If one applies for that position (that is posted on USAJobs) the site will eventually simply state/reflect "received" or "referred" even though it has already been filled. That notation will remain when you look for application updates for months, even a year... I'm assuming eventually it will drop off, but I've been at this for years... It's becoming a waste of time loop of uselessness. If you have applied for a position, look for that hiring official email address or phone number. Contact them, get updated...It will save you from waiting for the database to update since it probably NEVER will.

I've held federal employment beforehand. The U.S. federal government is thought by many to offer a sense of fair play with its employees, decent benefits, and a modicum of job security. The reality is it's often not the case. There's a two-tier of employees, a tenured civil service, and even layers of more privileged senior executives. However, the federal government is just like corporate entities in creating a web of temporary hires, that are scantily compensated, and they often do the legwork in busy seasons for the tenured federal employees who sort of just prop their feet up, and watch you do all of their work. There have been stories of tenured federal employees in administrative agencies nearing retirement simply gathering for protracted periods in break rooms in a carnival atmosphere. Ask yourself this. Statistically, there's a high probability of not getting referred for an interview, and if you get referred, you won't get an interview, and if you interview, you won't get hired, and then if by some rare fluke, you do actually get hired, you will find it's overrated and the work culture sucks.

First of all, there is little to nothing available on this site that requires the level of password protection and auto-logout that they have implemented. Get over yourself USAJOBs. Second, Why waste my time with you since every application I submit has to be rerouted to the source website anyway, and then when I DO take the hour to recompile and retype all of the information into THEIR questionnaire, you log me out, thus undoing everything I have submitted. Your search parameters are joke because you do not review the employers posting. Perfect example of this is recruiters for the army/navy/whoever posting enlistment MOS's in every city with salary between E1 and O9, so no matter what you search, a hundred jobs come up that I have to sort through to find anything viable. You have no email confirmation for jobs that are being reviewed or the status of an application.

If I had to guess, you have a JOB posted on your site to run your company, and it's no wonder it's a vacant position.

I have a feeling they're posting for jobs that are already filled or written for someone in particular. My husband applied for a USCG job for which he was amply qualified, considering he had already done it; he was IN CHARGE OF THE OFFICE AT ONE POINT. And they told him he wasn't qualified. He contacted his friend who still worked there and yeah, it went to someone they had already chosen. Fast forward, I applied for a low level investigator position with the DHS; I'm a former FBI Special Agent of nearly eleven years. I wasn't qualified. Right.

I have never seen a more inadequate piece of crap in my life. Pathetic at best no wonder you cat fill vacancies.

I have been trying to get jobs on this site for over 2 years. To no avail. Every job I have applied for I am over qualified for... Site lost my resume after a week of working on building it and directs you to agency you are applying to. After hours of redundant question answering get to the end click save and apply entire application disappears.
My son got lucky and made it thru and got a job at the pentagon that he was overqualified for as well... After he STARTED the Job USA jobs sent him an email telling him he was not qualified for the position and would not be considered.
ON A JOB HE ALREADY HAD AND WAS WORKING AT FOR A MONTH...
This site is a joke

I'm a military spouse and have used my military spouse equal opportunity status (which was an entire form to fill out) to help with giving my a better chance at landing jobs, AND I've spent $350 to have my resume rewritten for a specific job I knew with 100% confidence I could do and wasn't referred. I also wasn't referred for many other jobs after that. I have yet to get a government job. I've selected "Very experienced" in all questions. I haven't even been able to get a simple assistant job. I owned a magazine company and ran 3 businesses on my own with much success and I've gotten nothing other than a job interview with the Commisary (which I believed all my experience I was over qualified for), but they didn't hire me because of my religious beliefs and not being able to work in one of their departments, the meat department. I've had someone in HR look at my job application and approved it before the system at USA jobs didn't refer me. I've spoke to a few people about key words to use, which I've done and also was told I was perfectly qualified for the job, but couldn't get past the intense screening on USA jobs. I don't believe this system is equal at all. Opportunities are slim picking and the process is incredibly unfair. In the civilian world I would get picked up no problem, but I wanted to be a part the of the military community. I'm just incredibly disappointed. You can keep trying, but if you're really looking for an equal opportunity or know someone specifically in the position you're looking for, prepare to have your dreams shattered.

USAJobs.gov is a clearing website for federal agencies required to advertise jobs to the public by law. It is nothing more than a formality, because the agencies are under no obligation to 'close' the jobs, meaning they don't come back to inform the public that a selection has been made. This is why so many referrals literally stay 'green' for years after the closing date.
For every 9 out of 10 jobs, the hiring official has already picked someone internal to the agency. One specific example can be as simple as this: It's easier to train someone internal who already holds a security clearance who will not require long, expensive background checks, than on-board a new person and do the paperwork.
The remaining 1 out of 10 jobs can be broken down in this way:
Half (0.5) will lead to an interview, where the agency is either looking for a well qualified external candidate, who will add value to the agency based on experience and qualifications, and compare them to their internal candidate of choice, or eliminate you with impossible questions that only the internal candidate would be able to answer. It's a win-win game for the agency, and again you are never informed following the interview.
The last 0.5% are jobs where no one wants to go, with a high turnover because you are sent to some lonely outpost of the 'federal empire' as I like to call it. This is the category that I've been in for the last 14 years, even though I'm a veteran. The Federal Government is a closed world, and by all means a good one if you are on the inside, but even being on the inside does not grant you any special favors when using this website to apply for higher managerial positions or even lateral transfers.

I live in an Asian country where there happens to be a military base nearby (I'm an American citizen). There are a couple of careers that I would give up my residency for to work on the base. One particular branch is desperate for employees but are having issues finding people that are qualified with experience and a BA degree (since it's a small base with a small military community). The employees that work there said I should apply through USAJOBS and that the managers will accept applicants that are SOFA-seeking considering its open to the public. After being rejected three times automatically for not meeting the residency requirement (AKA not already having a SOFA), the manager personally contacted a higher-up to make sure my app would be sent to them next time without being rejected by a computer. Well, I just got rejected for the fourth time today and it's probably my last applying for a public position at an overseas base. Despite saying anyone can apply, USAJOBS automatically rejected me again because I'm SOFA seeking. A potential career for myself and a long-term employee for the branch is down the drain because a COMPUTER is deciding on life changing decisions. So much for being discrimination free!