tate and local government agencies have a standard process for hiring that has very defined stages, with a few variations based on the organization and position. Unlike the private sector, which may skip or re-order certain steps to fasttrack a hire, the public sector typically moves methodically through a series of prescriptive steps for every position it hires. This is largely why it can take several months to land a public sector job, even for an entry level position. The average time to hire in the public sector is 119 days, which is almost four months, according to research by NEOGOV.

To help set expectations for job seekers who have never worked in the government, it helps to understand the stages in the government’s hiring process. Here’s a high-level snapshot. We’ll get into the details below.