After you complete your assessment, the agency will review applications to determine which applicants will be referred for further consideration. Often, applicants receive an email indicating they are eligible, but not referred. This means that while you may meet or exceed the minimum requirements for the position, you are not moving forward in the hiring process. These are many reasons why applicants may not move forward, including rules and regulations used in federal hiring, specific situations related to the job announcement, and others.
Not being referred does not necessarily mean that you did not perform well or failed any assessments. There are numerous factors that determine which applicants are referred for further consideration. One possibility is when certain military veterans receive priority consideration when applying to some federal announcements. Another is there may be applicants who are former federal employees who lost their job because of downsizing (Reduction-in-Force) and receive special consideration. In these and similar situations, only the qualified applicants who are in one of the special consideration groups are referred.
Many federal positions are highly competitive. Some job announcements receive hundreds or even thousands of applications. In these situations, applicants may perform well on the assessment and still not move forward in the hiring process. If you're curious how many applications were received for an announcement, you can log into your USAJOBS account, go to Applications, and each announcement will indicate how many applications the agency received (assuming the agency uses this feature).
While receiving an eligible, but not referred notification may be disappointing, it doesn't impact other applications for which you may be considered. Each job announcement attracts a different pool of applicants and each application is considered on a case-by-case basis. While your USA Hire assessment results are automatically reused for 12 months, differences in job announcements, locations, agencies, series, and grades, can result in different referral outcomes.
If you received a notification that said “IQTR - You are ineligible to proceed in the hiring process because you did not attain the overall minimum score on the required assessments for the position”, then you did not score high enough on the USA Hire assessment to be eligible for further consideration. Visit What happens if I fail the assessments? for more information.
Please note that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) does not provide assessment results (e.g. scores), in accordance with 5 C.F.R. § 300.201(a). This could affect the fairness and objectivity of the testing process. Therefore, the OPM USA Hire Help Desk cannot provide individual score results to applicants. Visit When will I find out if I passed/failed the assessments? For more information.