Your steps to apply

Police Officer
Veterans Health Administration · Missoula, Montana · Closes in 12 days

1 Check you can apply
2 Resume and documents
3 Apply on USAJOBS
4 After you apply

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1 Check you can apply You are here

Who can apply: Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL), The public.

The job is open to the public, but you must be a U.S. citizen to apply. Displaced federal employees under CTAP or ICTAP get selection priority if they meet the requirements.

Experience: You need at least 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-5 in law enforcement. This includes maintaining order, taking complaints, interviewing witnesses, patrolling, traffic control, or investigative work. Security guard and corrections officer jobs are generally not qualifying.

Education: There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Licenses and certifications:

Valid, unrestricted State driver's license with a safe driving record

Experience can be paid or unpaid, volunteer work included: if it matches the duties, it counts. The full rules are in the announcement.

2 Resume and documents

Write a federal resume for this job. For each job you held, give the month and year you started and ended, your hours per week and what you did, using the words of the experience the announcement asks for. Many announcements accept resumes of up to 2 pages: check this one.

Resume ready: dates, hours per week, duties Resume of no more than two pages showing job title, duties, start and end month and year, and hours per week for each job Cover letter DD-214/Statement of Service, if applicable Disability letter (VA), if applicable SF-15, if applicable SF-50 showing current position, grade, and duty location, if you are a current or former federal employee Agency notice, most recent performance rating, and SF-50, if applying under CTAP or ICTAP

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes in 12 days (November 11, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).

Qualified applicants are referred on cut-off dates starting September 18, 2026, then every two weeks, so applying early may help.

You sign in to USAJOBS with a Login.gov account, answer the questionnaire and upload your documents, then you submit. Answer the questionnaire honestly: your resume must show what you claim.

How they rate you: Your application is rated on your resume, your questionnaire answers, and your required assessments. You are assessed on nine competencies, including attention to detail, decision making, stress tolerance, and teamwork. Overstating your experience or cheating on the online assessment may get you removed from consideration.

Apply on USAJOBS ↗

4 After you apply

In USAJOBS, under Applications, you can see where your application stands: received, reviewed, referred to the hiring manager or not, then selected or not. It can take a few weeks.

For the interview, prepare three examples with the STAR method: the Situation, the Task, what you did (Action) and the Result.

If they choose you: a tentative offer, then a background check, then the final offer with your start date.

Tips for this job:

Make sure each job on your resume lists job title, duties, start and end month and year, and hours per week, or that experience may not count.
Keep your resume to two pages or less, since longer resumes make you ineligible.
If you need an accommodation for the USA Hire online assessment, request it before you begin the test.

Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.