How To Write A Federal CV

1 While it’s important to have both kinds of resumes depending on the type of job you’re applying for, also keep in mind that HR and selecting officials may also want different things – what gets you referred and what gets you hired may require two different resumes. It never hurts to build a federal resume and have a private sector CV uploaded as one of your ten documents too. (Not everyone wants to pour over 6-20 pages of credentials). Also note that USAJobs is suggesting resumes that are no longer than 5 pages (you are not penalized if you exceed 5 pages). Note: Resume=CV 2 Reach out to HR personnel in specific bureaus or offices. Contact Bureau HR officials for advice on what jobs are coming open and how to apply. You can ask general guidance as long as you’re not asking about a job application that’s currently open with their bureau. CDRC offers career aptitude tests, Meyers Briggs, and other professional resources in addition to career counseling. A great way to develop your CV and career development is to obtain lateral training or achieve professional training certificates. Find out what is available to you, especially ones at agency cost or discount, and how you can be intentional about growing in your career. 3 Your duties are your responsibilities you undertake as part of your job description. KSA – knowledge, skills, abilities You need to know that having experience with the essential duties alone will not get you hired. Having performed the duties is not enough to get you evaluated as highly qualified. You can’t just have done the items, you have to have done them well. You need at least 3 accomplishment statements for each core competency to make you eligible for a best qualified rating. Make sure the numbered pieces or items required in the job announcement and questionnaire correspond to items in your CV or add bullets that are as close as possible/comparable. 4 Other category – Schedule A, veteran’s status, education, SF50 performance evaluations & other required documents. Other characteristics: networks: are your established networks available to the new workplace? What are your personal traits? Your character? Scoring – How you rate yourself in your questionnaire must be documented in your CV. HR generalists will be looking for evidence. Depending on what they find, they will adjust your score. Duties are evaluated and scored less by HR than other categories like the questionnaire and accomplishment statements. Don’t let HR lower your score or find you disqualified because you forgot to provide examples of jobs or time frames for experiences in your answers – you need to be explicit, you need to provide examples for each and every skill. There are trick questions, beware! Other documents: You only have 10 “other documents” to upload to your USAJobs portfolio Save yourself space by scanning your training certs into one PDF, your diplomas and transcripts into one, your recommendations into one, and so forth. 5 Think of accomplishment statements like answering interview statements: what was the problem, how did you resolve it, what was the key outcome? Who was impacted? Samples: Give an example of a difficult presentation you had to give recently. Why was it difficult? Who was in the audience? What was the impact? How did you prepare? Tell me about a time when you had to brief senior officials but had a limited amount of information and a tight deadline. Quantify what you can: numbers have a dramatic impact on the reader. You need individual examples to prove other requirements objectively, must be exemplified, not descriptive. Must be based on performance and successful outcomes. Job description is not proof, you must prove that knowledge has been applied. Accomplishment questions ask: challenge, context, actions taken, results taken, impact. You are adding value to results. Pro Tips: Can use direct quotes from performance evaluations\s or appraisals. Use ranking factor to come up with accomplishment statements. Use examples where you went above and beyond your normal duties. Volunteered for overtime to alleviate influx during busy season. (provide how many hours) Give examples from your “I love me file” where you really nailed something, even if it wasn’t directly work related, but you were there for your co-workers or the public (maybe someone even wrote a stellar Yelp review about you – quote it!). Were you nominated (and did you win?) a team or leadership award? What examples did your coworkers give for your awesome nomination? 6 There is a pattern to how announcements and applications are made b/c HR recycles their job announcements and re-uses they use their own wording. Naturally, they filter thru applications using an unconscious bias of HR goggles looking for this verbiage and if they don’t see it immediately, your application could be kicked out. Using their wording is not a requirement, but it’s best practice b/c it’s better to be sure you have their exact phrasing in your duties and responsibilities and then get creative in wording for your accomplishment statements. Part of this is convenience – HR has a limited window to review a stack of applications, if they don’t see what they’re looking for immediately, they move on. It’s not fair, but it is what they do. You can challenge a non-referral, but it’s a lengthy process and it becomes YOUR battle with the onus of responsibility on you. It’s better to make sure you have your skills supported in spades and that no one can question how awesome you are and yours is the best CV they’ve ever seen. Look at the sample questionnaires for inspiration on what skills and specialties are required for the position, then compare it to your own CV – is something missing? Should something in your own be tailored to show that it is comparable? This is why it’s important to save your own job announcement and questionnaire answers – so you can see how your job reflects those questions (or not) and you can write your CV using those questions as guidance. Pro Tip: USE THIS LANGUAGE DURING YOUR INTERVIEW! 7 Appropriate documentation examples: proof of marriage to a military spouse, DD214, diploma, transcripts, school enrollment paperwork, Schedule A medical letter Eligibility can be the silver bullet that get the job – but can also be exactly what gets your application kicked out. Watch out for announcements that require applicants be ‘in local commuting distance only’, or ‘internal to agency’. Also beware of announcements that are highly, overly, unnecessarily specific, such as open to only certain categories and only open for under a week – if eligible, go for it, but just know they’re probably fishing for somebody they already have in mind. Knowing your eligibility/different types of appointments. Competitive, noncompetitive, internal to agency, VRA Schedule A, Displaced...RIFed...local commuting distance only.... IE: internal to agency, open for one week, local commuting distance employees only 8 Keep an on-going master CV in a word document for easy modification. USAJobs allows you to have up to 5 USAJobs resume builders saved, name each one after how it’s been tailored When answering questionnaires, especially for “e” responses (considered expert in this task or skill, or have trained others in this task or skill), you need to put detailed bullets and examples for your core qualifications. Think of these as bite sized accomplishment statements. 10 BLUF: It's YOUR career, it's your journey. Where it goes and what you want it looks like (experiences, grade, opportunities, training) is entirely up to you. Reasonable explanations for CV gaps: taking time off to raise kids, being a military spouse, being in school, furloughs and government hiring freezes… maybe a family emergency. There are reasons b/c life happens. The federal government employs federal workers familiar with military and other backgrounds – in this one tiny area, it can be more accommodating 11 Civil Service Career Trends – This tool allows you to map out your career trajectory. You can see where other people in your career have gone, have been, and what skills they have or obtained in their career development. This tool also allows you to see what vacancies there are in certain career paths. To play with the program and see what vacancies are available, put in filters for grade, position, bureau, and then right click pivot table and unclick ‘hide position title’. 12 13 To prevent disqualifications, make sure to double check you’ve uploaded the correct required documents – does the announcement require a cover letter? Did you apply saying you had education or training and forget your transcript? Did you apply under an eligibility and need to provide your DD214 or your Schedule A letter? This is why it’s better save a job and apply before it closes to give yourself a cushion window to prepare, tweak, and fix anything. It’s always handy to have a writing sample on hand – whether it’s simply an email you’ve drafted, a memo, a published article, a poster or flier you’ve created, something that establishes your communication skills. 14