HOW TO QUALIFY FOR FEDERAL JOBS

There’s a Whole Lot More to Online Applications Than Meets the Eye!

There are many factors to submitting online resumes that are never explained in the online instructions. Many applicants have been angered and frustrated when they receive a rejection letter stating they “do not have the required minimum experience,” even though they may have worked in an identical position for years. This is because the system is looking for specific information and KEYWORDS found in the specific federal vacancy announcement and/or General Series and grade targeted. Your experience, skills, accomplishments, educational, and training must be populated and interjected with keywords in the specific federal job vacancy requirements.

Additionally, if your experience is not presented in the accepted format of the targeted federal agency, and all federal resume compliance information is not included, it effectively does not exist as far as the online system is concerned and/or you will be disqualified, not rated, or rated ineligible to apply.

Note that nearly all formatting is lost in an online system, removing any use of boldface, italics, bullets, or other methods of highlighting information. At times, even paragraph breaks are lost when copying and pasting from a Microsoft (MS) Word document, requiring you to carefully proofread every answer. It takes experience and a unique style of writing to overcome the obstacles and properly highlight job experience so that it cannot be missed.

There are several types of application formats utilized by different agencies: USAJobs, Army CPOL, Navy CHART, AVUE, Application Manager, paper federal application format, and a few more older systems still in use. In order to be 100% sure of which resume or resumix to build, you should establish an account on USAJobs and take a TRIAL RUN through the application process as if you were actually ready to apply. You will need to review the character counts and other caveats for each online application.

We realize this can be very frustrating and daunting for the layperson in applying for federal jobs. ArmyResumes.com has its fingers on the pulse of all federal job resumes and resumix applications and their required formats. Just ask us… we’re here to help alleviate the confusion and earn you a top ranking on your federal job application.