Applying for a US federal post

A federal writing application needs explicit evidence that the applicant meets the announcement’s requirements. The résumé and questionnaire answers should describe the same qualifying experience.

Evidence against the announcement

A federal résumé should demonstrate the required knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as every aspect of the required specialised experience. ¹ Each application is an opportunity to revise the résumé so that its duties and accomplishments support the answers to the application questionnaire. ¹

With potentially hundreds of applicants competing for one position, applicants should understand what hiring officials seek and present it in the appropriate language and format. ¹

Seven application tips

Federal job-search coaching in 2013 recommended the following seven steps. ^{1, 2}

1. Read the announcement carefully, noting the series number, grade, minimum education and required specialised experience. The four-digit series number refers to a position in the Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families, and the grade reflects education or requisite experience and supervisory or leadership level. Address each factor in the series description separately, except where the series ends in 01, such as 0301, 0601 or 1001: these jobs may be multidisciplinary or have no pre-assigned handbook definition. Two GS-1001 examples illustrate the difference: an FDA health communications specialist developed communication and risk mitigation programmes, projects and strategies for the public and other audiences, with further specialised communications duties; a Forest Service post primarily involved presentations to community groups.
2. Take the education, specialised experience and knowledge, skills and abilities requirements seriously. Describe duties, responsibilities and accomplishments for each employer using the announcement’s key words and phrases. For a nurse applying to a post requiring written communication skills, this might mean “applied excellent written communication skills to document patient care and treatment, including…”. For a requirement to present specialised information in writing, it might mean “presented specialised information in writing, making timely and accurate entries in patient records, including…”. Use implied first person consistently, present tense for the current job, past tense for completed jobs, and limited definite and indefinite articles.
3. Preview the questionnaire through the link in the announcement. It will likely probe threshold specialised experience and substantive experience through multiple-choice questions. Check whether D or E, sometimes 4 or 5, can truthfully be selected for most or all questions; otherwise, being rated “best qualified” and reaching the group from which interviewees are selected is unlikely. Support the answers in the résumé. For claimed expertise in Section 508 compliance, concerning accessibility of electronic information under the Rehabilitation Act, evidence might include independently preparing compliant content, training others, serving as a division’s expert, or providing peer support or mentoring.
4. Give concrete accomplishments from the past ten years that address the required abilities, using the announcement’s terminology and metrics where possible. Anchor each accomplishment to a specific employer and job so that expertise can be verified, rather than asserting it only in a summary.
5. Keep the information timely, accurate and relevant. For a writing post, avoid lengthy accounts of old research or clinical work, and remove a long Section 508 paragraph if accessibility is absent from the announcement. Summarise jobs more than ten years old in no more than a line or two naming titles, employers and dates, with a brief parenthetical on relevance if needed. In the USAJobs résumé builder, the additional-information box at the end was the recommended location; a word-processed résumé could have a similar section at the back.
6. Follow the instructions exactly. If education alone meets the minimum, choose that answer and upload the transcript; choose education plus experience only when experience is needed to meet the threshold. Apply to a post with a separate one-year specialised experience requirement only if that requirement is met. Make every aspect of the qualifying experience findable in about ten seconds and anchor it to one or more jobs within the past ten years; move an older job forward if it is needed to demonstrate that experience. State hours per week and inclusive months and years, and quantify the qualifying and non-qualifying portions of a job so that human resources does not have to guess when calculating eligibility.
7. If a cover letter is optional and can be uploaded, provide one summarising how the education, knowledge, skills and experience support the agency’s mission. Explain the commitment to public service and advancing that mission, paraphrasing the mission statement in the announcement.

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