Announcement Training Exercise

Announcement Training Exercise

Now that you have completed the online portion of training for Announcement, it is time to log into the Training environment of USA Staffing to practice what you have learned. Use this step-by-step guide to help you practice this lesson. Retain your notes to assist you with other lessons.

Creating an Announcement requires the Request, Vacancy, and Assessment sections be completed for your vacancy. If you already have vacancy that is ready to begin the Announcement, complete the information below. If not, you can access the entire practice training series on the USA Staffing Training Resources page at: USA Staffing Online Training Exercises – Advisory Board Resource Center. You will then need to complete the Request, Vacancy, and Assessment exercises before proceeding with this exercise.

My Request Number: ____________________________

My Vacancy Number: ____________________________

1. Go into your Vacancy Number. There are several ways to access a Vacancy Number:

• • If you know your number, you can type it directly in the Go To box at the top of the page and select Enter.
  • You can locate your request in the Requests tab of your dashboard. Once in your request, there is a direct access link under the Vacancy Created section.  (This is the option shown in the screenshot below.)
  • If you have recently gone into this Vacancy Number it will show up in your dashboard drop-down list. 

2. Once in your Vacancy, navigate to the Announcement tab. If the Announcement tab is not automatically showing, use the + to select Announcement.

3. Complete the Announcement Information page. 

• • Enter an Announcement Number or select the Generate link.
  • Enter the Open Date and Close Date. (Make sure you select today’s date if you are going to apply to your job once it is released.)
  • Enter the Minimum Salary and Maximum Salary.
  • Select appropriate Hiring Paths depending on the type of job you want to announce.
  • Select a Promotion Potential from the drop-down list. The Promotion Potential must be equal to or greater than the highest grade of this announcement.
  • Leave the Linked JOA Control Number field blank.
  • Do not check the Set Application Count box.
  • Change the Questions About This Job section to your name by selecting the Edit icon and choosing your name in the pop-up box.
  • Select Save and the other tabs will activate.

4. Go to the Announcement Location tab.

• • Add a new location by typing “Seattle” in the Find Location box.
  • When the search list pops up, select Seattle Washington.
  • Select Add Location.
  • Select Save.

5. Go to the Announcement Questionnaire tab.

• • Review this page by selecting the + next to each section.
  • If desired, add an Eligibilities Screen-Out item to Saved Screen-Outs.  
  • Select Save. 

6. Go to the Announcement Text tab. The first time you access this tab the Choose Template page will pop up. 

The number of templates available will depend on how many your office has created.

• Select a template by choosing a Template Name. (Your agency Admins may need to provide guidance on the appropriate template to use in the Training environment.)
• The template will load.

7. Review the Announcement Text page. If you don’t like the template you selected or if you failed to choose a template, select the gear icon and Choose Template to use another template.

8. Complete all required sections of the Announcement Text page. (Items marked with a red asterisk are required.)

• • Add text to the some of the announcement sections. If you are cutting and pasting text in from an outside source, remember to cut and paste into a text-based editor, like Notepad, first.
  • If needed, use the Hiring Path Clarification Text to further explain who can apply to this job. 
  • Use the formatting buttons at the top of a text box to add bold and italics to some text.
  • Add a couple of data inserts by selecting and dragging a data insert from the Available Data Inserts section to one of the sections in the announcement.
  • Remove any Placeholder text by highlighting the instructions and brackets and pressing the Delete button on your keyboard.
  • Once complete, select Save.

9. Preview the announcement by using the Preview Announcement button, then select the Generate  Announcement Preview button. The USAJOBS Announcement Preview box will appear.

10. Select the Preview URL, this will open in a new tab. Close the tab when done.

11. If needed, you can practice sending a Review at this point. If so, use these instructions: Creating a review – USA Staffing Online Help

12. Make any final changes to the announcement and Save. When ready, release the announcement by  selecting Release at the top of the page and the Release to USAJOBS button. If you receive any error messages when you select Release, correct those items, Save, and re-try until the Release to USAJOBS button displays.

Note: Once you release the job, many sections in USA Staffing will lock down and you will not be able to change them so make sure you have your announcement exactly as you want it before releasing it.


13. Once the announcement is successfully released, close the Release section by selecting Release again.

You now have a completed announcement. This concludes the lesson on Announcement. 

If desired, you can try selecting the  icon and exploring Online Help.