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Civil Service Examinations

Military Leave - Civil Service Examinations

While you're in the military service, you may take civil service examinations for which you qualify, like any other candidate. You must appear at the regularly scheduled examination location at the proper date and time.
 

Incomplete Examinations

If
  • you have the right of return to State service, and
  • you submitted your application for an exam, and
  • the examining agency accepted your application before you entered the military service, and
  • your entry into the military service prevented you from competing in the exam
you may complete the examination process when you return from military leave.
 
You must request to complete the examination within six months after you're released from military service. The examining agency can't re-open the exam after five years have passed from the date of the initial examination.
 
If you pass the exam with a score high enough that you would have been certified for appointment while you were in the military service, your name will stay on the list until either
  • the list is abolished or
  • for three years after you end your military service,
whichever is later.
 
If
  • yours is the last name on the list, and
  • you're offered a permanent position in the class after you return from military leave, and
  • you refuse the position,
the examining agency will remove your name from the list.
 

Deferred Examinations

If a promotional examination for which you qualify is held while you are on military leave, you may take that same exam if you apply within six months after reinstatement. You may also be able to take an open exam for a class in your normal line of promotion. However, an exam cannot be reopened after five years from the date of the initial exam.
 
If you pass a deferred examination with a score that would have resulted in your name being certified for appointment had you been on the original list, your name will be retained on that list until it is abolished or for a period of three years from your military release date, whichever is later.
 
If your name is retained on the list after all other names have been removed, your name will be removed if you refuse to accept any permanent position following completion of your military leave.
 
If you are a member of the active reserve and are ordered to report for a drill on the date of an examination for which you have applied, you may contact the examining department to make arrangements to take the examination on a different date.
 

Credit for Military Experience in Examinations

Your service in the military counts as experience in State service, just as if you'd remained in the position you held when you entered the military service. You can count any special experience you acquire in the military toward a similar specialty in State service.
  Updated: 4/24/2012
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