WHERE AND HOW TO OBTAIN APPLICATION.
Examinations for the postal service usually are held in the fall,
about the first Wednesday or Saturday in November of each year.
Prospective applicants should write to the secretary of the civil
service district in which they reside--a list of these will be
found in the chapter under that heading--for the exact date and
place of the mental test and the time when applications may be had.
The blank, a copy of which is given elsewhere in this book, must be
carefully and correctly filled and all questions must be answered.
This requirement must not be overlooked, as to do so would mean the
sending of the application back to the applicant for correction,
thus causing loss of valuable time.
All answers must be written in ink, the application in the
handwriting of the applicant and the vouchers in the handwriting
of the signers. There must be no discrepancy in the name of the
applicant in any part of the application or in the vouchers. For
New York: Physical examinations take place after the mental
examinations, and only when called for appointment.
To make this point clear, applicants must see that all names are
signed alike in every part of the application. For instance: John
Doe must be John Doe everywhere and not J. Doe in one place and
John Doe elsewhere.
Applications or vouchers which are executed or dated more than six
months before the date of filing will not be accepted. After the
blank is properly executed, it must be filed with the secretary of
the local board of examiners. So far as possible file applications
personally. If circumstances are such that the application must be
mailed, register it and obtain a receipt for same. All applications
must be sworn to before a Notary Public.
Whenever extra examinations may become necessary, to meet the needs
of the service, due announcement will be made of the dates and
places of such examinations, and also of the time allowed for the
filing of applications.
A person cannot at the same time be an applicant for or eligible
from examination for more than one first-class post office for
which examinations ordinarily are held annually in November. This
restriction will not apply, however, when an examination is held
for any of these offices on a date other than that of the regular
annual examination.
A person who passes an examination can not be examined again for
the same post office within approximately one year of the date of
the examination he has passed. A person who fails in an examination
may take the next examination regardless of the time intervening.
A request for a change in the designation of the position desired
by an applicant must be made in writing and be received by the
district secretary on or before the date set for the close of
receipt of applications, otherwise no change will be made.
The postmaster is required to make selection for a vacancy from
not more than the highest three names on the appropriate register,
and for the next and any additional vacancies from not more than
the highest three remaining which have not been within his reach
for three separate vacancies. The name of an eligible must have
been within reach for three separate vacancies in a position before
it may be passed over in making selection for appointment to that
position.
When an eligible’s name is borne on both the clerk and the carrier
registers and has been three times certified (considered) for
one of the two positions, but not selected, his name will not be
further certified for that position, but his standing on the
register for the other position will not be affected. Neither will
declination of appointment when selected for one of the positions
affect the eligible’s standing on the register for the other
position. Appointment to either position will remove the eligible’s
name from the registers for both positions.
An eligible who has been within reach for three separate vacancies
in either the position of clerk or of carrier in his turn may
subsequently be selected for the position, subject to the approval
of the Commission, from the certificate upon which his name last
appeared, if the condition of the register has not so changed as to
place him in other respects beyond reach of certification.
In the Post Office Service appointments are usually made to the
position of substitute clerk or substitute carrier. Substitutes
are promoted in the order of their original appointment to the
first vacancies occurring in regular positions. Declination of
appointment as substitute will remove the name of the eligible
from the register from which selection was made, and it will not
be restored for consideration in connection with appointment to a
regular position only.
Auxiliary employees are paid for actual service at the rate of
30 cents an hour. They are required to work not less than two
hours daily, and may serve as substitutes. They are eligible for
appointment as clerks and carriers of the first grade.
All promotions of both clerks and carriers will be made at the
beginning of the quarter following the expiration of the year’s
service in the next lower grade. No promotion will be made except
upon evidence satisfactory to the Post Office Department of the
efficiency and faithfulness of the employee during the preceding
year. When a clerk or carrier fails of promotion because of
unsatisfactory service, he may be promoted at the beginning of
the second quarter thereafter, or of any subsequent quarter,
upon evidence that his record has been satisfactory during the
intervening period. Clerks and carriers of the highest grade are
eligible for promotion to the higher positions in their respective
offices.
Any male clerk in an office in which both clerks and city carriers
are employed, is eligible for transfer to the position of city
carrier, and any city carrier is eligible for transfer to the
position of clerk. Male clerks and city carriers are also eligible
for transfer to the position of rural carrier.