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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If a federal job has been created for a particular individual (i.e., if the office already has a candidate in mind/has pre-selected someone), is the office required to interview other people on the cert list?  Or, assuming the person is in the top 3, can the office just hire without interviewing additional candidates?  [/quote]

First, if this job falls within the categorythat requires competitive hiring, it is illegal to "wire" the position so that a specific candidate can be hired.  See http://www.mspb.gov/ppp/aprppp.htm.

Second, and this is a general rule, for most competitive hire positions there are three certificates (ie lists) of "qualified" candidates. The candidiates at this point have been given scores based on the answers in their applicationsand information in their resumes.   The first list is for people who already work for the Fed Gov't, have "competitive status" and received ranking score above the cut off score (these are people seeking merit promotions), the second is for people who are not government employees -- but this list includes only three highest ranked candidates -- which due to Vet preference laws, are often Vets, the last list is people with "Schedule A" disabilities.  The hiring official can choose to hire from any list. [b]The hirin official is not required to interview anyone, but ifthe hiring official interviews one person on a list, he/she must interview all the candidates on the list[/b].

Third, if you think the job was wired so that a specific person would be chosen, and you apply, and you are not selected, and you work in the Executive Branch, contact the Office of Special Counsel.

Apologies for typos - on IPad.[/quote]

This person did a much more comprehensive job of explaining the situation than I tried to do earlier.  But I take issue with one point.  I am unaware of any government-wide rule that requires an agency to interview everyone on a list if they interview anyone on a list.  This is just not true.And also the "Rule of Three" that you reference is no longer required.  Agencies can use category ranking to choose from more than three people.[/quote]

I think the PP was talking generally.  She never said there was a government wide regulation that requires all people on a cert to be interviewed.  I can tell you it is the policy at my current agency (Legislative branch) and my prior agency (Executive branch).

The category rating system was an optional alternative to the numeric ranking system in the Executive branch until 2010, when POTUS ordered that all Executive branches adopt the category system. My agency still uses the numeric ranking system.  Even with the category rating system, however, as long as a preference eligible candidate is within the highest category, the selecting official may not select a non-preference eligible unless the selecting official obtains approval to pass over the preference eligible in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 3318.

I agree that the hiring official may hire someone from a certificate of eligible candidates without interviewing anyone.  They cannot, however, rig the process to give one person an advantage over others.  An example of rigging the process would be to draft the job posting in a way that would give a preselected person an advantage. This is a hard claim to prove.  If the person the incumbent wants to hire is genuinely qualified for the position, it is extremely hard to prove because there should be no need to alter the job requirements to give the person an advantage.  While it is difficult to prove, it is not impossible.

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