Competitive service is all civilian positions in the Federal Government that are not specifically excepted from the civil service laws and are not in the Senior Executive Service. For more details, go to http://www.usajobs.gov/EI/howjobsarefilled.asp

Excepted service is unclassified service, unclassified Civil Service or positions outside the competitive service and the senior executive service. For more details, go to http://www.usajobs.gov/EI/howjobsarefilled.asp

An agency having an established merit system in the excepted service may enter into an agreement in which employees may be moved from the agency's system to the competitive service.

Reinstatement eligibility allows those individuals who previously held a career or career-conditional appointment to apply for jobs in the competitive Federal service open to status applicants. For more clarification, go to http://www.usajobs.gov/EI/reinstatementeligibility.asp

An employee's category of entitlement to preference in the Federal service based on active military service that terminated honorably. For more details, go to http://www.fedshirevets.gov/.