How to Write a Resume for Federal Jobs to Be Accepted

Do You Need Help with Federal Resume Writing?

When you apply to a normal job you may be trying to keep your resume to 1 or 2 pages in length at the most. An entry-level federal resume will generally be from 2 to 5 pages in length with more senior SES positions requiring resumes much longer. The government will want you to carefully detail your experiences and qualifications in detail. This is why you may want professional support with how to write a resume for a federal job or professional KSA services to help with detailing your Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

According to USAJOBS, the government employs more than 2 million citizens within the civil service. Through their service, they advertised more than 360 thousand jobs in 2016 and work with more than 500 agencies across some 147 countries. Jobs are carefully detailed and recruiters will review your resume, ECQs, and KSA questions to see if you match their requirements prior to any interviews or further testing. If your federal resume is not up to scratch then you will never get any further than applying for the positions that you find. Your resume must clearly show that you have the qualifications, skills, and experience that they want to see. This is why it is often best to get help with federal resume writing from a professional that knows what they are doing.

Before You Apply

Getting into Federal employment is a highly competitive process and you will have to clearly show that you meet their expectations. So before you make any application it is required that you carefully read the job announcement to clarify what they are looking for and see if you will actually qualify for the position that is being advertised. They will usually specify the experience that is required including the level that it is required at and how much is required. The same will be true for your education and training. If you do not have the basic qualifications for the position then it is best to look to the next opening.

What Should Be Included in Your Federal Resume?

Your resume should be very comprehensive, far more detailed than would be used for non-government jobs. Using a federal resume builder or working with professional federal resume services will ensure that your application covers everything that it needs to. The following information is what should be included in your resume:

This section will include all of the personal information that is expected such as your name and address. It will also require you in many instances to provide your citizenship as many jobs expect that you will be a US citizen, although not all. They will also want to know if you have worked in the past for the government or served in the armed forces.

All previous employment needs to be covered within this section of your resume, although for more experienced applicants this can be limited to the previous 10 years. You will be required to detail out:

• Who was the employer
• Location of the work
• Job title
• Dates worked
• Number of hours worked each week
• Your responsibilities and accomplishments

In addition, you can also provide your immediate supervisor’s contact details as a reference and also your salary. Not including your salary should not affect your application.

This should be a detailed account of your education covering all schools attended. It should include all of the degrees that you have gained through accredited institutions only. In addition, you can include:

• Your GPA
• Any coursework that is relevant
• Papers and projects
• Presentations that you have made
• Any honors that may have been received
• Any other important accomplishments

• Any Job-related training that may be relevant to the job that you are applying to.
• References: you are able to add professional, personal or academic references who may be able to support your application.
• Language skills: detail your proficiencies.
• Affiliations: provide details of any clubs, associations or societies that you may be a member of as well as an office that you hold within them. Detail any relevant experience from these.
• Publications: list anything that you have published or contributed to providing dates and where published.
• Any other relevant information: this can cover relevant volunteer experience, speaking engagements or anything else that you feel will support your application.

How to Write a Resume for a Federal Job

Writing an effective resume is not something that many will find easy, especially if they have worked outside of the government and are used to the processes and expectations there. This is why it is so much easier to use professional federal resume writing services to get support with writing an effective resume. If, however, you do not want to use professional help and want to write your own resume then you should consider all of the following for how to write a resume for a federal job:

• Always tailor your resume: never send the same resume to every job that you see and would like to apply to. Every job has precise requirements so customizing the content of your resume to match those requirements will help you. If your knowledge skills attitude and everything else perfectly match what the job is calling for then you have a better chance of being selected for an interview.
• Use the right federal resume keywords: every job will use a very specific set of words and these should be reflected within your own resume. However, they describe something in the job post ensure that you reflect that description with the same keywords within your own resume.
• Cover all qualifications and experiences required: everything that they say they want must be detailed in your resume. So if they ask for experience with Excel ensure that it is included clearly in your resume and use the same language as they do.
• Emphasize the things that are most important: if they require a specific skill to ensure that it is clear on your resume. Don’t hide it under a list of other skills and accomplishments within your work experience. Ensure what they see as valuable comes first and that you demonstrate it clearly with examples.
• Be concise in your writing: while you are asked to provide a huge amount of information you will still need to so do in a concise manner. The recruiter will not want to read through masses of waffle to find the information they really want to see. Ensure that the most important information is obvious when you scan through your resume.
• Check your writing with great care: proofread and ensure that you eliminate any grammatical or spelling errors that may be lurking within your resume. Simple mistakes can sink your application.

What Not to Do in Your Federal Resume

Just as important as knowing what to do when writing your resume you will also need to know what to avoid. The following list of don’t should be carefully avoided when you write your resume for any federal position:

• Don’t make claims without supporting them: always provide clear examples of what you have done and your accomplishments. Where you can use numbers to quantify what you have done.
• Don’t try to be clever with your writing: use everyday English that all will understand. Using words from your thesaurus that the recruiter will not understand will not make you look more intelligent.
• Avoid any acronyms: always spell them out as the person reading your resume may not understand them.
• Don’t write long paragraphs of information: where you can use concise bullet points that will be easy to scan and digest.
• Don’t include any information that is not totally relevant to your application.
• Don’t submit your resume without carefully checking it.

How to Apply to a Federal Job Using USAJOBS

The USAJOBS portal provides you with access to thousands of federal jobs. It provides you not only with a listing of the jobs that are available it also gives you the search facilities that are required to be able to narrow down and target those that you are interested in. Not only does the site provide you with access to the many jobs listed by all of the different agencies it also provides you with many other tools. The USAJOBS resume builder will take you to step by step through building a resume for the jobs that you apply to. It allows you to build several different resumes at the same time allowing you to tailor your applications carefully to each position that you apply to and to save them for future use or modification.

We Provide You with the Best Federal Resume Writing Service

From help with KSA human resource to writing a highly effective resume, our professionals are here to support you. Our federal resume writer has many years of experience in making applications. They know precisely how your resume should be tailored and written and can ensure that you will have the highest chance of gaining an interview. They will work directly with you to ensure that your resume will perfectly reflect the specific post that you are applying to.

All skills and other requirements will be covered within your resume and it will reflect the language that the recruiter themselves are using. Each resume is produced from scratch using your own personal information and never simply copied or adapted from another. Once written you will be able to review the draft resume with your resume writer and discuss any changes that you feel may be required. We want you to be able to submit your federal job application confidently and proudly. Our professional services also offer you all of the following benefits:

• A quick turnaround on your resume writing: we ensure that you can apply promptly and will always deliver your resume on time to your deadline.
• Fully confidential help: we do not share any of the information that you provide or your resume with anyone else.
• Highly affordable pricing: our services are very competitively priced and we will often provide you with additional discounts.
• Unique and targeted resumes: we don’t simply write to a template or copy anything. Your resume is targeted to the job and will be supplied to you with a plagiarism report.
• Free proofreading: we know that mistakes can make your resume and you look unprofessional which is why your writing will be carefully reviewed to remove any possible issues.
• Guaranteed full satisfaction with the support that we provide to you or your money will be refunded back to you.

Learn how to write a resume for a federal job through our professional and reliable writing services and make your next application a success.