Federal Resume USA® – Tips for Writing a Federal Resume 

Top Federal Resume Tips – Writing Your Federal Resume

Pro Tips: Federal Resume Writing

What should I include in my federal resume?

Whether you are a current federal employee or new to the Federal Government, your resume is the primary way for you to communicate your education, skills and experience. Our professional federal resume writing services and certified federal resume writers know exactly what to include in your federal resume to help you make the cert list and get referred for an interview by highlighting your knowledge, skills, experience and accomplishments so the agency has a reason to make you a top candidate and a federal job offer. 

Customize your federal resume

You should tailor your federal resume to each specific USAjobs® vacancy announcement rather than sending out the same federal resume for every job. Customizing your federal resume helps you match your competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities and experience to the requirements for each job. We emphasize your strengths and include everything you have done that relates to the job you are seeking in your federal resume. 

Federal jobs require that you have experience in a particular type of work for a certain period of time and that your federal resume demonstrate your Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs), or Competencies which are the attributes required to perform a job and are generally demonstrated through qualifying experience, education, or training. Knowledge is a body of information applied directly to the performance of a function. Skill is an observable competence to perform a learned psychomotor act. Ability is competence to perform an observable behavior or a behavior that results in an observable product. Our federal resume writers customize each federal resume to show hiring managers and Federal HR specialists how your skills and experiences meet the qualifications and requirements listed in the job announcement to be considered “best qualified” for the job and referred for an interview. A good federal resume should clearly outline your key work and volunteer experiences and academic accomplishments. It should also highlight the unique skills that set you apart and make you uniquely qualified for the position. Relevant extra-curricular activities should also be included.

Federal Resume USA® – Tips for Writing a Federal Resume – Don’t limit yourself to only including paid work experience. Our federal resume writers ensure you include relevant volunteer work or community organizations roles that demonstrate your ability to do the job. One size never fits all.  As you apply for federal jobs on USAJOBS®, we custom tailor your federal resume to the position’s requirements. We study the job opportunity announcement and emphasize the parts of your work history that match the qualification requirements listed there. It is important to portray your knowledge and skills as a match to the requirements of the position and demonstrate the ability to do the job. This is easily done when we include your results, achievements and accomplishments in your federal resume. We minimize the use of technical jargon or specialized terminology (e.g., military abbreviations) in your federal resume. Customizing your federal resume helps match your competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities and experience to the requirements for each job. We emphasize your strengths and include everything you’ve done that relates to the job you’re seeking; and leave out experience that isn’t relevant.

Our federal resume writers effectively custom-tailor each federal resume to fit any USAJOBS® occupational series, grade or pay level, and pay plan. Hiring managers, Federal HR specialists and OPM agree, when applying for a federal job, your federal resume should be customized to fit the job announcement rather than sending out the same resume for every job.

Writing a Federal Resume – Federal Resume USA® 

Our federal resume writers create federal resumes that bring your qualifications to life and show that you are a perfect fit for the job. One size never fits all. As you apply for jobs, we tailor your federal resume to the job’s requirements. If you have multiple skills, it is advantageous to create more than one federal resume on USAJobs.gov. Our federal resumes properly show how your competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, training and education match the federal agency’s needs, and the qualifications in the job announcement (JOA). Our editors know exactly what should be included in a federal resume to be referred, interviewed, and hired faster. Our federal resumes effectively highlight your accomplishments and display your competitive skills, which demonstrates to the federal hiring official(s) your value and ultimately determines your pay level.

We ensure your federal resume, even for an entry-level job on USAJobs®, is tailored and more detailed to showcase your skills and your previous responsibilities and accomplishments. Our federal resume writers know what should be included in your federal resume. Your experience needs to address every required qualification in the job announcement. Hiring agencies will look for specific terms in your resume to make sure you have the experience they’re seeking.

For example, if the qualifications section says you need experience with “SharePoint” you need to use the words ”SharePoint” in your federal resume.

Best Federal Resume Format – Why Not to Use USAjobs “Cookie-Cutter” Federal Resume Template – USAjobs Federal Resume Builder 

Hiring agencies are more interested in the content of your federal resume than the length of it. You do not have to limit your federal resume to one or two pages. Our customized federal resumes for USAJOBS show the hiring agency you are the person they need!

Resumes are generally presented in one of three formats: chronological, functional or a combination of both. Which format to choose will depend, in part, on the type of work you have performed and whether or not you are going to continue in the same field.

• Chronological resumes list work experience according to date, with the current job appearing first. Chronological resumes work well if your career has been progressive and you plan to continue in the same line of work.
• Functional resumes are organized by the skills you have used on the job. Functional resumes work well if you are contemplating a new career, do not have a lengthy work history, or have held a number of different positions because they sell your abilities based on the skills you have acquired throughout your career. Be sure to include relevant volunteer experience.
• Combination resumes both describe your work experience and highlight your skills. Combination resumes usually provide the most comprehensive overview of your career.

Unlike resumes used in the private sector, federal resumes require additional information. For each past job, give the standard information found in most resumes. Your federal resume should include the following:

• Job announcement number, job title, and job grade of the job for which you are applying
• Your full name, mailing address, day and evening phone numbers and home e-mail.
• Country of citizenship, if different from U.S.
• Special Hiring Authorities
  1. Veterans – Ensure that you attach or upload supporting documentation (e.g., DD214 or Statement of Service if still on Active Duty; SF-15, Application for 10-point preference; and Disability Rating Letter of 30% or more from the VA, if applicable). 
  2. Peace Corps / AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteers – If you are a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, you will need to provide your Description of Service (DOS) to claim non-competitive eligibility for federal jobs. AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers need to provide a copy of yours Service Letter to apply for non-competitive positions. 
  3. Persons with Disabilities (Schedule A) – To verify eligibility for employment under the Schedule A hiring authority, you must provide proof of disability issued by a licensed medical professions, a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist, or any federal agency, state agency, or an agency of the District of Columbia, or U.S. territory that issues or provides disability benefits. Contact the Department’s Selective Placement Coordinators for help with hiring and accommodation requests.
• Education – Include: college name, city, state, zip code, majors, type and year of degrees held or number of semester hours completed, and high school name, city, state, zip code, and date of your diploma or GED, if requested.
  • Veterans – Keep in mind that your military training may count towards qualifications. Use your Verification of Military Experience and Training (VMET) document (DD Form 2586) to document your training and education.
• Work experience – When writing your federal resume, we include all relevant experience. NOTE: Federal resumes do NOT have page limitations (unless specified in a job announcement) and are typically longer than average, so we do not cut out important details to try to fit your resume to one to two pages. A good federal resume should clearly outline your key work, volunteer experiences, academic accomplishments as well as extra-curricular activities. It should also highlight the unique skills that set you apart and make you uniquely qualified for the position. We study the job opportunity announcement and emphasize the parts of your work history that match the qualifications listed there. Remember, human resources specialists might not be familiar with your career field. To help them understand how your experience matches what is required for the vacant position, we make sure to describe your experience in laymen’s terms. Most importantly, we describe your job duties and accomplishments in a way that demonstrates how you are qualified.

Federal Resume Tip: When submitting your federal resume, USAjobs strongly encourages that you convert your resume to an Adobe PDF file prior to submitting your application, especially if you are submitting using a Mac system. Resumes not pre-converted to a PDF file will undergo conversion by the system. This conversion process may cause some formatting changes to your resume, including line and page break errors. To ensure your submitted resume does not display with formatting issues, we encourage you to please submit your resume as a PDF. This error does not affect USAjobs resumes.

Our editors review the job announcements carefully for key words – use verbs and adjectives (e.g., managed, implemented, created) that match key words identified in the job announcement – eliminate military lingo (use words such as personnel instead of squad or platoon) – include your accomplishments – and focus on the mission of the agency and translate your experiences. Each custom-tailored federal resume clearly outlines your key work, volunteer experiences, academic accomplishments as well as extra-curricular activities; and each federal resume highlights your unique skills that set you apart and make you uniquely qualified for the federal government job.

Federal Resume USA® – USAJOBS Resume Builder and Upload

Our federal resumes are custom-tailored for Federal HR Specialists and Hiring Managers to see your main credentials within seconds and match your competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities, accomplishments and experience to the required qualifications and responsibilities for your federal job – helping more people secure federal job interviews and land federal jobs faster. Our Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved Outline Format Federal Resume for USAJOBS – Builder and Upload connect more federal job seekers with federal employment across the United States and around the world.

The Federal Government does not have a standard job application –

Your federal resume is your application – each federal resume for USAJOBS® – Builder and Upload, we create is Office of Personnel Management (OPM) compliant, complies with federal personnel regulations in Title 5 of the United States Code and incorporates essential job series specific buzzwords and keywords HR specialists and hiring managers look for in a “best qualified” federal job applicant.

Tips for Writing a Federal Resume – Creating a customized federal resume to get hired faster!

Your federal resume is the primary way for you to communicate your education, skills and experience. Federal resumes should be customized and show how your skills and experiences meet the qualifications and requirements listed in the job announcement to rank best qualified, and be referred for an interview over your competition. Our custom-tailored federal resumes properly highlight your accomplishments and match your competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities and experience to the requirements for each job.  As senior federal government officials, our editors know what specific terms hiring agencies and human resources specialists look for in a federal resume to make sure you have the experience they’re seeking.

Our federal resumes concisely provide greater detail for your experience that is relevant to the job for which you are applying, and show all experiences and accomplishments under the job in which you earned it. This helps federal agencies quickly determine the amount of experience you have with that particular skill to rank you above other job applicants who simply cut and paste generic job duties and descriptions. These items enable your resume to rise above the rest, particularly when they correspond to the job qualifications. Click on the following link for more information on what to include in your federal resume.

Let our certified federal resume writers help you secure a “Recession Proof” Federal government job on USAJOBS® TODAY!

• ALL FEDERAL RESUME WRITING SERVICES COME WITH FREE FEDERAL RESUME UPDATING AND REVISING FOR LIFE!
• New Free Lifetime KSA and Occupational Questionnaire Creation included with every federal resume order! (Never write another USAJOBS® KSA or Questionnaire narrative again!) An invaluable time and cost saving service if you plan to apply to multiple federal jobs on USAJOBS®. Limited Time Offer