What Is a SES Resume?
SES stands for Senior Executive Service and is a position classification in the civil service of the U.S. Federal government. Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below top Presidential appointees and serve as the link between these appointees and the rest of the civil service. There are approximately 75 government agencies they are involved with. Application for a SES position initially involved submitting a Federal resume and separate narrative statements for ECQ’s (Executive Core Qualifications). There is currently a push for a 5-page resume that incorporates the ECQ’s within the resume and the use of the 5 page SES resume is slowly growing. It is up to each Federal agency as to what are the exact requirements for their SES resume. The five Executive Core Qualifications are:
- Leading Change
- Leading People
- Results Driven
- Business Acumen
- Building Coalitions/Communications
Writing the SES Resume
The Senior Executive Service resume is considered to be one of the most difficult resumes to write that there is. Each of the five ECQ’s must be addressed by providing specific examples of how you have displayed each ECQ. In addition, the 28 leadership competencies that make up the ECQ’s should be covered without specifically mentioning the ECQ it represents. Of the 28 leadership competencies, six are considered to be cross-cutting fundamental competencies that relate to more than one ECQ. The six fundamental competencies are:
- Interpersonal skills
- Oral communication
- Integrity/Honesty
- Written communication
- Continual learning
- Public service motivation
Covering this information in a coherent manner that covers all 28 leadership competencies and relating them to the proper ECQ without directly saying so and providing examples of how you have displayed the particular characteristic and doing so in 5 pages can be quite a challenge for anybody. The resume will also need to contain information on your employment history, education, and other standard resume criteria.
Use SES Resume Examples as a Guide for Writing Your Own Resume
Writing the SES resume is probably the most difficult resume writing task there is, learn more about how to write a resume for a federal job. There are around 75 government agencies that have SES positions and each agency has their own specific resume requirements. There is a push on for agencies to use the 5 page SES resume format that will include examples of how the applicant has displayed the five Executive Core Qualifications within the resume. However many agencies still use the Federal Employment Resume with separate statements for the 5 ECQ’s.
A Federal Employment Resume differs from civilian resumes in several ways including:
- It has a specific format specified by the federal government
- It needs to include keywords required for the job
- Contains information not usually found on other resumes including Social Security Number, supervisor names and phone numbers and more detailed employment and education history.
SES resumes may vary from agency to agency so check that the SES resume examples you use as a guide have the same requirements as the agency you are applying to. Our SES ECQ writing services present the following samples:
The Five Page SES Resume
Use of the five-page senior executive service resume is being encouraged as it is felt that it simplifies the SES application. Although it may simplify the process it is far from easy to write the SES resume. Aside from employment and education history, it must include examples of how the applicant has displayed the five Executive Core Qualifications. The five ECQ’s are:
- Leading Change
- Leading People
- Results Driven
- Business Acumen
- Building Coalitions/Communications
The KSA resume should also cover the 28 leadership competencies that are related to the Executive Core Qualifications. This can be a big challenge as the same information using the older method would use 20 pages or more at times. Five page SES resume examples may differ widely depending on how applicants have chosen to compress the information and on which competencies they consider the most important for the position.
SES Resume Writing: Tips and Tricks from Superb Resume Experts
The Senior Executive Service (SES) resume you submit can make or break your application. For example, a well-written one makes the big difference in increasing your chances of being shortlisted for an interview. It will be the opposite with a poorly written one. Check out the following senior resume writers tips on how to write the resume-based SES application.
- Include your personal information, including your name and mailing address together with your phone numbers and email address.
- Write the vacancy announcement number.
- Include a section on Key Executive Core Qualifications and Competencies. Examples include creativity, innovation, conflict management and results-driven competencies, such as customer service, accountability, and decisiveness.
- Write a managerial summary with your leadership experience.
- Include both paid and unpaid professional experience related to the position you’re applying for, but make sure to specify your position title and employer’s full name and location. Also, include the month and year of start and end dates of your employment. Add information about average hours of work per week, salary, immediate supervisor name and contact number and your accomplishments and duties.
- Write about your educational background, including colleges and universities attended and degrees received.
- Include information about honors and awards received.
- In the next section, write information about your professional affiliations and memberships.
Additional pro tips
- Make sure to tailor your SES resume to the vacancy announcement and requirements.
- Don’t exceed more than five pages.
- ECQ narratives won’t also be considered.
- Don’t use a font smaller than 10 points.
- A cover letter is optional.
- Skip any border.
- For each MTQ, write in the narrative form within one page.
- Limit or skip acronyms.
- Quantify any accomplishment.
With all these things to remember for SES resume writing, you can notice that you must show managerial and leadership experience. In addition, the resume must include important details, such as education, memberships, training, and awards. The resume should also show the panel members that you’re an expert in the required position. Without even saying, it’s very complicated writing the SES resume on your own.
Some applicants using the five page SES resume prefer to ignore length initially and after including everything edit and revise down to the required five pages. Considering how difficult it is to write the SES resume you may want to consider a professional SES resume writing service. If you want to increase your chances of being shortlisted for the job interview, hire our senior executive service resume writers today!
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