Getting hired in a non civil service town is tough unless you have the right connections. A lot of time it comes down to personality, who you know, and who you know. A town that will remain nameless, the chief hired his brother right out of the academy even though there were people on the list for years. Same thing in Braintree with the fire department. The Ag got involved when the chief hired his nephew over 75 people in front of him. So a lot of it the non cs towns are jobs programs for friends and relatives. Also since the selectmen can fire you, they want themselves and their friends and family to be taken care of (no tickets, no arrests) so they are looking for people they know to play the game. The selectman from Lancaster tried to pull that crap on a friend if mine that was a Fitchburg cop when he got caught speeding.
My advice to you if you are a veteran is to move to a larger community that is civil service and apply there. Quincy is pretty steady on hiring since the place is about 100k people now. Also check Fitchburg state, the va on usajobs.gov, and umass in Amherst.
