I got hired into six different federal career fields. Environmental Management, Supply, Logistics, Property Management, Engineering, Contracting. Each time I used a different hiring authority. And each time, the authority I chose changed how fast I got through the process, how many people I was competing against, and whether I even needed to go through a full competitive announcement.

If you are applying to federal jobs on USAJOBS right now and you do not understand hiring authorities, you are leaving your biggest advantage on the table. Veterans have access to pathways that most civilian applicants do not. But many veterans either do not know these authorities exist, or they apply under the wrong one and wonder why they keep getting "not referred."

This is the complete breakdown. Every hiring authority available to veterans, ranked by how effective they actually are in practice. Not theoretical definitions from an OPM handbook. Real rankings based on what I have seen work across my own federal career and what BMR users report back to us every week.

What Hiring Authorities Actually Are (and Why They Matter More Than Your Resume)

A hiring authority is the legal basis an agency uses to hire someone. Think of it as the door you walk through to get into federal service. Some doors are wide open with short lines. Others have hundreds of people trying to squeeze through at once.

Every federal job announcement on USAJOBS lists which hiring authorities apply to that position. You will see this in the "Who May Apply" section. It might say "Status Candidates," "All U.S. Citizens," "Veterans with a disability rating," or a combination. The authority determines who is eligible, how the selection process works, and how competitive the pool is.

Here is why this matters practically. Two veterans with identical resumes and identical qualifications can apply to the same agency for the same type of role. One uses competitive examining. The other uses a noncompetitive authority. The noncompetitive applicant could be sitting at a desk with a CAC card while the competitive applicant is still waiting to hear back from HR. The authority you apply under can be the difference between a 3-week hiring timeline and a 6-month wait.

When you are filling out your USAJOBS application, you will see checkboxes for the hiring authorities you are claiming eligibility under. Check every single one that applies to you. Do not leave boxes unchecked because you are not sure. If you are eligible, claim it.

Tier 1: The Noncompetitive Authorities (Your Fastest Path In)

Noncompetitive means the agency can hire you without posting a public announcement or competing you against a pool of applicants. They still need to verify you meet the qualifications, and you still need a solid federal resume. But you are not going through a competitive ranking process. That alone cuts weeks or months off the timeline.

30% or More Disabled Veteran Hiring Authority

If you have a VA disability rating of 30% or higher, this is your single most powerful tool for getting into federal service. An agency can hire you directly into any position up to and including GS-15 without posting it competitively. No announcement. No cert list. No waiting for HR to rank 200 applicants.

How it works in practice: you find a hiring manager who has a vacancy. You send them your resume and your VA disability letter. If they want you and you meet the OPM qualification standards, they can bring you on board. The initial appointment is temporary (60 days or more), and after demonstrating satisfactory performance, it converts to a permanent career or career-conditional position.

I used this authority myself. The speed difference compared to competitive hiring was dramatic. We have a full breakdown in our 30% disabled veteran hiring authority guide if you want the step-by-step.

Schedule A Hiring Authority for Veterans with Disabilities

Schedule A (5 CFR 213.3102(u)) is available to any veteran with a disability rating. Unlike the 30% authority, there is no minimum percentage. A 10% rating qualifies you. You need a Schedule A letter from the VA or your doctor certifying you have a disability and are able to perform the job.

Agencies can use Schedule A to hire you noncompetitively into positions on the excepted service. After two years of satisfactory performance, you can convert to competitive service. This matters because competitive service status opens up internal merit promotion announcements down the road.

The practical advantage of Schedule A: it works even for veterans who do not meet the 30% threshold. If your rating is 10% or 20%, this is your noncompetitive path. We cover exactly how to get your Schedule A letter from the VA online and what to do with it once you have it. We also have a detailed Schedule A hiring authority guide covering the full process.

Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA)

VRA lets agencies hire eligible veterans noncompetitively into positions up to GS-11 (or equivalent). You are eligible if you served during a war or campaign for which a campaign badge was authorized, OR you are a disabled veteran, OR you separated within the last 3 years with an honorable discharge, OR you received an Armed Forces Service Medal for participation in a military operation.

The GS-11 cap is the main limitation. If you are targeting GS-12 and above, VRA will not get you there directly. But it is an excellent way to get your foot in the door. Once you are in federal service, you build status and time-in-grade that opens up higher-graded positions through merit promotion.

VRA appointments are for 2 years. After successful completion, you convert to career-conditional. Read our full VRA federal jobs guide for eligibility details and how to use it on USAJOBS.

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Tier 2: Competitive Authorities Where Veterans Get Priority

These authorities go through the competitive process, meaning you are ranked against other applicants. But as a veteran, you get meaningful advantages that push you toward the top of the list.

Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA)

VEOA gives eligible veterans access to job announcements that would otherwise be limited to current federal employees (merit promotion announcements). This is a big deal. Many of the best federal positions are only posted internally. Without VEOA, you would never see them.

To be eligible, you need to be a preference eligible veteran or have completed 3 or more years of active duty with an honorable separation. When you find a merit promotion announcement that lists VEOA eligibility, you can apply as an outside candidate competing alongside current feds.

One thing many veterans miss: VEOA gets you into the competitive process, but you are hired into the competitive service. That means full competitive status from day one. No conversion period. No excepted service waiting game. We break down the full process in our VEOA explained guide.

Veterans Preference (5-Point and 10-Point)

Veterans preference is not a hiring authority by itself. It is a benefit that applies when you are going through the competitive examining process. But it is so commonly confused with hiring authorities that it belongs in this discussion.

If you served on active duty during certain time periods and received an honorable discharge, you get 5-point preference. If you have a service-connected disability, you get 10-point preference. These points get added to your passing score on the examination, which pushes you higher on the certificate of eligibles that goes to the hiring manager.

The practical impact: on a certificate with 10 qualified candidates, the hiring manager receives the top-ranked names. Your preference points can be the difference between being on that certificate or not. This is especially true for positions filled through delegated examining, where the scoring is more structured.

Tier 3: Specialized Authorities Worth Knowing

These are not as broadly applicable as the ones above, but if you qualify, they can open doors that are completely closed to the general public.

Direct Hire Authority (DHA)

DHA lets agencies skip the competitive ranking process entirely for positions where there is a severe shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need. OPM grants DHA to specific agencies for specific occupational series. IT specialists (2210 series), cybersecurity analysts, engineers, and medical professionals are common DHA positions.

Why this matters for veterans: when an agency has DHA, they can look at your resume and make a hiring decision fast. No cert list ranking. No waiting for a panel review of 300 applications. The agency posts the position, reviews qualified applicants, and can select quickly. Veterans preference still applies, but the streamlined process benefits everyone involved.

Check which agencies hire the most veterans to find the ones most likely to have active DHA for your target series.

Excepted Service Agencies

Some federal agencies operate entirely outside the competitive service. The intelligence community (CIA, NSA, DIA), the FBI, the FAA, and parts of VA are excepted service agencies. They set their own hiring rules and do not always follow the same competitive examining procedures.

For veterans, excepted service agencies can sometimes move faster because they have more flexibility in how they evaluate and select candidates. The trade-off is that excepted service time does not always transfer cleanly if you want to move to a competitive service agency later. Check the specific agency policies before assuming your time counts everywhere.

Pathways Program (Recent Graduates)

If you separated and used your GI Bill to get a degree, the Pathways Recent Graduates program lets you apply for positions specifically set aside for people who graduated within the last 2 years. Some agencies extend this to 6 years for veterans.

Pathways positions are developmental. You get training, mentorship, and a structured career ladder. For veterans who just finished a degree and want to break into a specific federal career field, this can be a solid entry point. The positions are often posted at lower grade levels (GS-5 through GS-9) with promotion potential built in.

How to Actually Use These on USAJOBS

Knowing the authorities exist is step one. Knowing how to use them when you are actually sitting at your computer filling out applications is what gets you hired.

When you open a USAJOBS announcement, scroll down to "This job is open to" and "Who May Apply." Those sections tell you which hiring authorities apply. If you see "Veterans" or specific authority names listed, that is your signal.

During the application questionnaire, USAJOBS will ask which hiring authority you are claiming eligibility under. This is where you check boxes. If you are a 30% disabled vet AND eligible for VEOA AND eligible for VRA, check all three. There is no penalty for claiming multiple authorities. In fact, it gives the agency more flexibility to bring you on board through whichever path is fastest for them.

Upload your supporting documents for every authority you claim. For 30% disabled, that is your VA disability letter. For Schedule A, it is your Schedule A letter. For VRA, it is your DD-214 showing qualifying service. For VEOA, it is your DD-214 showing 3+ years of active duty with honorable discharge. Missing documents are the number one reason eligible veterans get marked "not referred" even when they clearly qualify.

If you are getting "not referred" on positions you should qualify for, our guide on why USAJOBS ghosts you after referral walks through the common failure points.

The Strategy: Which Authority to Prioritize Based on Your Situation

Your best authority depends on your specific situation. Here is how to think about it.

If you have a 30%+ disability rating: Lead with the 30% disabled veteran authority. Apply to positions open to "30% or more disabled veterans" or reach out to agency Selective Placement Program Coordinators (SPPCs) directly. This is the fastest, most direct path. Also check every box for VEOA and VRA if you qualify for those too.

If you have a disability rating under 30%: Schedule A is your primary noncompetitive path. Get your Schedule A letter squared away first. Then apply broadly. Also use VRA for any position at GS-11 or below.

If you have no disability rating: Your strongest options are VRA (if you are within 3 years of separation and targeting GS-11 or below) and VEOA (for merit promotion positions at any grade level). For positions open to all U.S. citizens, your veterans preference points give you a competitive edge through the standard examining process.

If you are a recent graduate: Stack Pathways on top of whatever veteran authority you qualify for. Apply to Pathways-specific announcements AND regular announcements using your veteran authorities. Cover both channels.

If you have no civilian work experience: VRA and the 30% authority (if eligible) are especially valuable because they reduce the emphasis on a long civilian work history. We cover how to build a competitive application with only military experience on your federal resume.

Mistakes That Cost Veterans Referrals

After helping over 15,000 veterans through BMR, these are the patterns I see over and over with hiring authority mistakes.

Not claiming all eligible authorities. Some veterans check one box and leave the rest blank. If you qualify for three authorities, claim all three. The HR specialist reviewing your application will route you through whichever one gives you the best shot.

Missing supporting documents. You claim 30% disabled but do not upload your VA letter. You claim VEOA but your DD-214 is not attached. HR does not chase you down for documents. They mark you ineligible and move on. Upload everything for every authority you claim. Every single time.

Confusing veterans preference with hiring authorities. Veterans preference gives you points in the ranking process. Hiring authorities determine which door you walk through. They are related but not the same. You can use veterans preference inside a competitive announcement while also applying to noncompetitive opportunities using a separate authority. They are not mutually exclusive.

Ignoring merit promotion announcements. Many veterans only look at "open to all U.S. citizens" postings. If you are VEOA eligible, you can also apply to merit promotion announcements that are normally reserved for current federal employees. These positions often have smaller applicant pools because fewer people know they can apply.

Applying to the wrong grade level with VRA. VRA caps at GS-11. If you are applying to a GS-12 position using VRA as your only authority, you will get screened out. Know the limits of each authority and match them to the positions you are targeting. When you are ready to apply to federal jobs at scale, having this dialed in saves you from wasted applications.

Your Resume Still Has to Do the Work

Hiring authorities open doors. They do not walk through them for you. Even with the most favorable noncompetitive authority, you still need a federal resume that proves you meet the qualifications for the position.

OPM qualification standards determine whether you are eligible for a specific GS level. Your resume needs to demonstrate the specialized experience required. For a GS-11 position, that typically means 1 year of experience equivalent to the GS-9 level. The resume has to spell out exactly what you did, how long you did it, and what the outcomes were.

Federal resumes are different from private sector resumes. You need to include hours per week, supervisor contact information, specific duty descriptions that match the language of the position announcement, and enough detail for an HR specialist to verify your qualifications. Current best practice is to keep it to 2 pages while including all required details.

If you have been reviewing whether USAJOBS is worth the effort, the answer depends heavily on whether you are pairing the right authorities with a solid resume. The platform works. The process works. But only when you use both the hiring authority and the resume together.

For veterans who want help building a federal resume that actually supports these authorities, our federal resume builder is built specifically for this. It formats everything the way federal HR expects to see it and helps you translate military experience into the language that gets you qualified and referred.

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→ Try our free military-to-civilian translator

What to Do Next

Figure out which authorities you are eligible for right now. Pull up your DD-214 and check your years of active duty. Log into eBenefits or VA.gov and confirm your disability rating. If you have a rating, get your Schedule A letter if you do not already have one.

Then open USAJOBS and look at 5 positions you are interested in. Read the "Who May Apply" section on each one. Identify which authorities match your eligibility. This exercise takes 20 minutes and completely changes how you approach federal job applications.

If you are comparing federal job search strategies, our breakdown of USAJOBS versus LinkedIn for veterans can help you decide where to focus your effort.

And if your resume needs structural help, our breakdown of federal resume template mistakes that rank veterans lower covers the formatting and tailoring errors that sink applications before hiring authorities even come into play. The hiring authority is the mechanism. The resume is the evidence. You need both. Start with the authority that gives you the shortest path, build a resume that meets OPM qualification standards for your target position, and apply with all your supporting documents attached. That combination is how you stop getting "not referred" and start getting interviews.