STATE OF LOUISIANA

DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

General Circular No. 001471

To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: Walk-In Testing for Special and Promotional Announcements

Issue Date: January 25, 2002

Starting February 25, 2002, as part of our continuing effort to reduce the amount of time necessary to fill vacancies, Civil Service is implementing walk-in testing at all testing centers for all special / promotional jobs which are now announced on JOB SEARCH. This only applies to jobs that use written tests. Jobs using E&T's or "Eligible" grades will be processed as before.

For these jobs, applicants wishing to test will no longer mail an application to Civil Service. Instead, the JOB SEARCH announcement will instruct applicants that they must walk-in to a test center by a certain date with an application in hand or they will not be on the certificate when it is issued. The final date may vary depending on the test center where the person chooses to test. All persons who test by the specified date (and pass the test and meet Minimum Qualifications) will be included on the certificate.

Walk-in applicants must indicate the exact job title and series number of the job(s) they are applying for on the application. Applications for walk-ins will not be prescreened for qualifications before testing. Applicants will be instructed that they may not qualify for the jobs they are applying for; they test at their own risk. If an applicant ends up not qualifying after testing, he or she will receive a reject notice for that particular job, but if the test is passed will also receive a grade for the "test only" register. This allows the person to request a regrade from the "test only" register for any jobs using that test that he qualifies for in the future; he does not have to take the test again.

Applicants, who already have a grade for the test series but not the particular job announced, should mail an application to Civil Service requesting a regrade for the job announced. They need to write the exact job title, series number and the word "regrade" on the application. Any application received in the mail for one of the jobs announced per this circular will be processed as a regrade. If the applicant submits an application in the mail and is not eligible for a regrade, he may miss out and not be on the certificate. The JOB SEARCH announcement for each vacancy will give exact instructions pertaining to walk-in testing and regrades for that particular announcement. Failure to follow these instructions may result in the applicant missing out on a job opportunity.

Applicants who want to arrange testing accommodations for disabilities for jobs announced in this way will still have to contact Civil Service and apply to Civil Service to be scheduled for the exam. Instructions regarding this will be on each JOB SEARCH announcement.

To make it easier for state employees, we are making all our current registers that use tests an STE announcement status, meaning they will be open to all permanent state employees continuously. State employees are encouraged to apply and get a grade for one of these continuously open registers for which they qualify. Then when a job is added to a test and appears on a special or promotional announcement on JOB SEARCH for the first time, the employee may request a regrade and not have to walk-in and test.

Sincerely,

Allen H. Reynolds

Director