FEDERAL
RESUME
WRITING
CONTENT
1. Federal vs. Standard Resume
2. Length of Resume
3. Required Information
4. Format
5. Job Opportunity Announcement
6. Minimum Qualications
AFCivilianCareers.com
For more information contact an AFCS recruiter at [email protected].mil
THE FEDERAL RESUME
IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
DOCUMENT YOU CAN
WRITE TO SUPPORT YOUR
ENTRANCE INTO FEDERAL
SERVICE, OR TO OBTAIN
A PROMOTION TO A
NEW POSITION.
— Kathryn Troutman, 2016
Federal resumes are dierent from traditional standard personal resumes.
This dierence is very important in understanding how to successfully apply
for a position at AFCS.
First dierence: personal photos or head shots are not allowed. Federal
employment standards prohibit considering any application that includes a
photo.
Second dierence: the length. Typically, the federal resume is much longer
(4-5 pages) than the standard resume (1-2 pages), due to the detailed
information required.
Resumes for a federal job are generally prepared using the USAJOBS resume
template that provides guidance on the information needed to complete a
compelling document and will explain One Year Specialized Experience and
KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities), which are key to making an attractive
resume. More on this subject later.
If you are using your standard resume to apply for federal positions, you
may be missing out on your dream job. If you are not getting the expected
response in your job search, you may not be providing the kind of resume that
Human Resource (HR) Specialists want to see.
Federal resumes are often the most dicult resumes to write – and to write
well. Applying for a federal position can be intimidating, but with the right
information on your resume, you will have a better chance of being selected
for nal consideration and hopefully among the “Best Qualied.”
Read further for additional guidance in federal resume writing.
FEDERAL VS. STANDARD RESUMES
ALL RESUMES SHOULD
BE CUSTOMIZED FOR
AN INDIVIDUAL JOB
OPPORTUNITY, MEANING
IT INCLUDES ALL THE
JOB OPPORTUNITY
ANNOUNCEMENT’S
KEY WORDS.
Although the length of the federal resume is ultimately the personal preference of
the writer, the general rule is one to three pages if you can include all information to
support One Year of Specialized Experience and KSAs without deviation. However, the
USAJOBS resume builder will allow four to ve pages of resume text. Never leave out
any information referencing specialized experience; as far as federal HR Specialists
are concerned, if any experience is not on your resume, you did not do it. Federal HR
reviewers cannot make any assumptions or draw conclusions about what you did or
did not do. Precisely spell out your experience so that it is very clear.
A good federal resume is usually four to ve pages. Every generalized and specialized
skill that you have developed in your career has to be written into the documents to
support your specialized experience and to set you above other qualied candidates.
LENGTH OF THE FEDERAL RESUME
FEDERAL RESUME WRITING
For help with key
words in a document,
use “word cloud”—
www.wordle.net
REQUIRED INFORMATION FOR FEDERAL RESUMES IN
ADDITION TO WORK EXPERIENCE & OTHER QUALIFICATIONS
1. Personal Information: Full name (with middle initial if applicable), address, phone number, and email address
2. Street addresses, city, state, and zip code of employers within the past ten years
3. Month and year of each job held within the past ten years – included hours per week worked
4. Supervisors’ name and phone number (and whether they can be contacted)
5. Education: Majors and colleges with city, state, and zip code and number of semester hours
6. List and detail all volunteer work, including a description of the type of work, the role you played, and frequency
7. Security clearance level and citizenship
The FedsHireVets.gov website has a Resume Writing guide posted at:
http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/links/Resume%20Writing%20Participant%20Handout.pdf
Federal resumes do not have to be attractive. Federal resumes are not heavily
formatted, and the USAJOBS resume builder does not accept formatting such as
bold, underlining, small caps, italics, etc. The proper formatting for federal resumes
should include short paragraphs using capital letters to highlight key words. Always
avoid bullets since they limit and abbreviate pertinent information. The Outline
Format is preferred by stang specialists because it is easy to read and features
key words and accomplishments. Each paragraph represents a skill set that the JOA
requires. The KSAs that are required to get “Best Qualied” for the position are clearly
demonstrated in the resume. Every word in the Outline Format is carefully selected to
match the JOA and highlight the person’s employment experience and competencies.
The block style format was acceptable when machines read the resumes. The bulleted
format is not recommended, KSAs are too dicult to nd in the list of bullets, and
the functional style format will not suce for the federal resume because the duties
and responsibilities are not anchored with dates, locations, and job titles. You must
show that you have One Year Specialized Experience in a certain eld of work. Also, if
the duties are separated from the dates, you will be rated as ineligible. You can’t go
wrong using the Outline Format resume!
“You can transform your life and business in just seven
minutes a day.” If that statement makes you want to
read on, your resume should include the same type of
“hook” in describing your experience and competencies.
Hiring agencies state the qualication requirements that
you must meet in the JOA. These qualications include
education, training, level of experience, and amount of
experience. Once you have applied, the hiring agency uses
the information in your resume to verify if you have the
required qualications stated in the JOA, such as years
of experience, level of education, major eld of study,
semester hours completed, and training. Once they have
determined who the “Best Qualied” are, some agencies
may use the information in your resume for the second
step. Federal jobs often require that you have done a
particular type of work for a certain period of time. Be sure
to include the month and year that you began and ended
each job. Also, include the number of hours you worked
per week. Be sure to provide information on the level of
experience that demonstrates you meet the qualications;
use examples and be specic (i.e., project manager or a
team manager).
FEDERAL RESUME FORMAT
JOB OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (JOA)
USAJOBS.GOV HELP CENTER
https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/how-to/account/documents/resume/
Ensure that your format is correct
FEDERAL RESUME WRITING
THIS IS NOT YOUR
PRIVATE SECTOR JOB
SEARCH. CAREFULLY
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS
PROVIDED. MAKE SURE
YOUR RESUME MATCHES
THE JOB OPPORTUNITY
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR
THE TARGET POSITION
TO OPTIMIZE BEING
CONSIDERED.
AFCivilianCareers.com
Minimum qualications are standards set by the U.S.
Oce of Personnel Management (OPM) to help ensure that
federal employees are, indeed, qualied for employment.
You must meet these minimum qualications to be
considered for employment. Minimum qualications are
stated in terms of general or specialized experience.
• General experience is progressively responsible
clerical, oce, or other types of experience that show
you have the ability to perform the duties of the job
being lled.
• Specialized experience is usually obtained from having
worked in a position similar to the job being lled.
For some jobs, you can qualify based solely on education
instead of experience. For other jobs, both education and
experience are required to qualify; and for yet other jobs,
you can qualify based on a combination of your experience
and education. These requirements will be described in
the JOA.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS DOES MATTER
If you are still using aol.com or bellsouth.net, that
shows that you have not updated that part of your
life, and begs the question whether you have updated
other parts of your work life. The smartest approach
is to use a professional email address, preferably one
with your name (without the year of your birth). Also,
verify that the display name is appropriate (avoid
nicknames). Your email is the rst impression most
resume reviewers will have of you — make it count!
If you ever receive the message below in response to an
application, it is time to x your federal resume!
“Your resume did not document either the number of
hours worked per week for all jobs listed, a detailed
description of your duties performed, or the mo/yr to
mo/yr (present) worked for all jobs listed, as required
by the vacancy announcement. Please be sure to
read each announcement for complete qualication
requirements and instructions on ‘How to Apply’.”
Troutman, Kathryn (2016). Federal Resume Guidebook, 6th Ed.
The Resume Place Inc.
FEDERAL RESUME WRITING
This guide was created in collaboration with AFCS
Talent Acquisition Chief of Acquisition Recruiting Section,
Tangela Hatcher.
