Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
December 20, 2006, Vol. 06-130

CMHS Job Opportunities Soon Available – Consumers Encouraged to Apply

In the near future, the Community Support Programs Branch of the SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services will be posting a job announcement for up to two Public Health Advisor position(s). Among other candidates, we would very much like to consider mental health consumers for these positions.

A special hiring authority, called Schedule A, allows the Federal government to hire people with psychiatric disabilities on a non-competitive basis. Although the position will be open for competition, the Schedule A provisions make it easier for us to consider qualified consumers for the position.

To help prepare consumers to apply for the upcoming position, we are providing the following information about how to apply under the Schedule A authority. Please save this notice so that you can refer readily to it when the announcement is released.

We look forward to announcing the positions not long after the beginning of the New Year, and to receiving a lot of great applications (through our human resources coordinator) in response.

Submitting an application

You will have to submit your resume through the on-line system at www.usajobs.opm.gov. To prepare to apply, you may want to create an account on this website now. Doing so will allow you to receive automated job alerts and to post your resume online so that you have it ready to submit easily once the announcement is released.

During the application process, be sure to indicate that you ARE eligible for "noncompetitive appointment," appointment under "Schedule A," "excepted service appointment," or appointment under "5CFR213.3120(u)" whenever asked. This will ensure that we can use the simplified procedures for hiring you.

Preparing your application

Be sure to write "Eligible for excepted service appointment under 5 CFR 213.3102(u)" on the resume that you submit.

You must meet all required qualifications for the position in order to be hired. Applications are pre-screened by personnel officers unfamiliar with variations in terminology used by the field. They must be able to tell from your application that you meet the minimal required qualifications in order to pass your name on to us for possible hiring. Therefore, in preparing your application, be careful to use the same words used in the vacancy announcement to describe your qualifications. For example, if the vacancy announcement asks about your experience in working with people with mental illnesses, be sure to use the phrase "people with mental illnesses" in your response, rather than just discussing, for example, your work with "children with serious emotional disturbances" – the personnel officer might not realize that the latter counts toward the qualification.

Providing "proof of disability" documentation and "certification of job readiness"

Proof of the disability and certification of job readiness are required for excepted service appointments of persons with psychiatric disabilities. The following is a list of some examples of documents that you can submit as proof of psychiatric disability:

• Statements or letters on a licensed physician's/medical professional's letterhead stationary.
• Statements, records or letters from a Federal Government agency that issues or provides disability benefits (e.g., the Social Security Administration).
• Statements, records or letters from a State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency counselor.
• Certification from a licensed private Vocational Rehabilitation or other Counselor that issues or provides disability benefits.
• Certification, statements, records or letters from a State agency, or agency of the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory that issues or provides disability benefits.

Certification of job readiness is a determination that applicants with disabilities are likely to succeed in the performance of the duties of the position he or she is seeking. The same entities who may provide proof of disability may also certify an individual's job readiness.

For more information about Schedule A and other "excepted service" or "non-competitive" appointments.

Much of the information presented here is paraphrased from information presented on two sections of the Federal Office of Personnel Management website. You can go directly to these sections through the following links:

• http://www.opm.gov/Strategic_Management_of_Human_Capital/fhfrc/FLX05020.asp#itemA1
• http://www.opm.gov/disability/hrpro_3-02.asp

If you don't want to go through this process, you can still apply like anybody else. However, we will not be able to use the special hiring authority that would make it easier for us to hire you.

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.