1. Contact the White House – Get Noticed

   Remember, if you’re being considered for a PAS position, NEVER talk to the press.

   If you seem like a potential candidate, the White House or a Federal Agency will contact you and ask you to apply online and fill out the necessary forms. However, there are far more people seeking these jobs than positions available. You should be your own strongest advocate to land a presidential appointment. Tap any connection you may have, no matter how indirect.

2. Apply online through the White House web site.

   Applicants interested in any appointed position - whether in the White House or in any Federal Department, Agency or Commission - should follow the instructions found on the official White House website.

   https://app2.whitehouse.gov/ppo/

3. Interview with the leadership at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and with the agency’s Secretary or Deputy Secretary.

   You will need to be interviewed by a number of different people.  Some interviews will be with the Office of Presidential Personnel and others will be at the Federal Agency itself.

4. Fill out additional paperwork.

   Be prepared for frustrating delays, especially when the FBI (or another investigative entity) is conducting its background investigation.

   Regardless of the size of your portfolio, the important thing is to fill out these forms expeditiously. If you let them gather dust on your desk, you are delaying your own appointment.

   Be truthful and accurate on all of your forms as you will be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or another Federal entity. Any lie or deliberate misrepresentaion will likely end your Presidential appointment prospects.

   If the transition team and incoming administration is still interested in you, they will ask you fill out additional forms (SF 86 & SF 278). The Survivor’s Guide provides extensive insight into this process. Chapter 8 – Forms and Financial Disclosures

   The SF 278 – Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report
   http://www.usoge.gov/forms/sf278_pdf/sf278_automated.pdf

   The most difficult form is the SF 278, the financial disclosure form for the executive branch, which you must update each year you work for the government. It is a complex form that requires detailed information regarding income, assets, and liabilities; the form demands financial information that few people have at their fingertips.
   
   The majority of nominees successfully tackle the financial disclosure and other paperwork on their own. If you have complex or extensive financial holdings, however, you may need help — and it may be a significant financial expense. In the past, some nominees with considerable wealth or complicated business holdings or severance arrangements have hired a private attorney or accountant to help them navigate this process.
   

   The SF 86 – Questionnaire for National Security Positions
   http://www.opm.gov/Forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf

   The SF 86 must be filled out when applying for a national security position and requires very detailed and specific information on where you have lived, worked, and gone to school over the last ten years. Additionally, you will need to provide information about your affiliations, foreign contacts, mental health, drug use, foreign travel, friends, and relatives. It is a felony to knowingly falsify or conceal a material fact on the SF 86 questionnaire, which is used by the FBI and other investigative services as the basis for your background investigation and for granting your national security clearance. The penalty is a fine up to $10,000, five years in prison, or both.

   After you submit your SF 86 form, your background investigation will begin. You will be interviewed and asked about your responses on the SF 86 form. Your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers also may be contacted regarding your background investigation. Prepare a response to their questions about this process.
   

Other paths: