Veterans’ Interests Also Kept in Mind

The revised civil service reform bill also seeks to reassure veterans, and their organizations, that veterans preference will not be diminished in the proposed changes in hiring procedures. The measure would allow agencies to drop the traditional “rule of three”-in which a hiring choice must be made from the top three ranked applicants-and use a “category ranking” system, in which they could rank applicants in categories of basically qualified, highly qualified, or superior. Veterans groups traditionally have been concerned that dropping the rule of three will diminish the effect of the additional points that are awarded to veterans in the ranking that produces the top three candidates.