Originally Posted by
Baradium
"category vacancy" just means that the only ones available for new hires are First Officer positions, it is not mentioned as "category vacancy" as a regular AE either.
The question was about contingency vacancies. A new hire cannot be awarded a contingency vacancy. That vacancy would have to be posted as a category vacancy in a subsequent AE and, if unbid, then becomes eligible to be filled by a new hire. Look at 22.E.1.c. I didn't write the PWA, just telling you how it works.