Checked 2 November 2026. Status as of 2 November 2026, from OPM’s notices of 23 June 2025, 2 September 2025, 30 April 2026 and 18 September 2026, the Merit Hiring Plan memo of 29 May 2025 and the court’s Opinion and Order of 11 September 2026 in AFGE v. Kupor, No. 25-cv-13305 (D. Mass.). The 11 September order is temporary relief, not a final judgment, and OPM can change the questions again: the job announcement you apply to shows what it asks. ProSyllabus is independent, not affiliated with OPM, USAJOBS or any agency, and does not write, edit or grade essay answers.
Since May 2025, the Merit Hiring Plan has told agencies to put short essay questions in job announcements graded GS-5 and above. In September 2026 a court stayed one, OPM swapped in a new Question 3 and announced an agency-specific Question 5. This guide tracks where each question stands, quotes Questions 1 to 4 (old and new Question 3) word for word with OPM’s Question 5 template, and sets out OPM’s rules: who gets them, whether you must answer, how answers are used and what you certify. It is purely informational. Every rule, date and question is from OPM, the Merit Hiring Plan memo or the court’s order, read on 2 November 2026; our own reading is labelled.
The short answer
OPM kept Questions 1, 2 and 4, replaced Question 3 and told agencies to add an agency-specific Question 5. The original Question 3 on Executive Orders was stayed by a federal court on 11 September 2026; in USA Staffing announcements opening from 19 September 2026, OPM replaced it with a question about implementing leadership direction that differed from your own recommendation.
OPM says the answers are not scored or rated and that skipping them does not disqualify or screen you out. Each answer is limited to 200 words, and you certify that you used your own words and did not use a consultant or AI.
Merit Hiring Plan memo; OPM guidance of 23 June 2025, 30 April 2026 and 18 September 2026, read 2 November 2026.
- Paste one USAJOBS announcement and your work history
- Pulls out the specialized-experience lines and the grade
- Shows which words of each line your history already uses
- Lists the job details USAJOBS asks for that we could not find
- Writes each relevant job against the specialized experience
- Writes from the facts you give; a check removes lines with a number, acronym or known tool name not in your text
Status tracker: the court stay and what changed
Status tracker · last checked 2 November 2026
Where each Merit Hiring Plan essay question stands
Built from OPM’s own notices and the court’s 11 September 2026 order. Full wording of each question is in the next section.
Introduced by the 29 May 2025 memo; unchanged in OPM’s 18 Sep 2026 notice
Introduced by the 29 May 2025 memo; unchanged in OPM’s 18 Sep 2026 notice
Stayed by the court on 11 Sep 2026; replaced in USA Staffing announcements opening 19 Sep 2026 or later
Set by OPM for USA Staffing announcements opening 19 Sep 2026 or later, and for open USA Staffing announcements closing 26 Sep 2026 or later
Introduced by the 29 May 2025 memo; unchanged in OPM’s 18 Sep 2026 notice
Announced 18 Sep 2026; wording set by each agency, subject to OPM approval; USA Staffing item-bundle deadline 2 Nov 2026
Case status: in AFGE v. Kupor, No. 25-cv-13305 (D. Massachusetts), the 11 September order is temporary relief while the litigation is pending, not a final judgment. Our check on 2 November 2026 (OPM’s Merit Hiring Plan pages and notices): the latest OPM notice on the essays we found was dated 18 September 2026, and we found no later ruling among the official texts we read. Check the docket for later orders.
The key dates (the rules from 2025 and April 2026 are in the sections below):
| Date | What happened (source) |
|---|---|
| 29 May 2025 | Merit Hiring Plan memo: four essay questions on announcements graded GS-05 or above, 200 words each, own words, no consultant or AI (memo). |
| 11 Sep 2026 | Court stays Question 3 (Executive Orders); preliminary injunction denied (AFGE v. Kupor). |
| 18 Sep 2026 | Old Question 3 answers not to be considered for any open vacancy; revised Question 3; Question 5 announced (OPM notices). |
| 19 Sep 2026 | Revised Question 3 in USA Staffing announcements opening from this date (OPM notices). |
| 26 Sep 2026 | USA Staffing agencies told to update open announcements closing on or after this date to the revised Question 3; by USA Staffing re-release or agency reannouncement; announcements closing by 25 Sep need not be reposted, and previous hiring actions need not be reopened (OPM notices). |
| 2 Nov 2026 | Deadline for USA Staffing to update its item bundles with each agency’s approved Question 5, and for agencies on other hiring systems to implement it (OPM notices). |
The Merit Hiring Plan essay questions, word for word
Questions 1, 2, prior 3 and 4 are quoted from the main text of the Merit Hiring Plan memo (its summary list adds “Please” at the start of Question 4’s second sentence); the revised Question 3 and the Question 5 template are from OPM’s 18 September 2026 notice. The bracketed parts of Question 5 are filled in by each agency, so the version you see will name that agency and one to three of its priorities. In USA Staffing each item carries the header “Merit Hiring Plan Essay Question #X” and “precise language mandated by OPM”, and USA Staffing agencies are told not to edit it, so Questions 1 to 4 should read the same in USA Staffing announcements; OPM warns that custom or edited items may miss its automatic updates, and the revised Question 3 follows the dates in the tracker. Question 5 differs by agency.
| Question | Wording (OPM) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Question 1: Constitution | How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience. | Unchanged |
| Question 2: Efficiency | In this role, how would you use your skills and experience to improve government efficiency and effectiveness? Provide specific examples where you improved processes, reduced costs, or improved outcomes. | Unchanged |
| Question 3 (prior): Executive Orders | How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired. | Stayed by court |
| Question 3 (revised): Implementing leadership direction | In this role, you will be expected to professionally and efficiently implement executive direction. Provide an example where you implemented leadership direction on a strategy or policy decision that differed from your own recommendation. | Replacement from 19 Sep 2026 |
| Question 4: Work ethic | How has a strong work ethic contributed to your professional, academic or personal achievements? Provide one or two specific examples, and explain how those qualities would enable you to serve effectively in this position. | Unchanged |
| Question 5 (template): Agency priorities | This position supports [agency]’s mission and current priorities, including [insert 1 to 3 current agency-wide priorities]. Describe how your skills and experience would help the agency advance those priorities in this role. | Announced, by agency |
Our reading: if a USA Staffing announcement that opened on or after 19 September 2026 still shows the Executive Orders wording, it is out of step with OPM’s 18 September notice. The contact named on the announcement is the person to ask.
Where other pages get this wrong
Lists of the “four essay questions” that present the Executive Orders question as current are out of date.
Commonly published instead: pages and documents written before 18 September 2026, including OPM’s own September 2025 FAQs, describe the four questions of the May 2025 memo, Executive Orders included.
Since the court’s stay of 11 September 2026, OPM has told agencies not to consider answers to that question for any open vacancy and has replaced it in USA Staffing announcements opening from 19 September 2026. OPM has also directed agencies to add a fifth, agency-specific question. Read older documents alongside OPM’s 18 September 2026 notices.
- Paste one USAJOBS announcement and your work history
- Pulls out the specialized-experience lines and the grade
- Shows which words of each line your history already uses
- Lists the job details USAJOBS asks for that we could not find
- Writes each relevant job against the specialized experience
- Writes from the facts you give; a check removes lines with a number, acronym or known tool name not in your text
What the court decided on 11 September 2026
Three labor unions (AFGE, AFSCME and NAGE) sued OPM, its director Scott Kupor and the United States, arguing that the Executive Orders question inquires into applicants’ political views in violation of the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. On 11 September 2026 the court:
- Granted a stay under 5 U.S.C. § 705 of the APA, halting “the implementation and use” of Question 3 while the case goes on. It found the unions likely to succeed in showing that Question 3 violates the APA as contrary to a constitutional right.
- Denied a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the government from considering any applicant’s response to the question, or lack of one, in federal civil service hiring decisions. The court said the unions lacked standing for it, because they stress that the case is not about individual personnel decisions.
- Ruled only on Question 3, the one challenged, and only on temporary relief while the litigation continues, not a final judgment.
AFGE v. Kupor, No. 25-cv-13305-GAO (D. Mass.), Opinion and Order, 11 September 2026.
OPM’s 18 September notice then went further than the order on one point: it told agencies that, effective that day, they “cannot consider candidate responses to the prior Question 3 in their evaluation of candidates for any open vacancy.” Agencies do not need to reopen previous hiring actions or repost announcements that closed on or before 25 September 2026.
The rules OPM has set for applicants
| Rule | What OPM says |
|---|---|
| Do I have to answer? | No. “If an applicant does not answer the questions along with their application, they will not be disqualified or screened out.” Since 30 April 2026: responses “must not be marked as required”, and applicants “must be allowed to complete the application without answering the questions.” |
| Are answers scored? | “Answers to these questions are not scored or rated.” OPM says agencies should treat them like a cover letter, and they “must not be used as a means of determining whether the candidate fulfills the qualifications of a position.” |
| Ideology | The questions “must not be used to impose an ideological litmus test on candidates.” |
| Length | 200 words or less per question. |
| Own words, no AI | You certify “that you are using your own words and did not use a consultant or artificial intelligence (AI) such as a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT or Copilot.” |
| Who reads them | Only the hiring manager and agency leadership (or a designee), as part of the application packet forwarded to the manager and later to agency leadership if you are recommended for selection. In the memo, “agency leadership” includes political leadership, the CHCO and the COO. Reviewers must use the questions in line with the Merit System Principles and should be mindful of Prohibited Personnel Practices. |
Which job announcements include them
| Type of announcement | Essay questions |
|---|---|
| General Schedule, GS-5 to GS-15 | Mandatory for the agency to include (OPM, 30 April 2026). OPM’s September 2025 FAQs described the scope as competitive service announcements open to the public at GS-05 or above. |
| Senior Level (SL) and Scientific and Professional (ST) | Mandatory |
| Merit promotion announcements | Optional for the agency (OPM, 30 April 2026) |
| Senior Executive Service, teacher, seasonal, Wage Grade | Agencies should refrain from using them |
History: OPM’s September 2025 FAQs said agencies “may exempt other positions” at their discretion and should document why. The April 2026 guidance, which calls use mandatory for GS-5 to GS-15 and SL/ST and optional for merit promotion announcements only, does not repeat it, so do not count on that older exemption. Our reading: whether a given job asks the questions, and which version, is shown in that announcement’s questionnaire. That is the place to check, not a list of agencies.
Self-check · one question on the rules
On 5 October 2026 you apply to a GS-11 competitive service job open to the public, posted through USA Staffing, whose questionnaire includes the Merit Hiring Plan essay questions. The announcement opened on 22 September 2026. Which statement matches OPM’s rules?
- A. It asks you to name one or two Executive Orders, and you must answer to be considered.
- B. Its Question 3 asks for an example of implementing leadership direction that differed from your own recommendation, and you can submit the application without answering any essay question.
- C. Your essay answers are scored and decide whether you meet the qualifications.
- D. You may use an AI tool for the answers as long as you edit what it writes.
Show the answer and why
Answer: B.
OPM replaced the prior Question 3 in USA Staffing announcements opening on or after 19 September 2026, so B describes the version you should see, and OPM’s 30 April 2026 guidance says responses must not be marked required. A uses the stayed question and wrongly says an answer is required: since June 2025 OPM has said applicants who skip the questions are not disqualified or screened out. C is wrong: OPM says answers are not scored or rated and must not be used to decide qualifications. D is wrong: applicants certify they used their own words and no consultant or AI.
An original ProSyllabus question built from OPM’s guidance of 30 April 2026 and 18 September 2026. It tests the rules, not essay content.
Question 5: the agency-priorities question
OPM’s 18 September 2026 notice added a fifth question. Each agency and each Office of Inspector General must use a single version for all its announcements (except the shared and pooled actions below), and OPM says agencies should fill the brackets with priorities drawn from their current strategic plan, annual performance plan or other current priorities. Agencies had to send their wording to OPM by 30 September 2026. In USA Staffing, OPM said it would insert the approved wording into future announcements “as soon as possible after approval” and update the item bundle no later than 2 November 2026; agencies on other hiring systems must implement it “as soon as possible and no later than” 2 November 2026. For shared certificates and OPM-led pooled hiring actions, OPM and the participating agencies may create a version for that action.
Our check on 2 November 2026: OPM has published the template above but we found no agency’s approved Question 5 wording on an official page, so we do not quote one. If Question 5 has been added to an announcement’s questionnaire, that is where the agency’s wording will appear.
- Paste one USAJOBS announcement and your work history
- Pulls out the specialized-experience lines and the grade
- Shows which words of each line your history already uses
- Lists the job details USAJOBS asks for that we could not find
- Writes each relevant job against the specialized experience
- Writes from the facts you give; a check removes lines with a number, acronym or known tool name not in your text
Why ProSyllabus does not help with the essays
Applicants who answer certify that the words are their own, with no consultant or AI. ProSyllabus therefore does not write, draft, edit, suggest or grade Merit Hiring Plan essay answers, and this guide gives no help with them: it only reports the rules.
The same plan deals separately with the rest of the application: the memo requires agencies to use “at least one technical or alternative assessment for candidate ranking”, and OPM’s FAQs say that from 27 September 2025 applicants applying through USAJOBS must keep their resume to two pages. Our reading: since the essays must not decide qualifications, your resume and any assessments are where preparation counts.
Free resume check
OPM says the essays must not decide whether you qualify. Your resume is the part you can check and prepare.
The free ProSyllabus checker reads your resume PDF in your browser (nothing is uploaded) and reports the page count against the two-page limit, fonts, margins, and whether each job shows its title, employer, dates, hours per week, and series and grade for federal jobs. These checks are ProSyllabus features, not OPM requirements; it checks the resume only, never essay answers.
A planning aid by ProSyllabus, not affiliated with OPM or USAJOBS. The hiring agency decides whether you qualify.
More from our federal resume guides: the two-page resume rule and its exceptions, how to show one year of specialized experience, a free two-page template, three finished examples and the USA Hire assessments. All of them are on our ProSyllabus federal resume page.
What we could not find
Not on any official page we read
- The approved Question 5 wording of any agency.
- Any ruling or OPM notice on the essays after 18 September 2026, or an appeal decision on the stay.
Official pages read on 2 November 2026, listed under Sources below.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
What are the Merit Hiring Plan essay questions?
Short free-response questions the Merit Hiring Plan put into federal job announcements graded GS-5 and above, on the Constitution, government efficiency, a third topic and work ethic. The third changed in September 2026 (see the tracker above), and OPM directed agencies to add an agency-priorities Question 5.
Are the Merit Hiring Plan essay questions optional?
Yes, for applicants. OPM says an applicant who does not answer is not disqualified or screened out, and since 30 April 2026 says responses must not be marked as required and applicants must be able to finish the application without them.
Was the Executive Orders question blocked?
Yes. On 11 September 2026 the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts stayed the implementation and use of that question in AFGE v. Kupor while the case continues. OPM then told agencies not to consider answers to it for any open vacancy and replaced it in USA Staffing announcements opening from 19 September 2026.
What is the new Question 3?
“In this role, you will be expected to professionally and efficiently implement executive direction. Provide an example where you implemented leadership direction on a strategy or policy decision that differed from your own recommendation.”
Can I use AI or a resume writer for the essays?
No. Applicants certify that they used their own words and did not use a consultant or AI such as a large language model. ProSyllabus does not write, edit or grade essay answers.
More in this series
- USAJOBS 2-Page Resume Rule (2026): What OPM Requires and Exceptions
- Federal Resume Example (2026): Three 2-Page Samples for GS-7 to GS-12
- Federal Resume Template 2026: Free 2-Page Word and PDF (USAJOBS Format)
- Specialized Experience on a Federal Resume: The 1-Year Rule, With Examples
- USA Hire Assessment 2026: Each Test, Timing, Results, Free Judgment Sample
Sources
- official — Merit Hiring Plan, memorandum from the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Acting Director of OPM (29 May 2025)
- official — OPM Workforce Policy and Innovation: Additional Merit Hiring Plan Guidance on Using the Four Short Essay Questions (23 June 2025), read 2 November 2026
- official — OPM: Merit Hiring Plan Frequently Asked Questions (2 September 2025), read 2 November 2026
- official — OPM Workforce Policy and Innovation: Additional Merit Hiring Plan Guidance on Using the Four Short Essay Questions (30 April 2026), read 2 November 2026
- official — American Federation of Government Employees v. Kupor, No. 25-cv-13305-GAO (D. Mass.), Opinion and Order, Document 86 (11 September 2026)
- official — OPM: Merit Hiring Plan — Revised Essay Questions and Treatment of Prior Question Three Responses (to agency heads and CHCOs, 18 September 2026), read 2 November 2026
- official — OPM USA Staffing Program Office: Action Required — Merit Hiring Plan — Revised Essay Questions and Treatment of Prior Question Three Responses (18 September 2026), read 2 November 2026
- official — OPM: Merit Hiring Plan resources (hiring information), read 2 November 2026
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
