GUIDELINES FOR AGENCIES
HOW TO FILL A JOB USING QUEST
All vacancies for
positions covered by the QUEST process must be posted by the hiring agency on
JOB SEARCH, other than the exceptions listed below.
Exceptions:
The vacancy does not
need to be posted when filled by
a.
Appointment from a
Department Preferred Re-Employment list.
b.
Restricted Appointment.
c.
Detail to Special Duty
d.
Noncompetitive
re-employment of a former classified employee
e.
Noncompetitive
appointment of a handicapped or disabled applicant under provisions of Rule
7.20(c)
f.
Demotion, reassignment,
or lateral transfer of a permanent employee.
At present, the QUEST
process covers: Clerical, Office & Administrative Support Test (COAST), Law
Enforcement & Protective Services (LEAPS), Law Enforcement Supervisor
(LEAPS Supervisor) and Professional Entry Test (PET)
B. Length of
announcements, filling additional vacancies, reporting dates for QUEST hires,
8.4 (e) appointments and selective certification:
Vacancies must be
announced for a minimum of one week.
An individual
announcement may be used to fill the original vacancy, and any additional
vacancies in the same job title that occur after the posting without
re-announcing, as long as the job offer is made within ninety (90) days of the
closing date of the announcement. If a
job offer is not made within ninety (90) days of the closing date of the
announcement, the vacancy must be re-posted to Job Search. Requests for exceptions to the ninety-day period
may be submitted to the Staffing Division.
Jobs may be posted
continuously, but agencies that choose to do this must have policies regarding
how long to retain applications.
Agencies
may use Rule 8.4(e) when posting a probational vacancy for any professional level
job covered by this rule. The vacancy
must still be announced on JOB SEARCH.
The JOB SEARCH posting must include a note informing applicants that a
PET score is not necessary if they have completed a baccalaureate degree with
an overall GPA of 3.5 or higher. When
using this rule, hiring agencies must require applicants to submit official
transcripts with their applications.
Specific
selective certification requests are no longer being granted for the job series
covered by QUEST. However, agencies may
always indicate job-related special requirements within the Special Notes
portion of the JOB SEARCH posting.
C. Certificates and
Applications
Applicants will apply
directly to the hiring agency in response to the JOB SEARCH announcement and
not to Civil Service. Applicants will
report to a Civil Service test center to test and receive required test grades. Applicants must have the required grades
when they submit their application to the hiring agency in response to the JOB
SEARCH announcement.
Civil Service will no
longer issue any certificates for these jobs.
Agencies may only
consider people who respond directly to the announcement. No inquiries of availability need to be
sent. Since applicants are applying
specifically to an announcement, they should all be available. The agency will not need to create an
“in-house” certificate or hire in rank order according to the rule of
five.
D. Application
Deadline
Applicants must submit
their application to an open vacancy before the application deadline (closing
date) of the posting. An application
that is postmarked with the closing date is considered timely and should be
accepted. All other applications
received after the closing date should be considered untimely and should not
be considered for the vacancy.
E. Minimum
Qualifications
I. The Minimum
Qualifications requirements
The Minimum Qualification
requirements must be checked for each test series. Some test series will have absolute qualification requirements,
while others will have preferred qualifications requirements.
Those test series with
preferred minimum qualifications will be:
Clerical, Office &
Administrative Support Test (COAST)
Those test series with
absolute minimum qualifications will be:
Law Enforcement &
Protective Services (LEAPS)
Law Enforcement
Supervisor (LEAPS Supervisor)
Professional Entry Test
(PET)
For those test series
with Preferred Minimum Qualifications, Civil Service will specify
experience and educational qualifications for each job. But the specified years of experience and/or education and substitutions will not be absolute requirements. The hiring agency is not absolutely
bound to hire someone meeting the Preferred Qualifications. However, they will have to explain their
hiring decision to any who may challenge it when they depart from the Preferred
Qualifications. It is expected that
positions will be filled using Preferred Qualifications most of the time, and
that exceptions will be rare and rationally defensible when they do occur.
Also, for the COAST
series, every job specification has an option to require minimum
words-per-minute typing skills. The
hiring agency can set this minimum on a vacancy-by-vacancy basis, or not
require typing skills at all, based on the different needs of each position, or
on changing needs over time for a single position. When the agency chooses to require a minimum typing skills score,
they should specify in the JOB SEARCH announcement what minimum is required on
the Civil Service COAST Typing Skills test.
They may indicate this as a preferred rather than an absolute qualification,
and may accept other proof they deem acceptable of a specified minimum
words-per-minute as a substitute for the Civil Service typing skills test.
For those test series
with Absolute Minimum Qualifications, Civil Service will specify
experience and educational qualifications for each job. But the specified years of experience and/or education and substitutions will be absolute requirements. The hiring agency is absolutely bound to
hire someone meeting the Minimum Qualifications. They will not be allowed to hire persons who do not meet the
minimum qualification.
II. The Agency Human
Resources Office will screen applications to ensure persons appointed meet the
Preferred or
Absolute Qualifications.
Civil Service will not
pre-screen applications to see that applicants meet Minimum Qualifications. Instead, the Agency Human Resources Office
will do this.
For those test series
that have preferred qualifications, Agency managers and Human Resources staff
are in a position to judge when exceptions are reasonable. It will also not be possible for an agency
to violate a rule by making a mistake on a qualification decision.
For those test series
that have absolute qualifications, Agency managers and Human Resources staff
will be allowed no exceptions. However,
it will still not be possible for an agency to violate a rule by making a
mistake on a qualification decision.
For those test series
that have preferred qualifications, Agency HR staff need not screen every
application up front at the time of application. If the job is technical with Preferred Qualifications that are
difficult to interpret, they may refer all applications to agency hiring
managers, let them select whom they think is best qualified and simply verify
that the person recommended for appointment meets the Preferred Qualifications
or that it is reasonable to make an exception for the person recommended. HR does not necessarily have to screen for
qualifications the applications of persons not recommended for appointment.
However, if the manager
recommends someone who would be an exception, because they do not meet the
preferred qualifications, HR should review the other applications, because some
other applicant who does meet the preferred qualifications may challenge the
decision. HR and the agency manager
making the hiring decision must be prepared to present a rational case for
appointing a person who does not meet the preferred qualifications over one who
does.
For those test series
that have absolute qualifications, Agency HR staff need not screen every application
up front at the time of application.
However, the HR staff must review the application of the person
recommended to be hired to assure that person does meets the minimum
qualifications.
F. Testing
Procedures and Scores
Applicants for any job
covered by QUEST must take the test or obtain a score for the appropriate test
series. Applicants will be required to
follow normal walk-in testing procedures.
These procedures are available on the Civil Service Website, as well as
the testing schedule.
All scores for job series
covered by the QUEST process are reported as percentile scores. A percentile score compares an individual’s
score to the scores of all other people who take the test. If a person scores in the 85th percentile,
it means that 85% of persons taking the test scored lower than he did; if he
scores in the 90th percentile, then 90% of the people taking the test scored
lower than he did.
For the COAST, an
applicant will receive two scores, one for the COAST Behavior Assessment (series
7000) and one for the COAST Office Skills (series 7001). Applicants may also choose to take the COAST
Typing Skills test (series 7002) so they may apply for jobs that are
announced requiring typing skills. The
COAST Typing Skills Test scores, however, are reported as a net
words-per-minute score. It is a net
words-per-minute because keystrokes are subtracted for errors when computing
the words-per-minute.
For the PET (series
7333), LEAPS (series 7500) and LEAPS Supervisor
(series 7700), an
applicant will receive one score.
G. Certifiable
scores (“hiring scores”).
Civil Service will set
the appropriate certifiable score for each test series.
COAST
Statewide certifiable
scores for the COAST are set at the 1st percentile. This allows
agency discretion to essentially set its own passing points on a
vacancy-by-vacancy basis.
Civil Service recommends
a “hiring score” of the 40th percentile. If an agency hires a candidate who scores below the 40th
percentile on BOTH the COAST Behavior Assessment and COAST Office Skills, then
the agency must provide justification for this appointment.
PET
The statewide certifiable
score for the PET will be set at the 40th percentile. This is the absolute hiring score. To be appointed to a PET vacancy, the applicant
must score at the 40th percentile or above.
LEAPS
The statewide certifiable
scores for the LEAPS will be set at the 1st percentile. This allows
agency discretion to essentially set its own passing points on a
vacancy-by-vacancy basis.
Civil Service recommends
a “hiring score” of the 40th percentile. If an agency hires a candidate who scores below the 40th
percentile on the LEAPS exam, then the agency must provide justification for
this appointment.
LEAPS Supervisor
The statewide certifiable
score for the LEAPS Supervisor will be set at the 1st percentile.
This allows agency discretion to essentially set its own passing points on a
vacancy-by-vacancy basis.
Civil Service recommends
a “hiring score” of the 40th percentile. If an agency hires a candidate who scores below the 40th
percentile on the LEAPS exam, then the agency must provide justification for
this appointment.
If an agency wants to,
they may always raise the bar by requiring a higher score than the Civil
Service certifiable score. They could
indicate an absolute higher score or a preferred higher score. This might be done if it is anticipated that
the number of applicants will be excessive.
In such cases, the agency should place a statement in the JOB SEARCH
announcement. They may choose to simply
indicate that a preference for higher scores will be given and then choose the
cutoff score, if any, after all applications are received. Alternatively, they may state a specific
cutoff score in the announcement, but they will then be bound by it in making
their selection.
NOTE: For those jobs with
absolute minimum hiring scores, the agency may never go below that score in
hiring.
It is expected that
agencies follow merit system principles and hire people with high scores most
of the time. Civil Service will monitor
agency hiring practices and review patterns of hiring to ensure this. The maximum discretion is being granted to
allow agency managers to consider other factors not assessed by the Civil
Service procedures and to deal with such problems as small applicant pools in
some regions or for particular positions, locations or pay levels. But this authority must be used
responsibly. The authority for
probational and job appointments will be Rule 8.4(d), the certifiable score rule. The authority for promotions will be Rule
8.20(a).
H. Testing
Exemptions
For the COAST Series,
testing will not be required for noncompetitive promotion or transfer and
promotion of 1) an employee with permanent status who currently occupies a
clerical job and has been in the job at least six months, OR 2) an employee
with permanent status who occupied a clerical job for at least six months
sometime during the previous five years.
Such people may be promoted or transferred and promoted without testing. The vacancy must still be announced on JOB
SEARCH, and such employees/applicants must submit an application during the
open period of the announcement to be considered. It is advisable to include in the JOB SEARCH announcement a
statement regarding the testing exemption.
For the PET Series,
testing will not be required for promotion or transfer and promotion of an
employee with permanent status who currently occupies a PET job. Such people may be promoted or transferred
and promoted without testing. The
vacancy must still be announced on JOB SEARCH, and such employees/applicants
must submit an application during the open period of the announcement to be
considered. It is advisable to include
in the JOB SEARCH announcement a statement regarding the testing exemption.
For the LEAPS Series,
testing will not be required for promotion or transfer and promotion of an
employee with permanent status who currently occupies a LEAPS job. Such people may be promoted or transferred
and promoted without testing. The
vacancy must still be announced on JOB SEARCH, and such employees/applicants
must submit an application during the open period of the announcement to be
considered. It is advisable to include
in the JOB SEARCH announcement a statement regarding the testing exemption.
For the LEAPS Supervisor
Series, testing will not be required for promotion or transfer and promotion of
an employee with permanent status who currently occupies a LEAPS Supervisor
job. Such people may be promoted or
transferred and promoted without testing.
The vacancy must still be announced on JOB SEARCH, and such
employees/applicants must submit an application during the open period of the
announcement to be considered. It is
advisable to include in the JOB SEARCH announcement a statement regarding the
testing exemption.
I. Certifiable
score restriction: To ensure competition all vacancies must be
announced; therefore, certifiable score appointments cannot be
made to these jobs without announcing them.
J. Civil Service
Monitoring of Agency Staffing Programs Using QUEST
When evaluating agencies,
our emphasis is shifting from evaluating process and individual transactions to
evaluating results at the program level.
Hiring practices will be evaluated in terms of aggregate results. Although Civil Service will no longer
closely monitor individual hiring decisions under the QUEST system, we will
look at hiring in the aggregate and expect, for example, that most of the time
persons with high scores on Civil Service assessments or tests are hired over
persons with low scores. Our tests are
valid and have been proven to predict job success; that is, people who do
better on the tests do better on the job.
Article X of the Constitution requires hiring on the basis of merit, and
we will expect overall agency hiring patterns to reflect this.
Statistical reports on hiring practices will be used to evaluate whether agencies are hiring according to merit principles (i.e., in general hiring top scorers). If an agency is found to have a pattern of always hiring people with low scores, this will prompt questioning by Civil Service. Recommendations for improvements and technical assistance will be provided. Managers and agency HR must also be prepared to rationally defend any individual decision they make against complainants.
updated 3/21/06