Working with a Wage Grade Request

Employees who are in recognized trade or craft, mechanical craft, or manual labor occupations are many times classified under wage grade positions. This usually includes positions which laboring experience and knowledge are a paramount requirement. Examining for these positions are based on prescribed job elements and the procedures are outlined in the X-118C handbook. For additional information on Wage Grade positions, visit http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/x-118c/ and http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/html/fwseries.asp.

Creating an wage grade request

To set up a wage grade position request, the process is similar to that of General Schedule positions. For instructions, see Creating a wage grade request.

Creating a wage grade vacancy

To set up a Wage Grade vacancy, the process is the same as that of a General Schedule position with the exception of the Pay Plan and Salary. For instructions, see Creating a wage grade vacancy.

You must select the appropriate wage system from the Pay Plan drop-down list; for example, W or K.

Creating a wage grade assessment

The assessment section is one of the most important parts of creating a wage grade vacancy. If you are using a wage grade assessment from the library, see Adding an assessment package template to a vacancy.

If you are importing the document or creating an assessment from scratch, see Adding an item to an assessment questionnaire from the competency library or Creating an assessment package template. In this case, you need to select Job Element from the Rating Method drop-down list. This indicates that the rating in the assessment will be based on applicant’s responses to the OPM approved job elements for the position.

There will be one screen out required even if the recruitment is for multiple grade levels. However, a two grade level screen out does require an additional response option. The points are assigned in the base value column of the Assessment Questionnaire. The same items are used for all grades (additional items are not added for multiple grade levels). Any qualifying response must have a minimum qualifying base value of 2. Within the Rating Criteria, Wage Grade screen-out factors should have the Screen-Out and, Rated boxes checked. Rating competencies would have only the Rated box checked.

There is a Wage Grade default scale to be used with the task statements within each job element. When setting up the rating for the job element identified as a Screen Out, there should be a range of values for the qualifying answers. Any response that meets or exceeds the minimum qualifications value will be a qualifying answer. Response values range from 0, 2, 3, 4., etc. dependent on the number of questions or responses.

The response values for all of the other tasks that are not identified as a Screen Out must use a range of point values from 0 to 4. The system will also automatically screen out applicants who don’t average 2 points on all competencies being measured. When this occurs the system will automatically assign all applicants not meeting this requirement an Ineligibility Code of IQIF.

For instructions, see:

• Opening an assessment questionnaire
• Adding instructions to an assessment questionnaire
• Adding an item to an assessment questionnaire
• Adding an item to an assessment questionnaire from the competency library
• Editing an assessment questionnaire item
• Deleting an assessment questionnaire item
• Deleting multiple assessment questionnaire items
• Adding a response to a questionnaire item
• Copying text from a file
• Changing the order of assessment questionnaire items
• Adding a response to a questionnaire item
• Applying response options to multiple assessment questionnaire items
• Linking multiple assessment questionnaire items to a competency
• Previewing assessment questionnaire in PDF format

Creating an announcement

To set up a Wage Grade announcement, the process is the same as that of General Schedule (GS) positions. For instructions, see Completing an announcement.

These announcements will include how the applicant is being evaluated (job element explanation) as well as emphasizing that there is no length of experience or training needed. Many wage grade positions may also have physical requirements in regards to the working conditions of the position, and should be included in the announcement.

Since Wage System positions define salary in terms of hourly rates, you must select Hourly from the Salary drop-down list. Conversion to an annual rate is unnecessary.

Reviewing applicants

To review applicants in a wage grade vacancy, the process is the same as that of GS positions. For instructions, see Creating a ranking list. Rank candidates according to their responses to the questionnaire. The process is the same as for GS positions. For instructions, see Applicant List Tasks.

Calculating the final rating

The system automatically calculates the rating based on the applicant’s responses. The scoring for wage grade positions is structured to require an average factor value of at least 2 points for all job elements. In addition, the system requires 2 points or higher for the mandatory screen out element(s). The scoring scale is fixed from 0 to 4 points for response values.