Any USAJobs resume tips or tricks?

[garlow]

I've heard conflicting rumors over the years about how to best tweak your federal resume for maximum effect, any truth to these? Also, if anyone is aware of any other tips let us know. I only get interview offers on a small percent of my applications, but that could also be a function of the large number of applicants, as I think my resume is fairly decent, but I'm sure it could be better.

-I've heard you should put the exact job posting # in both the cover letter and resume, is this true? The advice I read is that some hiring managers really want to see a unique job # in both resume and cover letter (to show you're not spamming jobs and tweaked the resume). That was surprising to me, as there's no point randomly posing the ad # in the resume, and I'm not sure it's always true but who knows. 
-You should use the exact phrases in the KSA of the advertisement in your resume, using that same wording to describe your skills and accomplishments if they apply. I've also heard that you should use these key phrases A LOT to get a higher ranking or whatever.
-I'm sure we've all heard you need to be very detailed and that a 2 page "private sector" resume is insufficient, so most people's should be multiple pages 5-6 or more.
-Jobs should include exact dates and hours worked, salary, supervisor, etc. And then a job description and notable skills/accomplishments.
-assume a non-lawyer may be the gatekeeper who reads the resume before a lawyer does; you may have to over-explain the obvious.
-I've heard conflicting data on whether to have references in the resume, or wait until requested, and whether to put supervisors' phone numbers.


If anyone knows any other tips/tricks to set your resume apart, post below, as some of these are not obvious to everyone. Do all of you heavily tweak your resume for each unique job, or mostly use a general one unless it's a job you really care about?

[Serious, J.]

I'm not a resume expert. But I have gotten two relatively high-level federal jobs with my plain old resume (never exceeding two pages), and hired a number of people who submitted a plain old resume.

Personally, I always tweaked my resume to the actual job, so I would comb through the USAJobs posting and make a note of action verbs and key phrases. I'd get in as many into my resume as I could. If you have the skills, incorporating exact words or phrases isn't difficult. If a key phrase is more than a few words, I'd use a few of the key words verbatim and finish the phrase in my own words to avoid the appearance that my resume was "cut and paste."

I don't know why people are told to make sure you have a longer resume for a federal job (though there could be a reason). In fact, if people go on and on for pages, I think they run the risk of losing the reader's attention. If you go for more than two pages, make sure you put all the important, relevant information in the first two pages, and that anything after that is fresh and relevant.

Try to avoid repetition from one job to the next, even if the skills overlap. Try to show a progression of skills and responsibility. Sure, AAs and SAAs draft decisions for the ALJ's signature. What additional skills and responsibilities do you have as an SAA that sets you apart from an AA? You get the idea. If you are a current federal employee, the PMAP or Position Description sets out the expectations and requirements for your position. Those are helpful if you're looking for some concise language.

Include exact dates -- at least month and year, and if it is relevant, pinpoint the actual dates. If the posting is looking for one year time-in-grade (i.e., one year as a GS-13) note that "2020-2021" could be less than a year. Always pay close attention to this detail and do not take a shortcut where you think someone will be able to read between the lines on your resume, because the first pass is not done by someone who will read between the lines. And they will not reach out to you for clarification.

I never put the job posting number on my resume. I never saw the point of putting down my supervisor's name on a resume. You will be asked for this if it is needed. As for including references, it seems the jobs I was hiring for required references to be submitted in a separate document on USAJobs and/or provided separately during the interview process. At that point, be sure to include accurate contact information. You'd be surprised at the number of applicants who have lost touch with a reference (former supervisor or colleague) and provide outdated information.

In my experience, the resume builder function on USAJobs (or something similar) produced the most disjointed resumes, and I saw a lot of typos, fragmented and repeated sentences, horrific formatting, etc., on those resumes. I don't know for a fact if it was the resume builder function, inability to proofread or spellcheck using that function, or what, but I do know that for any position for which I reviewed resumes, there was a certain format used by about half the applicants and it resulted in an inferior resume despite an applicant's credentials; it didn't make a difference in terms of whether someone got an interview or was hired, but it sure made it difficult to weed through the resume. (If it's not a function within USAJobs, maybe someone else will know what it is.) If you are uploading your resume from Word or Word Perfect, make sure you check the formatting after it's uploaded into USAJobs before submitting your application.

That's about all I'd care to put in an open forum. I guess the bottom line is that your resume should convince anyone who reads it that they should put you on the short list to be interviewed.

[Pixie]

Oct 11, 2021 20:03:37 GMT -5 garlow said:

I've heard conflicting rumors over the years about how to best tweak your federal resume for maximum effect, any truth to these? Also, if anyone is aware of any other tips let us know. I only get interview offers on a small percent of my applications, but that could also be a function of the large number of applicants, as I think my resume is fairly decent, but I'm sure it could be better.

-I've heard you should put the exact job posting # in both the cover letter and resume, is this true? The advice I read is that some hiring managers really want to see a unique job # in both resume and cover letter (to show you're not spamming jobs and tweaked the resume). That was surprising to me, as there's no point randomly posing the ad # in the resume, and I'm not sure it's always true but who knows. 
-You should use the exact phrases in the KSA of the advertisement in your resume, using that same wording to describe your skills and accomplishments if they apply. I've also heard that you should use these key phrases A LOT to get a higher ranking or whatever.
-I'm sure we've all heard you need to be very detailed and that a 2 page "private sector" resume is insufficient, so most people's should be multiple pages 5-6 or more.
-Jobs should include exact dates and hours worked, salary, supervisor, etc. And then a job description and notable skills/accomplishments.
-assume a non-lawyer may be the gatekeeper who reads the resume before a lawyer does; you may have to over-explain the obvious.
-I've heard conflicting data on whether to have references in the resume, or wait until requested, and whether to put supervisors' phone numbers.


If anyone knows any other tips/tricks to set your resume apart, post below, as some of these are not obvious to everyone. Do all of you heavily tweak your resume for each unique job, or mostly use a general one unless it's a job you really care about?

Use the search feature in the upper left part of the screen. I think I used the term USA Jobs and got multiple hits. Pixie

[dwesq]

Read the job description. Copy and paste as many buzzwords from the job description in the relevant places on your resume.

Similar tip: as your going through the ksa's do the same thing and tailor your resume for the job.