What does referred mean, how did it happen, and what is next?
On several forums, I see the topic of being referred is a hot one. Most people experience one of three scenarios:
1.They don’t get referred.
2.They get referred but don’t hear anything for awhile.
3.Their status never updates past received.
Here is the explanation of common situations for each of these to help ease some anxiety. Before I go into the three scenarios, I should explain what being referred actually means. Being referred simply means that your application was forwarded to the hiring manager for review and possible interview.
The first scenario, not being referred, could be for a few different reasons. The first, and most common, reason is because of Veterans preference. When an announcement is open to “All US Citizens” or “The Public” then Veteran’s preference applies. This means all qualified Veterans must be referred ahead of non-Veterans. There is one exception, which is the Direct Hire Authority, which is explained in the video below.
Another reason someone might be found qualified but not referred is because they did not rank high enough to be in the highly qualified category. The ranking comes from the score you receive when you answer the rating questions in the assessment or online questionnaire. The rating questions are the ones that have you rank yourself from having no experience to being an expert in a particular situation.