DEU stands for Delegated Examining Unit. Within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), there are eight DEUs located throughout the country servicing VA medical centers. DEUs announce certain open positions to the public (via job postings) that VA facilities do not have the authority to recruit for. Those positions generally include non-health care or health care support jobs, such as clerks/secretaries, police officers, engineers, food service workers, housekeeping aids and psychology technicians.

Please review this entire FAQ section to find the answers to your questions. Detailed instructions are also located within each job announcement. If you still have questions, you can contact the VA Human Resources office listed in the announcement.

Visit Navigating the Hiring Process for complete instructions on how to apply for federal positions through USAJobs.

We accept and process applications for health care positions on a rolling basis, so some postings from non-VA pages may be out of date or part of a special initiative. The best way to apply is to follow the instructions in the specific announcement, but if a posting linked on another site is no longer open on USAJobs, it may already have been filled.

When applying for a VA position, you will often be asked to submit various forms, such as an application, a Declaration of Federal Employment, Veterans’ Preference forms and others. You can find most of the forms you need here.

For help downloading required documents or to obtain paper forms in the mail, contact our help desk at 1-844-456-5208.

If you do not have access to a computer with printing capabilities, you can go to the nearest VA medical center’s Human Resources Management Office to obtain all of the required forms and a copy of the announcement.

If you are unable to apply online or are unable to upload your supporting documents to your online application, please contact the agency contact listed in the How to Apply section at the bottom of the job announcement.

The How to Apply section of the job announcement will provide instructions for faxing documents, if it is an accepted method for submitting items for that job announcement.

No. Applying online is highly recommended. This way, all of your information is grouped and attached directly to the appropriate job announcement. When faxing, you risk an incomplete submission if all of your forms don't go through. Completing and submitting the assessment online also ensures that you have completed it in the correct format. Duplicate online and fax submissions are unnecessary.

Due to security precautions (e.g., your full social security number is on the application) and due to the volume of applications that are processed by each DEU, we are unable to accept applications by email. This is stated in each announcement, along with detailed instructions on how to apply.

Application processing can take up to 60 days, and in some cases, up to 120 days. Since hiring decisions are made locally, you will need to call the VA facility where you submitted your application.

The hiring process may take a while. There may be other lists of qualified applicants that the hiring facility is reviewing, which may include internal applicants, Veterans, former federal employees or Schedule A-handicapped individuals. The hiring facility will notify you directly to schedule an interview or inform you that the vacancy has already been filled.

If you provided an email address, you should have received an email message from the DEU within 10-15 business days after the closing date. If you did not supply an email address, you should receive a letter from the DEU within that timeframe.

Normally you will receive notification (by email if you provided an email address or by mail if you have not) within 10-15 business days after the closing date.

Each job announcement has a different vacancy ID number. The job may be in a different location or at a different grade level than the previous announcement. The job duties may also vary. In any case, you must apply for each announcement separately.

No. Please do not send duplicate information. It is not required and is unnecessary.

Sign in to your Application Manager account to check your status. Click on the vacancy ID for the announcement, then Details. It will show the date your assessment was submitted and the date your resume and other supporting documents were received.

USAJobs and Application Manager are two different programs. You must sign in to Application Manager to view your status.

No. You can check your status through your Application Manager account. If you faxed any documents, it can take between 24 and 36 hours for them to show in your account. Please make sure your fax receipt shows that all pages have been received, and keep a copy of the receipt for your records.

You may or may not be contacted for an interview. The facility must abide by Office of Personnel Management rules in the selection process but is not required to interview all names that are referred. The facility is given 30 days to use each “referral certificate” and can request an extension of up to another 60 days.

No (in most cases). See the Veterans’ Preference FAQs section for details if you are a Veteran (30% or higher service-connected disabled only).

Veterans with preference have either 5 or 10 points added to their scores, which means there could potentially be applicants with scores of up to 110. Only 3-5 names are referred for each vacancy, and certain Veterans with preference (CPS Veterans) automatically go to the top of the list.

When available, VA salary information is included within individual job postings. Most often, a Professional Standards Board determines an applicant's starting salary based on experience and level of practice. For many health care positions, salaries are based on locality pay scales and regional special salary rates; therefore, specific information may be available from the recruiter at the VA facility where you desire employment. Additional salary information for many positions is available at www.opm.gov.

Visit our Benefits and Education Support pages, or call 1-844-456-5208.

Rather than the DEU, you should contact the HR department at the facility where the position is located.

No. Original, unopened transcripts are only required if you are selected for the position. Faxing or uploading a copy of your transcripts or full course listing is acceptable.

VA hires U.S. citizens, but there are some exceptions made in certain circumstances. Contact the facility where you desire employment for information.