Those new to applying to government positions may make the faulty assumption that a few tweaks to their current resume will get them in the door. Not true. As you will see, there’s some pretty significant differences between the resume you would submit to a company and a Federal resume. In this post, I’ll provide you some important Federal resume pointers.
Remember, the first person who reads you resume is typically not an expert in your field. They have been provided a template for words or phrases to look for in your resume. If you haven’t provided enough detail or the key words they’ve been told to look for – your resume is probably never going to get to the person who is doing the hiring.
Federal resume pointers to convert your industry resume:
- There is no page limit.
- Use full sentences and/or paragraphs to describe responsibilities and experiences.
- Follow the rules of the job announcement. If the announcement asks for you to include your pay rate per hours, provide it. Don’t think they’ll accept your annual salary.
- Focus on integrating key words.
- Make it easy for the reviewers to find your relevant job experience. Reviewers may be screening hundreds of resumes for a given position. Summarize your experiences up front to help them move you to the next step.
- Remove business jargon. Help the reviewers and the hiring manager by translating jargon to main stream words.
- Highlight any experience you have working with government agencies. A hiring manager will be less impressed with your success as a consultant. They will be more interested in knowing you know something about the government culture.
For additional tips for adjusting your industry resume, consider reading another post on how to write a Federal resume like a pro. And if you need more help, please contact me to schedule a 20 minute phone consult to discuss how to adapt to the Federal resume approach.
