Editing Competitive service (section)

{{Short description|Part of the US civil service}}
The '''competitive service''' is a part of the [[United States federal civil service|United States federal government civil service]]. Applicants for jobs in the competitive civil service must compete with other applicants in open competition under the merit system administered by the [[Office of Personnel Management]], unlike applicants in the [[excepted service]] and [[Senior Executive Service (United States)|Senior Executive Service]].  There are several hiring authorities for the competitive service, including "traditional" competitive examining, as well as expedited procedures such as Direct Hire Authority and the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act.

Notably, the procedures for firing and demoting a member of the competitive service are considerable in order to protect the employment rights of the member, yet to provide the employer (the US government) a fair and incremental method to manage employees. A written notice of thirty days, a statement of reasons for dismissal, and a right to a hearing must be granted.

In 2015, 69.9% of the federal workforce was in the competitive service.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/excepted-service/excepted-service-study-report.pdf|title=Excepted Service Hiring Authorities: Their Use and Effectiveness in the Executive Branch|date=2018-07-01|website=U.S. Office of Personnel Management|pages=8|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>