Under Alaska law, a public employer may provide Veterans' preference to Veterans seeking employment. This is voluntary and some companies located in our great state offer this incentive.

Veterans' preference provides eligible Veterans preference in appointments over many other applicants. Veterans' preference applies to virtually all new appointments in both the competitive and excepted service. Veterans' preference does not guarantee Veterans a job, and it doesn't apply to internal agency actions such as promotions, transfers, reassignments, and reinstatements.

Veterans' preference can be confusing. In accordance with Title 5, United States Code, Section 2108 (5 USC 2108), veterans' preference eligibility is based on dates of active-duty service, receipt of a campaign medal or badge, award of the Purple Heart Medal, or a service-connected disability. Please know that not all active-duty service may qualify for Veterans' preference. Only Veterans discharged or released from active duty under honorable conditions are eligible for Veterans' preference. This means the discharge must be under an honorable or a general under honorable conditions. Retired members of the armed forces are eligible if a disability rating has been awarded by the military or federal VA, or if the retirement rank was below major/lieutenant commander or its equivalent.

There are three types of preference eligibility: disabled veteran (10-point preference eligible), non-disabled (5-point preference eligible), and sole survivorship (0-point preference eligible). Zero-point preference eligible means that no points are added to the passing score.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Alaska law is designed to help service members get back to work quickly after serving in the military. Alaska offers 10- and 5- point preferences to all who qualify.

Ten-point Veterans, AS 39.25.159 (a) and (c) required qualified Veterans having 10 Veterans' preference points be offered an interview for all open competitive vacancies (vacancies for All Alaska Residents). This preference does not extend to All Department Employees or All State Employees recruitments. "Qualified" means meets the minimum qualifications. Workplace Alaska automatically identifies 10-poin Veterans. If you are the selected applicant as a 10-point Veteran, you are required to provide a copy of the DD-214, DD-215, or a letter from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for verification.

Five-point Veterans, AS 39.25.159 (a) and (c) required qualified Veterans having five Veterans' preference points receive consideration for all open competitive vacancies. This preference does not extend to All Department Employee or All State Employee's recruitments. "Qualified" means meets the minimum qualifications. "Consideration" requires review of the Veteran's work history and education as described in the Application Profile and Job Qualification Standards to gain enough knowledge of the Veterans' background in relation to the job to be able to determine whether the person should be provided further consideration. If the hiring manager wishes to offer a qualified Veteran an interview, the manager may do so. However, offering an interview for a 5- point Veteran is not required.

For specific eligibility and questions about Veteran services, please contact your nearest Alaska Job Center.

Alaska Job Center

(877) 724-2539