COMBINING EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Clerical, Assistant, and Technical Support Positions

Follow the instructions below to see if you qualify for a clerical,
administrative, or technical support position based on a combination of
education and experience.

GENERAL:

1\. You may use a combination of education and experience to qualify for
positions at the GS-3, GS-4, and GS-5 level positions.

2\. You may count 30 semester or 45 quarter hours in a college or
university as one year of undergraduate study.

3\. You may count 36 weeks of study (20+ classroom hours per week) at a
business or technical school as one academic year above high school.

4\. Four years (120 semester or 180 quarter hours) of undergraduate
study fulfills the GS-5 level requirement. Although you do not have to
have completed a Bachelor's degree, the courses must have been
progressively more difficult and in a curriculum that leads to a
Bachelor's degree to be creditable. Four years of study that consisted
primarily of entry or lower level courses is not qualifying.

5\. You may count each course no more than once. If you repeated a
course, do not count the credit hours twice.

6\. You must have completed your academic work in an accredited college,
university, business or technical school.

7\. To find out if you qualify for the position based on a combination
of education and experience, you must determine the percentage of the
qualifying education and the percentage of qualifying experience that
you possess, and then add the two percentages.

DETERMINING PERCENTAGES:

1\. Determine how much qualifying experience you have. (Refer to each
vacancy announcement for examples of qualifying experience.)

a\) GS-3 level: If you are applying for a GS-3 position, you need 6
months of general experience. Count the number of months of general
experience that you have and then divide the number by 6. For example,
if you have 3 months of general experience, divide 3 by 6. The result is
50% of the general experience requirement. In this case, you would need
another 3 months of general experience to qualify for the position at
this grade level.

b\) GS-4 level: If you are applying for a GS-4 position, you need 12
months of general experience. Count the number of months of general
experience that you have and then divide the number by 12. For example,
if you have 9 months of qualifying general experience, divide 9 by 12.
The result is 75% of the general experience requirement. In this case,
you would need another 3 months of general experience to qualify for the
position at this grade level.

c\) GS-5 level: If you are applying for a GS-5 support (except
Clerk-Steno) position, you need 12 months of SPECIALIZED experience.
Count the number of months of specialized experience that you have and
then divide the number by 12. Only count experience that is comparable
to the type of specialized experience described in the vacancy
announcement for the GS-5 level. For example, if you have 3 months of
specialized experience, divide 3 by 12. The result is 25% of the
specialized experience requirement. In this case, you would need another
9 months of specialized experience to qualify for the position at this
grade level.

2\. Count how many semester, quarter, or classroom hours you have
completed beyond the high school level.

a\) GS-3 level: If you are applying for a GS-3 position on the basis of
your education alone, you need one full academic year of education
beyond the high school level. If you have less than one full academic
year, divide the number of semester hours you have completed by 30, the
number of quarter hours by 45 or the number of business/technical school
weeks by 36. If your classroom instruction was less than 20 hours per
week, divide the number of classroom hours completed by 720. For
example, if you completed 18 quarter hours, divide 18 by 45. The result
is 40% of the GS-3 general experience requirement. You therefore would
need another 3.6 months of appropriate experience to qualify for the
position at this grade level.

b\) GS- 4 level: If you are applying for a GS-4 position on the basis of
your education alone, you need two years of education beyond the high
school level. If you have less than that amount of education, divide the
number of semester hours completed by 60, the number of quarter hours by
90 or the number of business/technical school weeks by 72. For example,
if you completed 45 semester hours, divide 45 by 60. The result is 75%
of the GS-4 general experience requirement. You therefore would need 3
more months of appropriate experience to qualify for the position at
this grade level.

c\) GS-5 level: If you are applying for a GS-5 support position on the
basis of your education alone, you need a Bachelor's degree or four full
academic years of progressively more difficult study in a college or
university. One full academic year of study BEYOND the second year of
study is equal to six months of specialized experience. If you have not
completed four years of study or a Bachelor's degree, follow the steps
below to determine how much of your education can be combined with
experience to qualify for the GS-5 grade level.

-   Only count coursework that exceeds the first 60 semester (or 90
    quarter) hours when combining education with experience.

-   Subtract the first 60 semester or 90 quarter hours from the number
    of undergraduate hours you have completed.

-   Divide the number that remains by 60 semester (or 90 quarter) hours.

-   For example, if you have completed 75 semester hours, subtract 60
    from 75 and then divide the remaining 15 hours by 60. The result is
    25% of the GS-5 specialized experience requirement. You therefore
    would need another 9 months of appropriate experience to qualify for
    the position at this grade.

**Note:** If you have completed less than 60 semester or 90 quarter
hours, you may not combine any of your education with experience to
qualify for the GS-5 level.

3\. ADD THE PERCENTAGE for your experience (step 1) and the percentage
for your education (step 2).

-   If the two percentages total at least 100% of the qualification
    requirement for a particular grade, you qualify for that grade.

-   If the total is less than 100%, you do not qualify under this
    provision.

-   For example, at the GS-5 level in 1(c) above, you had 25% (3 months)
    of qualifying work experience. In 2 (c), you had 25% of qualifying
    education. When added together, you have 50% of the required
    experience. As such, you would not qualify for the position at the
    GS-5 level based on a combination of education and experience.