On January 13 the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo offering further guidance on the “Rule of Many” changes for federal hiring first announced in September 2025. The memo, titled “Reinvigorating Merit-Based Hiring Through Candidate Ranking,” provides guidance on the effort to modernize federal hiring, replacing the “Rule of Three” selection method with the “Rule of Many.” OPM states this change will give hiring managers more flexibility and is more merit focused.

“The Rule of Many provides agencies with a broader pool of qualified candidates for competitive and excepted service appointments, ensuring selections are grounded in practical skill and merit as measured through skills-based assessments,” the memo reads. “This new process uses a numerical ranking system. Applicants are assigned scores (augmented for veterans’ preference) and placed in rank order. Agencies then make selections from a pre-determined number of the highest-ranked qualified candidates. In doing so, the Rule of Many combines the strengths of the rule of three and category rating procedures. It enables agencies to make finer distinctions among candidates based on their relative qualifications, while also broadening the range of applicants from which hiring managers may select.”

The guidance is accompanied by a series of helpful attachments, including how the Rule of Many supports skills-based hiring, the “three considerations” rule, how veterans’ preference applies, and other FAQs.

To read the full memo and see the links to the attachments, click here.