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Five or Ten Points on the Score — and a Route Around the Test Entirely

For original appointments in the classified service, five or ten preference points are added to the final examination score and noted on the certificate of eligibles — and an agency may hire a veteran discharged within the last twelve months without any civil service test score at all.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

For original appointments in the classified service, five or ten preference points are added to the final examination score and noted on the certificate of eligibles — and an agency may hire a veteran discharged within the last twelve months without any civil service test score at all.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served in the armed forces.
  • You are applying in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Claim the preference and supply proof in the manner the Director prescribes. For original appointments, veterans’ preferences of five or ten points are added to the final examination score of each eligible applicant who meets the minimum qualifications and has attained the minimum test score and minimum rating required.
  2. 2Check the certificate. When an applicant is eligible for the points, Rule 22.9 requires that they be noted on the certificate of eligibles the appointing authority works from — so the preference is visible to the person making the decision, not buried in a file.
  3. 3If you were honorably discharged within the last twelve months, ask the agency about Rule 22.8(d) instead. An appointing authority may fill a vacancy by probational or job appointment of such a veteran with no civil service test score at all, provided you meet the minimum qualifications and served at least 90 days of active service for purposes other than training.
  4. 4An offer can be made while you are still serving, but the appointment cannot take effect before the discharge date — worth knowing if you are timing a move out of uniform.
Form
State job application, with proof of eligibility in the form the Director prescribes
File with
State Civil Service, through the state jobs system
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThe open question here was whether the constitutional five/ten point preference still operates now that most hiring is unassembled. It does, but conditionally: Rule 22.7 attaches the points to a "final examination score", and Rule 22.6 defines examination broadly enough to include experience and training evaluations, resume evaluations, structured orals and job interviews. Where a vacancy is filled with no scored assessment at all, there is no score for the points to attach to — and that is exactly the gap Rule 22.8(d) fills for the recently discharged.
Worth knowingThe points are for ORIGINAL appointments. Rule 22.7 says so in terms, so a serving classified employee competing for a promotion should not expect them.
Worth knowingThe veterans page on the state jobs portal is job-matching material — occupation crosswalks by service branch — and describes no preference mechanism. Reading it alone leaves a veteran believing there is nothing to claim. The mechanism lives in the Commission’s rules.
Worth knowingRule 17.21 is a separate protection: a veteran restored to duty after military service who is later caught in a layoff is granted prior service credit for the time served on which the restoration was based.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.