Questions and Answers

Whether one person is responsible for the bad acts of another depends on general principles of law such as those pertaining to aiding and abetting and conspiracy and must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Generally speaking, one’s liability will be tied to one’s knowledge of and complicity in the other’s bad act.

Example of Bad Acts

For example, a manufacturer or wholesaler may reasonably believe that an out-of-state retailer/person who drives hundreds of miles to buy a tobacco product that they can readily purchase in their home state is evading tax and reporting requirements.

If the seller sells products to this retailer/person despite having reasonable cause to believe the retailer/person is not a legitimate tax-paying retailer, the seller may potentially be liable under the PACT Act and other laws.

Unfortunately, no. Qualification requirements must be developed based on the position, series and grade announced. Agencies must develop these requirements before the announcement opens, and agencies are prohibited from requiring more than what is necessary to do the job from applicants. Agencies are also not allowed to compare applicants against one another; they are only allowed to compare applicants against the requirements.

In simple terms, qualified veterans are essentially referred ahead of non-veterans or non-preference eligibles. Selecting officials may not bypass qualified veterans over non-veterans, unless the referred veteran(s) are selected, withdraw from competition, or in rare cases a pass over is granted.

“Category Rating” is used for positions advertised under Delegated Examining procedures (open to all U.S. citizens to apply). Under Category Rating, applicants are placed into groups (Best Qualified, Well Qualified and Qualified) based on the contents of their application. Veterans with a disability of 10 percent or more are placed at the top of the highest category on the referral list (except for scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 level or higher) if they meet minimum qualifications. Veterans’ preference does not apply to positions that are covered by a Direct Hire Authority (DHA). If a position is covered by a DHA, it will be stated in the announcement.

ATF receives a lot of highly qualified veteran applicants for most all 1800, clerical and administrative positions. It can be very challenging to get referred to the hiring manager(s), if you are a non-veteran applying to those positions at ATF that are open to the public, but we encourage you to continue to apply.

No. Only veterans discharged or released from active duty in the armed forces under honorable conditions are eligible for veterans’ preference. For more information about veterans’ preference, visit Feds Hire Vets.

Your resume must thoroughly describe how your skills and experiences align with the criteria defined in the qualifications section of the job announcement and support your responses to the assessment questionnaire. Federal Human Resources professionals operate under various federal employment laws, rules and regulations. We are prohibited from drawing conclusions or making assumptions regarding your experience or qualifications. It is up to you to describe your past work experience in detail by providing examples related to those listed in the requirements section of the job announcement.

Your experience, including relevant volunteer, paid or unpaid work and roles in community organizations, should address all qualifications in the vacancy announcement. Be specific to ensure the hiring agency can determine the experience they are seeking. If the qualifications section says you need experience developing quality assurance standard operating procedures and division policies, you need to provide evidence of this qualifying experience in your resume.

Federal Human Resources professionals operate under various federal employment laws, rules and regulations. We are prohibited from drawing conclusions or making assumptions regarding your experience or qualifications. It is up to you to describe your past work experience in detail by providing examples related to those listed in the requirements section of the job announcement.

Note: Academic curriculum vitae typically do not include enough information for a Human Resources professional to determine if you meet minimum eligibility requirements. We cannot assume you have the necessary experience required for a position regardless of your employment history or academic career. If you choose to use an academic curriculum vitae, please expand upon the traditional form to include the information in the following section for each experience/position listed. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJobs Online Resume Builder.

Yes. Please note that changes may not be made once the announcement closes.

As stated on our vacancy announcements, in order to be able to properly evaluate you experience and qualifications for the position, we need:

1. Job title.
2. Name of employer.
3. Beginning and ending dates of employment (month/day/year format).
4. Hours worked per week. We will assume full-time unless otherwise stated. We will prorate part-time employment in crediting experience.
5. Detailed description of job duties, related skills and responsibilities; including any supervisory/managerial responsibilities and number of staff supervised (if applicable). This information is necessary to determine whether you meet minimum eligibility requirements for the position. Please review the qualifications section in the job announcement closely and directly address the education, skills and experience required in your resume.
6. Series and grade or equivalent (if a federal position)

A CV listing positions and dates does not allow a Human Resources office to properly evaluate your qualifications. Your resume or CV must provide details thoroughly describing how your skills and experiences align with the criteria defined in the qualifications section of the job announcement and support your responses to the assessment questionnaire. Federal Human Resources professionals operate under various federal employment laws, rules, and regulations. We are prohibited from drawing conclusions or making assumptions regarding your experience or qualifications. It is up to you to describe your past work experience in detail by providing examples related to those listed in the requirements section of the job announcement.

It depends on the amount of information contained within your application materials and on whether you meet all the requirements specific to the vacancy announcement. See the Required Documents section of the vacancy announcement for information on resume writing and other application guidance.

Minimum or basic qualifications are intended to identify applicants who are likely to perform successfully on the job, and to screen out those who are unlikely to do so. They provide critical information that relates to the work of vacant positions to be filled. Hiring officials and human resources professionals use minimum qualifications in vacancy announcements to pinpoint education and/or experience related to and qualifying for vacant positions. The qualifications describe the qualifying education and/or experience required for vacant positions. This information in vacancy announcements is every applicant’s roadmap for determining whether they meet the qualifications and should apply to vacancy announcements.

Current criminal investigators may apply under an open announcement, however, applicants who submit an application under an “entry level” announcement will only be considered for a position at the GS grade 5, 7 or 9 level.

You may apply to any job; however, you may not be eligible for the job if you do not fall into one of the required categories. If you are not eligible, your application may not be considered. For example, any U.S. Citizen is eligible to apply to positions that are “Open to the Public”. Look for the "This job is open to" section in the job announcement to see who is eligible to apply.

The job announcement will list who is eligible by using one or many USAJOBS hiring paths. Visit the USAJOBS hiring paths page for more information: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/.

The following informational packet provides detailed information about the ATF special agent position to include major duties, basic qualifications, conditions of employment and specific requirements: Special Agent Informational Packet.

For this job announcement there probably were other applicants who by law must be considered before your application (e.g., certain veterans or displaced federal employees). The last time you applied for the position there may have been no other applicants who were required to be considered by law before other applicants may be considered. Veterans’ Preference is a federal law that essentially requires agencies to hire qualified veterans before qualified non-veterans. Therefore, we cannot consider non-veterans for employment, until those who are entitled to Veterans’ Preference are either hired or withdraw from consideration. You may have also not scored high enough on the assessment if category rating was used to evaluate applicants. Only applicants who are placed in the highest category can be considered for employment.

No. If you received a rating of eligible or tentatively eligible, but you were not referred, it means you did not score high enough on the assessment to be referred or there were other applicants, who by law, must be considered before you (e.g., displaced federal employees, certain veterans). However, this rating does not mean that we have found you qualified for the position. If additional positions become available, we may review your application materials further to determine your eligibility and referral status. USAJOBS Resource Center, and the USAJOBS Resume Writing Video Tutorial.

No. Although you were previously deemed qualified for a position at a certain grade, there is no guarantee that you will be found qualified for like positions. Each vacancy announcement or position has different experience and/or education requirements. Just because you were qualified for one position, does not mean you will be automatically qualified for all other similar positions. It is important to review each vacancy announcement in its entirety, and ensure your application meets all the requirements. Additionally, different Human Resources professionals will most likely review your application and may have different opinions about your qualifications or any prior determinations. Human Resources professionals at ATF help find the best candidates for certain managers and different managers have different needs.

No, real people, Human Resource (HR) specialists, do look at resumes to validate the information in the application package.

All scoring information, including passing scores, is considered secure test information and is not shared with applicants. Sharing scoring information with applicants, including raw scores that do not meet the passing criteria, could compromise the objectivity and/or integrity of the assessment process.

No. While “first in, first out” is a guiding principle, NFA Division will focus its resources on processing those NFA applications that have received a “proceed” from FBI-NICS in response to the required background check. NFA applications were previously processed on a “first in, first out” basis, which resulted in delayed processing for NFA applications with a proceeded background check. For example, previously, a NFA application with a proceeded background check would not be processed until a NFA application with a delayed background check was resolved. Now, the NFA application with a proceeded background check gets priority for processing. NFA will continue to submit background checks to FBI-NICS in the order applications are received. NFA Division will then process NFA applications as it receives background check responses from FBI-NICS.

The NFA examiners are assigned specific application types. For example, certain examiners will be assigned to process individual applicants while others are assigned to process trust applicants. Further, applications that are put into problem status will be processed at the end of the week. Examples for when an application is placed into problem status include failure to submit fingerprint cards, failure to submit photographs, failure to submit a responsible person questionnaire, or to research whether the applicant may make, possess, or receive the firearm under State law.

Due to the high volume of NFA application submissions and ATF's limited resources, NFA Division submits background checks to FBI-NICS in batches to maximize efficiency. As the number of pending NFA applications decreases, the background checks will be submitted to FBI-NICS closer to when the NFA application was received by NFA Division. Currently, background checks for individual applicants are sent to FBI-NICS the same week the NFA application is received by NFA Division.

NFA Division will not approve a NFA application unless it receives a “proceed” from FBI-NICS. Some background checks may take longer to process because FBI-NICS must perform additional research on the applicant’s background. As a result, two individuals who submit NFA applications at the same time may have their NFA application processed at different times because the background checks are completed by FBI-NICS and transmitted to NFA Division at different times.

While it is not required, the simplest way to help ensure your background check is processed timely and accurately is to provide your social security number with the NFA application. Without the social security number, FBI-NICS may have to perform additional research to ensure the applicant is not prohibited, thereby delaying the background check response to NFA Division. For example, without a social security number, FBI-NICS will have to perform additional research to properly identify the applicant when the applicant has the same name as someone else with prohibiting information in the NICS database.

No. NFA Division must receive a “proceed” from FBI-NICS in response to the required background check.

No. NFA Division must receive a “proceed” from FBI-NICS in response to the required background check.

No. NFA Division must receive a “proceed” from FBI-NICS in response to the required background check.