Aldebol asks about investigative stage and exam completion
Aldebol asks if investigative stage can be done prior to exam; Porter says they are reimagining the process and agencies can hire from published lists before investigations complete.
Yeah, of the 208 civil service exams that were open for filing in fiscal 2026, 57 of those exams took fewer than 100 days for completion.
The MMR describes that there's a variation in the median completion time due to the types of exams administered.
With single-part exams being quicker to grade than investigation before appointment exams, which requires the additional investigative stage.
Given the fact that exam grading already takes a significant amount of time, are there ways that the investigative stage could be completed prior to examination?
Or could be done by a different team than the core staff who are tasked with grading the exams?
That's a great question, and we are looking for ways to reimagine how we manage investigate before appointment titles.
We do recognize that it is
a longer timeline.
But once again, that process does not preclude an agency from hiring.
If they have an immediate hiring need, they can use that published list to hire from until we complete the fuller background investigations.
But we do recognize that it is a very protracted process and we are looking for ways to reduce that timeframe.