The main things to
remember using QUEST are:
Below are some examples of different hiring scenarios using
QUEST.
Example # 1 (Announcement Requirements): Agency has a Secretary 2 vacancy
and wants to request a certificate without announcing the vacancy. Can the agency send an SF-2 to Civil
Service and have Civil Service issue a certificate with no announcement?
No. Civil Service will no longer maintain
standing registers or issue certificates.
The vacancy must be posted on JOB SEARCH. The agency will receive applications, screen them for Preferred
Qualifications, and consider only those who apply to the posting.
Example # 2 (Announcement Requirements): Employee currently occupies a
Clerk 3 position. The agency would like
to promote the employee to a Clerk Chief 1.
Can the agency noncompetitively promote the employee without
announcing the vacancy?
No.
Under QUEST, the agency does have to post the vacancy on JOB SEARCH so
that other people can apply and be considered, even though the job is below the
competitive salary level. However, the
announcement may be restricted to employees of the hiring agency or to state
employees. The employee must apply to the agency during the open period of the
announcement to be considered.
Example # 3 (Testing Requirements): Employee currently occupies a Clerk 3
position. The agency would like to
promote the employee to a Clerk Chief 1.
Does the employee need to have
test scores to be promoted?
No. Although the vacancy must be posted, this employee does not
have to have test grades on the COAST Office Skills or COAST Behavior
Assessment because she is already occupying a clerical job. She is exempt from testing but still must
apply to the announcement to be considered.
Example # 4 (Announcement requirements): An agency
wishes to rehire a former state employee to a clerical job on a noncompetitive
re-employment. The employee is
eligible under Rule 8.18. Does the
agency have to announce the vacancy to consider other applicants before filling
it?
No. Vacancies filled by noncompetitive re-employment do not need to
be announced. Nor does the employee
being rehired need to have a test grade.
However, agencies may require the test grades if they desire as long as
they have some consistent policy on applying the requirement.
Example # 5 (Re-using Announcement): An agency announces a Clerk 3 for
probational appointment. The
announcement closes and the agency fills the position. Ten days after the closing date the same
agency has another vacancy in the same job title. Must they announce the new vacancy?
No. The agency has options here. They may re-use the names and applications
received from the previous announcement and not re-announce, as long as they
make a job offer within ninety** days of the
closing date of the original announcement.
Any vacancy that occurs after the original announcement and cannot have
an offer extended and accepted within ninety
days of the closing date will require another announcement. Of course, an agency may always choose to
announce a new vacancy. It is not
compelled to use the original announcement to fill additional vacancies. ** updated 9/04 per GC 1579
Example # 6
(Announcement requirements): An agency announces a Secretary 2. An applicant sends in an application that is
postmarked after the closing date. Can
this applicant be considered if they have the appropriate test scores and meet
Preferred Qualifications?
No. Applicant must reply to the posting during
the open period to be considered.
Example # 7 (Optional typing skills): An agency announces a Clerk Chief
1. Because of the duties of the
specific position they feel an applicant must type at a minimum speed of 50
words-per-minute. Can they require
this?
Yes. They do not need any Civil Service
approval. They should state in the
announcement that typing skills are required and applicants must present proof
of such skills. They may require the
applicants have a score on the COAST- Typing Skills test or may accept other
proof they deem acceptable. The agency
may specify in the announcement an exact words-per-minute requirement, or may
simply say typing is required and what proof is required, and then simply
evaluate what words-per-minute levels the applicants actually have. That is, they would not preset an absolute
cut-off, but would compare the relative skills of each applicant.
Example # 8 (Preferred Qualifications): An agency
has an Administrative Secretary vacancy.
The Preferred Qualification on the spec indicates three years of
clerical experience. The agency has
also elected the option of specifying a 40 word-per-minute typing speed
requirement. The particular position
involves a lot of typing of statistical material and tables and charts and
using Microsoft Word and Excel. An
applicant is interviewed who types 70 words-per-minute and has two years of
clerical experience using Microsoft Word and Excel and worked for a Department
where she typed numerous statistical reports and tables. But she only has two years of clerical
experience. The Preferred Qualification
on the spec is three years of clerical experience. Can the agency hire this person?
Yes. The qualifications are preferred, not absolute. In this case, although the applicant lacks a
year of quantity, she more than makes up for it in quality, because her two
years of experience is very directly related to the specific position. Also, her typing speed far exceeds the
stated preferred level. If Civil
Service evaluated this decision on an audit, it would deem it a reasonable
judgment to hire this applicant even though she does not meet the exact
Preferred Qualification stated on the spec.
Example # 9 (Preferred Qualifications): Let's assume the agency chooses to
fill the position described in Example 1 with a different person. This person types 40 words-per-minute and
has two years of general clerical experience not specifically related to the
particular position. But the
interviewer believes she has “good people skills” and looks like a “hard
worker.” Can the agency hire this person?
Yes. No rule would be violated. But the justification here is weak. The person barely meets the typing
requirement, does not meet the quantity of experience, and has no strong
quality of experience related to the position.
The references to “good people skills” and “hard worker” are vague,
subjective, and not shown as directly related to the position. Although Civil Service is not going to
concentrate on auditing individual hiring decisions, this is the type of
decision that might encourage employee complaints and a Civil Service review of
the matter. This would not look like a
good hiring decision to us if other applicants were available who did fully
meet the Preferred Qualification.
Agencies must use their discretion responsibly when using Preferred
Qualifications. Anything perceived by
employees as unreasonable or abusive use of this discretion might result in
Civil Service having to eliminate this discretion.
Example #
10 (Certifiable Score Restriction): A person has certifiable scores for COAST Office Skills and COAST
Behavior Assessment. Can the agency make a certifiable score announcement
without announcing the job?
No. Part of the trade off for eliminating
SF-9’s, passing points, certificates, rule of five and allowing hiring down to
the 1st percentile is to require announcement.
Example #11 (Reporting
Date Restriction): An agency posts a QUEST vacancy, and during
the open period, it identifies a candidate they wish to select. Can they stop taking applications and
appoint this applicant before the announcement has closed?
No. They do not have
to review any other applications received, if they do not want to, and they may
shorten the posting period to one week, if it was originally posted for a
longer period, but the announcement must remain open for a minimum of one
week, and they may not appoint their selected applicant until the day after
the posting closes.
rev. 10/04