Is applying for a federal job through USAJOBS required?

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Permalink Reply by Camille Roberts on February 17, 2012 at 1:53am

Hi Ari,

 

Excellent question. I get asked this almost daily. The answer is: it depends...on what you are applying for and where. Most Federal government positions are going to be announced through USAJOBS.gov, but not all of them.  

 

The BEST answer, from me, is follow the "How to Apply" instructions on the job announcement PRECISELY. Do not submit the application materials to the contact unless the announcement states to do so...if you want to get hired...faster. Use the announcement as a guide. Print it if you need to, and check off each item as you complete it, and follow the instructions for applying.  

 

 

If you want to accelerate your job search for best results, I recommend that you create TWO resumes in the Resume area of your account. Build a resume using the online Resume Builder either by creating the information manually, or pasting from a Word document. Then, upload your nicely formatted, attention-getting professional resume created with Word into the Saved Documents area. This is called the "uploaded resume"--the other option under Resume in your account.

Some announcements now allow you to apply to a position with a resume created in Word. Again, read the anouncement carefully and follow every instruction. Be sure to make one of your resumes searchable. This allows your resume to be sorted into the results of queries by recruiters sourcing candidates, which could increase your chances of being "found."

You asked about how to find agencies that do not list announcements on USAJOBS. Most of these are excepted service positions as opposed to competitive civil service positions. Here is a link that should help you:

 

http://www.usajobs.gov/ResourceCenter/Index/Interactive/ExceptedSer... 

 

Also, there are some senior executive service (SES) announcements that require just the uploaded resume and narratives in a Word document. Even just a year ago, most SES submissions were required to be submitted on paper. This is where it is critical that they be professional. In either case, the candidate has an advantageous opportunity to submit a strategic, compelling, nicely formatted and professionally written resume to demonstrate his/her value.

 

I hope this information helps you. If you have other questions, feel free to post them here, or write me at Camille@ccCareerServices.com.

 

I wish you the best your job search!

 

Camille 

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Permalink Reply by Ari Herzog, MPA on February 17, 2012 at 8:01pm

What is the benefit of using the resume builder in addition to an uploaded resume? Are there aspects of the builder that are not in stereotypical resumes that employers are keyword searching for?

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Permalink Reply by Camille Roberts on February 17, 2012 at 8:59pm

Hi Ari,

 

A couple of benefits of the online Resume Builder is for the person who is new to the federal hiring process, as well as someone who does not have a resume created in Word. The online Resume Builder will "guide" the person through building their resume, including all the details that are required of a federal resume.

 

Yes, there are aspects of the builder not found in what is referred to as private sector resumes, but this information is not keyword related per se. These "aspects" include supervisor names and contact information, whether or not the supervisor can be contacted, number of hours worked per week, salary, and relevant coursework, to name a few.  Keywords are important for both private sector and federal resumes.

Another "benefit" is there are a lot of job announcements that require that you apply with the resume created using the Resume Builder, rather than the uploaded resume created in Word.

 

Does that help answer your question?

 

Camille

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Permalink Reply by Ari Herzog, MPA on February 17, 2012 at 10:58pm

OK, thanks, that's helpful.

One more question if you don't mind: How important is detail in job experiences? Meaning, I currently lump several teaching assignments into a larger experiential bullet on my internet training. Would an agency using this website prefer to see each teaching assignment separated out?

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Permalink Reply by Camille Roberts on February 18, 2012 at 1:53am

Detail is important, but how much and what is hard to guage without really taking into account the whole situation. Since I take a strategic approach, I would need to review your resume and it would be great if I could review a job announcement you are interested in applying to so that I could give you solid advice based on your situation. If you don't have a current job announcement, you could let me know a couple of job titles you are interested in pursuing.

 

Feel free to send it to me at Camille@ccCareerServices.com .

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Doris Tirone on February 17, 2012 at 9:32am

ALLFederal Agencies are required to post General Schedule (GS) and Wage Grade (WG) vacancies on USAJobs if they are recruiting outside their own Department/Agency. 

Having said that, Federal employers may recruit to fill vacancies through Schedule A, B, and C appointing authorities and these do not always make it to the USAJobs website; that's because these types of appointments are "excepted" and do not require competition. 

Title 5 USC § 2301 requires Federal employers to assure "Fair and Open Competition" under the Merit System Principles. Once a job has opened to the public, the law disallows HR Specialist from accepting resumes directly from applicants because all applicants must receive the same treatment under the law. The reason you see the names of HR representative listed in every job announcement is to allow applicants a means by which to ask questions about a job vacancies and/or to get further information before submitting their USAJobs application;  emaiing your information directly to the HR Specialist, however, is not recommended.   

If you find it difficult to navigate the USAJobs website, know that this site is easier to navigate than most sites that Federal employees maneuver in the course of a normal workday!  Perhaps it would be helpful to think of the USAJobs website as a type of "gatekeeper" that screens applicant's from the very beginning to see if they're really cut out to handle the daily frustrations one is expected to handle as a Federal employee. 

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Ribeira on February 17, 2012 at 9:37am

I'm not positive this is a best practice for applying to federal positions, but if they list an HR contact, I don't think it's a bad idea to establish at least some form of human contact. While I wouldn't send them my application directly (unless of course, like Camille says, the instructions say to do so) I think it's a good idea to sometimes send a quick email or even a phone call if there's a number, reaffirming your interest, perhaps asking a few strategic questions, etc.

Actually, now that I think of it, if there are any actual HR people out there, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this practice. Does sending a personal email message (not a full application) help a candidate's chances any, or is it just annoying?

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Permalink Reply by Doris Tirone on February 17, 2012 at 9:46am

Hi Jeff!  Thanks for the question ... and the answer is nope!  (see my reply above for reasons).

 

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Permalink Reply by Camille Roberts on February 17, 2012 at 12:21pm

I agree, Jeff! It is always good to make that human connection. I recommend looking to see if the contact is on GovLoop, LinkedIn, BeKnown, or BranchOut and reach out to them, and certainly a direct brief introductory email can't hurt. It is difficult to know when someone appreciates the candidate reaching out vs. someone who is already overwhelmed with emails. There are a lot of great ways to make that connection with social media--the first one being email. <smile>

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Permalink Reply by Doris Tirone on February 17, 2012 at 12:36pm

While I agree that "making the connection" is a good idea with many types of employers, especially in the private sector, there is absolutely no advantage in "making the connection" for that purpose with HR Specialists listed in Federal vacancy announcements.

I would be remiss if I didn't remind readers that HR Specialists in the Federal government often times work hundreds of miles away from their customers, in Regional Offices that support many different agencies or locales.  Indeed, in many cases HR Specialists are working on hundreds of vacancy announcements at various stages of the recruitment process and rarely have time to "connect" with applicants except to provide them with information and/or to reply to their questions sent by email. For purposes of Federal employment, the best connections one can make are done so AFTER the applicant is contacted for an interview. 

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Permalink Reply by Camille Roberts on February 17, 2012 at 9:06pm

I agree, Doris. It is difficult to know who might be receptive to someone reaching out. My clients have had good success connecting and I know the HR representatives are always good about helping to answer questions and issues that might be related to the job announcement. Recently, an announcement has some conflicting information. I asked my client to call or email the contact to make her aware of the situation and she called my client within a few hours to let him know she would fix the announcement and gave him the additional information we needed. I know they can be overwhelmed with emails, but try to help as much as possible...so connecting does have to be strategically.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jeff S on February 17, 2012 at 10:07am

Depends, most jobs yes but if you have a buddy sometimes strings can be pulled to bring you in under an internship program and slot in place permanently.

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