Federal Employee Appointment Definitions:
Career-Conditional, Competitive service

Competitive service consists of all civil service positions in the executive branch of the Federal government with some exceptions.  The exceptions are defined in section 2102 of title 5, United States Code (5 U.S.C. 2102).

To determine if your Federal employment was or is within the competitive service, refer to your SF-50, “Notification of Personnel Action”, in the section “Position Data”, block number 34 (“Position Occupied”).  The competitive service is denoted by a “1” in that block.

Career-Conditional status as a federal employee is a permanent appointment in the competitive service.  Normally this is the first career-type of appointment and appointees must complete a 1-year probationary period and a total of 3 years continuous creditable service to attain a career appointment.

If you are or were a Federal employee, refer to your SF-50 “Notification of Personnel Action”, in the section “Employee Data”, block number 24 (“Tenure”) to determine your tenure group.  (If you have a “2” in that block and a “1” in block 34 you are/were a career-conditional employee, if there is a “1” in that block and a “1” in block you are/were a career employee.)