Thanks, PP. Very helpful suggestions.

Same poster. Should clarify that there are no separate PHS jobs. It's more like who you work for but people in same position in same office can be PHS or civil service. Therefore, no such thing as PHS jobs exist. Like I said, you need to get into PHS and need to get hired for fed govt position that qualifies in health agency on your own. PHS won't help you find a position. That's on you. If you get into PHS before finding a fed govt position, I believe you have one year and after one year of you being accepted into PHS, if you haven't located a position, then your PHS tentative acceptance is rescinded. I thought the process hearing back was long and arduous. Submit paperwork and not hear anything for 6 months. Waiting another 6-9 months and to me, I agree, the whole website and process seemed very disorganized. There are pros and cons to it. People who are actually in PHS are usually better sources of knowledge than trying to figure things out from the website.

My suggestions: find the agency you're interested in working, ensure you qualify for a position at it and then locate name and number of recruiter/ for that agency and get Info from them.

Not in PHS but was interested so I applied but ultimately decided it wasn't for me. So you can apply to PHS at any point and the important thing to realize is finding and getting into PHS is completely separate process than finding a fed job that qualifies. You need to do both things. In other words, if you apply and get into PHS, it's not like PHS finds or gives you a job. You still need to interview and get hired for a position that qualifies for PHS (NIH, FDA, cdc, ihs, bop, etc). The process and acceptance to PHS takes a year or more so easiest way is start looking now, find a position that qualifies for PHS and interview and get hired. In the meantime, submit your PHS paperwork and start your new fed govt position as civil employee and then when your PHS stuff finally comes through, you can switch from civil (GS) to PHS.

I'm interested in the public health service commissioned corps, but found the information on their website (https://www.usphs.gov/) is very abstract. If you are in PHS, where did you find the job openings? Did you have to have some "insider" connection to get in? Thanks.