Welcome to the Recruiters Resources Web Site

As a Federal manager or supervisor, one of your major responsibilities is to recruit and retain staff to help you meet your established work goals and objectives. This responsibility must be taken seriously and appropriate time should be allotted by you to ensure that your office is staffed with the "best qualified" employees who can help you achieve your goals and objectives. The major steps in the recruitment process are:

• Determining what your exact hiring needs are
• Initiating a recruitment action
• Issuing a vacancy announcement for the position
• Marketing the position to get high quality applicants
• Interviewing those candidates that you believe can perform the work of the position
• Selecting the "best qualified" candidate for each position you advertise
• Keeping the employees once you have them

This web site has been designed to serve as a quick reference and guidance for you, the selecting official, in the recruitment process. It is intended to help you understand the Federal hiring process and to provide guidance that you might find useful as you proceed to fill positions for your piece of the Agricultural Research Service.

This web site is not intended to cover every step or possible variation that might occur during the recruitment and hiring process. Rather, it should be used as a starting point for consulting with your Human Resources (HR) specialist, as well as your location/area office contacts, who provide additional support and guidance to you when you have vacancies to fill.

Before you begin recruiting, it is important that you fully understand the Merit Systems Principles and Prohibited Personnel Practices that affect your recruitment decisions. As a Federal supervisor or manager, you should be constantly aware of these guiding principles and follow them when making hiring decisions. You can view a summarized version at the following link:

Merit System Principles and Prohibited Personnel Practices