Last Updated: September 20, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

Starting October 15, 2026, a federal agency you never applied to can hire you off another agency's list of qualified candidates. OPM's interim final rule on shared certificates and pooled hiring, published in the Federal Register on September 15, 2026, rewrites 5 CFR parts 302, 332, and 337. This guide covers what the rule text actually says about your rights as an applicant, a veteran, or a current employee.

What a Shared Certificate Is and Why It Matters Now

When you apply for a competitive-service job on USAJOBS, the hiring agency assesses applicants and issues a "certificate of eligibles," a ranked list of the people who qualified. Since the Competitive Service Act of 2015, one agency has been allowed to share that certificate with another agency that has an opening in the same occupational series, grade, and duty location. The window is 240 days from the date the certificate was issued.

That authority existed on paper since February 2017, but it was narrow. The new rule, FR Doc. 2026-18828 (91 FR 58347), reissues those 2017 regulations with real changes and adds two things that had no regulatory text before:

  • Excepted-service sharing. A new subpart E of 5 CFR part 302 lets agencies share certificates generated under excepted-service examining, including Schedule D and Schedule Policy/Career positions.
  • OPM-led pooled hiring. A new section 332.409 lets OPM centrally recruit for an occupation, screen or assess the applicants, and hand agencies either a qualified-applicant list or a ready-made certificate.

OPM issued this as an interim final rule and invoked a "good cause" exception for the new pieces. Its stated reason: agencies were already running pooled hiring and coordinated excepted-service referrals administratively, and had structured ongoing hiring actions around them.

Your Opt-In Right Comes First

The most important line in the rule for an applicant is the opt-in requirement. Under 5 CFR 332.408(b)(1)(iii), a certificate may be shared only if the original hiring agency "provided an opportunity for applicants to opt-in to have their applications and other personal information shared with one or more hiring agencies."

The excepted-service version at 5 CFR 302.502 goes further. Agencies "must redact the names of applicants who did not opt-in to the shared certificate, and who therefore may not be considered by the receiving agency."

In practice, look for the opt-in question in the USAJOBS application flow. If you skip it or decline, your name does not travel with the certificate. If you want the widest possible shot at a federal job, say yes.

You Get Notified Before Any Agency Acts

The rule also requires notice. Section 332.408(c)(2) states that before using a shared certificate, "a receiving agency must notify the list of candidates of its receipt of their names and application materials and its intention of considering them for a position." The notice must include, at minimum, the agency, position title, series, grade level, and duty location.

So the sequence for an applicant is: you opt in, the original agency shares the list, and the receiving agency tells you it is looking at you before it makes a selection. You are not hired into a job you never heard about.

Current Employees Keep Their Internal Shot

A common worry with shared certificates is that an agency could fill a vacancy from an outside list and skip its own workforce. The rule text addresses this directly.

Section 332.408(c)(3) requires a receiving agency, before making any selection from a shared certificate, to give notice to "its own employees and other individuals the agency is required to consider," and to let those internal candidates apply "consistent with the provisions of part 335." The agency must then review the internal candidates' qualifications.

There is a hard cap on that internal window: "Agencies are prohibited from providing an application period any longer than 10 business days for internal candidates. This time limit cannot be waived or extended."

The rule also states that nothing in this paragraph affects an agency's right to fill a position from any appropriate source under 5 CFR 330.102 and 335.103. Merit promotion is preserved. If you are a current employee eyeing a promotion at your own agency, you still compete under the same rules, you just need to watch for a short posting window.

Veterans' Preference and RIF Priority Are Protected

Two groups have extra protections written into the sharing conditions.

Veterans with a 30 percent or greater compensable disability. Under 5 CFR 332.408(b)(1)(iv), a certificate can be shared only after any objections or pass-over requests have been resolved by the agency's Delegated Examining Unit, "or by OPM in the case of a disabled veteran with a thirty percent or more service-connected disability." The original agency must notate the certificate next to the name of any preference eligible it successfully passed over. A receiving agency may, but need not, consider an applicant the original agency passed over (5 CFR 332.408(c)(4)(ii)); it does not reopen the pass-over itself.

Employees on an RPL or CTAP list after a RIF. Section 332.408(c)(3)(iii) requires a receiving agency to "first provide for the consideration for selection required for individuals covered under its Reemployment Priority List and its Career Transition Assistance Plan" before it considers anyone on the shared certificate. If you hold CTAP or ICTAP standing, see our guide to CTAP and ICTAP rights for how that priority works.

What Changes on October 15: Before and After

The table below is a FedTools synthesis of OPM's own regulatory text and Regulatory Impact Analysis. The dollar figures and the agency count are OPM's estimates, not FedTools calculations.

Mechanic Before October 15, 2026 After October 15, 2026
Competitive-service certificate sharing Allowed under the 2017 rule; the three-considerations rule was barred from shared certificates Bar removed; the three-considerations limit now applies only to numerically rated certificates
Excepted-service certificate sharing No dedicated framework in 5 CFR part 302 (agencies ran coordinated referrals administratively) New subpart E of part 302 covering Schedule D and Schedule Policy/Career
OPM-run pooled hiring No standing regulatory authority New authority (new 5 CFR 332.409 and 337.206)
Sharing with several agencies at once Ambiguous Explicitly permitted, sequentially or simultaneously
Sharing assessment scores between agencies Ambiguous Explicitly permitted, optional
Applicant opt-in Required Required, unchanged
Notice before a receiving agency acts Required Required, unchanged
Internal employees' chance to apply first Required, 10-business-day cap Required, 10-business-day cap, unchanged
30 percent disabled veteran pass-over OPM adjudication OPM adjudication, carried forward
Certificate life 240 days from issuance 240 days from issuance, unchanged
Agencies affected (OPM estimate) Narrower authority Over 80 agencies
First-year cost (OPM estimate) Not applicable About $4.8 million governmentwide
OPM's selection-mix goal Not published At least 60 percent of new external competitive hires from shared or pooled certificates by FY2027

The protections for you as an applicant did not change. What changed is how much an agency, or OPM itself, can do with a certificate once it exists.

What Pooled Hiring Means for Common Occupations

Pooled hiring is the piece most likely to change how you experience USAJOBS over the next year. Under the new definition in 5 CFR 332.409(b), OPM can either recruit centrally and hand agencies a list of applicants who meet minimum qualifications, leaving the technical assessment to each agency, or run the whole process itself and give agencies "ready-made certificates of qualified applicants to make selections."

A new section 337.206 pairs this with direct-hire authority, so OPM-issued certificates can be used for direct-hire occupations as well.

Combine that with the 60 percent FY2027 goal OPM disclosed in its response to comments, and the picture is a hiring system where a single application for a governmentwide occupation, an HR specialist or contract specialist for example, can put you in front of many agencies at once. Applicants who opt in reach more agencies with one application, and the competition on any one certificate gets wider.

Open Question: Certificates That Straddle the Effective Date

One thing the rule text we retrieved does not spell out is the treatment of a certificate issued before October 15, 2026 that is still inside its 240-day window on or after that date. If you are on such a certificate right now, ask the servicing HR office which rules govern it. We will update this post if OPM issues guidance.

Check Your Veterans' Preference Points

If the pass-over provisions matter to you, our free Veterans' Preference Calculator shows which preference category you fall into and how many points apply based on your service and disability rating. Check your preference points →

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a federal agency hire me if I never applied to that agency?

Yes, if you opted in when you applied. A receiving agency can select you from another agency's certificate for a job in the same series, grade, full performance level, and duty location within 240 days of the certificate's issue date, and it must notify you before it acts.

Do I have to agree before my application is shared with another agency?

Yes. The original hiring agency must give applicants an opportunity to opt in to sharing. Agencies must redact the names of applicants who did not opt in, so a receiving agency cannot consider them.

Does the shared certificate rule replace internal merit promotion?

No. Before selecting from a shared certificate, a receiving agency must notify its own employees and give them a chance to apply under 5 CFR part 335. That internal application window is capped at 10 business days and cannot be extended.

Does a shared certificate weaken veterans' preference?

No. A pass-over of a veteran with a 30 percent or greater compensable disability must be resolved by OPM, not just the agency, and the agency must notate the certificate next to the veteran's name.

When does the OPM shared certificate rule take effect?

October 15, 2026. It is an interim final rule, so it takes effect before the public comment period closes on November 16, 2026. Comments go to regulations.gov under Docket ID OPM-2017-0004.

What is pooled hiring?

Pooled hiring is a new authority under which OPM itself recruits for an occupation common across government, screens or assesses applicants, and issues one list or ready-made certificate that many agencies can use at once.

Does the rule change CTAP or RPL priority after a RIF?

No. A receiving agency must clear its Reemployment Priority List and CTAP obligations under 5 CFR part 330 before it considers anyone on a shared certificate.

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