Federal job--does resume have to include *every* job
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Anonymous
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My spouse reminded me of a job I nearly forgot about.
After the place hired me for a social media position, they received a grant for software development. They then decided I need to manage software development for an important tool they were launching. In their mind, the "digital" aspect of social media was no different than "digital software." Needless to say, I did not have software development experience and resigned with notice so they could hire someone with the right skills. I found it really strange that they seemed surprised I would resign. In my mind, my leaving would give them the budget to hire the right person. I wouldn't explain all that in an interview, would I? The organization no longer exists. So do I need to include this job on my resume? |
Anonymous
| Resume. No. Background check yes. |
Anonymous
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I have been in the workforce almost continuously for 35 years.
I list the last 10 years of employment, plus any jobs that are directly relevant to the job I am applying for. Yes, my resume is 1.5 pages, that exceeds the recommended 1 page. But I have been told by most of the people that have called me for an interview that I have an impressive resume and in discussion they appreciate all of the relevant experience that my resume shows. I make each job as succinct as possible so only a short paragraph (2-4 lines) per job. And I highlight the aspects that make that job and experience applicable to the job. Yes, it means I sometimes tailor a resume to the particular job that I am applying for. If there are aspects that might take longer to recount than the short blurb, then I add info in the cover letter. |
Anonymous
This. Depending on the position, if you need a security clearance and the job was within a certain timeframe (I think 10 years?) you would need to list it on a background check. |
Anonymous
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Thank you, all!
OP |
Anonymous
| For federal job apps, you want to have every job on your resume because they use the resume you submitted when you applied to calculate your years of experience and that can affect the pay you are offered. |
Anonymous
| The main goal on a federal resume is to make a cert list. The more experience you put on there, the greater the chance of making a cert. Unless otherwise stated in the job posting, I would put everything. I don't see how anyone could cert for anything above a 12(and that's stretching it) with only 1-1.5 pages. |
Anonymous
| I'm a grade 12 now and have made a 13 cert list before. My resume is five and half pages. |
Anonymous
While I don’t think this is bad advice in general, this advice will not get you a federal position. You need to thoroughly describe your relevant job experience so that it aligns to the position description. I am 17 years in the government (23 overall) and my resume is 5 pages. Most recent two positions are two pages total, shortest relevant position is 4 bullet points. OP - the resume, no; background check yes answer is correct. An exception is an agency that uses years of relevant experience to determine your pay (see: FDIC). |
Anonymous
| As a hiring manager for an opening we had in my office, I’ve seen a 30 page resume; no kidding. |
Anonymous
There’s such a variety of answers. Some managers say they don’t need it to be long while others say many pages are necessary. Could you help me understand this better? If the job post says you need one year at the GS-X level, do you need to show more than 10 years of work experience? As an outsider, I’m trying to understand this and would appreciate your thoughts. OP |
Anonymous
Did you consider that a favorable thing? |
Anonymous
| I’ve made 14 and possibly a 15 cert with a 1 page resume cut down to last 2 jobs |
Anonymous
OP - this depends on the agency and how the position is reviewed. Assuming this is not an excepted position, if the agency designates a SME to review applicants, that SME will see all applicants from every pool/roster allowed (by that, I mean that if a vet applies to the position, and answers the questions on the posting satisfactorily, their application will block all external candidate resumes from going to the SME). At that point, both the SME and the HR rep do the following: compare the answers to the screening questions to the resume ensure that experience is accurately reflected in the resume and ensure the specialized statement experience is reflected in the resume. Both the screening questions and specialized experience are matched up to actual duties, skilled and experience that are listed in the underlying position description. The specialized experience is the question that states you have one or more years experience working at X level, which is defined as Y. It is probably the most important question, and if you want to get the job, make sure that experience, including any specialized terms used, are reflected and easily identifiable in your resume. If there are discrepancies between the HR Rep and the SME over qualifying a candidate, they will work that out at the end of the review. After that, HR will turn over the roster of candidates to the hiring committee, who will decide who to interview. Note: I see people state on here that they lie on the screening questions. I see this all the time myself. If you read the above, you will realize this does not benefit you. Your resume will not magically end up with the hiring official or committee by lying about your experience in those questions (unless you lie in your resume as well). If you think the questions are too specific, please note that they are designed in that manner because we know we can get the candidates we actually want. I have seen candidates qualify based on specialized experience that is not reflected in their most recent position because they did not use the descriptor for that position. However, the hiring committee can use any qualifications they deem appropriate when deciding who to actually interview. So while it is easier to check the box and make the cert, please make sure the resume reflects recent experience listed in the posting. Also know that we are very, very used to people lying on their resumes to make the cert. We design interview questions to test that knowledge and weed out untruthful candidates. If you can reflect all this experience in a single job that was held for more than 1 year, that is really all you need to make cert. But in reality, the hiring committee will want to see more relevant experience over the course of many years in order to offer you an interview. Also that past experience helps when negotiating steps or salary (depending on the agency). So my recommendation is to list all relevant jobs, and just keep the descriptions of the oldest jobs very short. SMEs are allowed to review positions graded 11 or above. If the hiring official elects not to designate a SME or the position is below an 11, HR will do the same process outlined above without the SME. I see a lot of people mention scoring for candidates based on the screening questions. Each of those questions has points assigned to them and the total point will determine who is qualified, and those come into play when determining what rosters an HR official or SME will review. If a vet scores high enough and makes the cert list, that is when the outside candidate rosters are blocked. It is basically impossible to disqualify a vet at that point, so if that happens, please note there was really nothing you could do to make the cert list. |
Anonymous
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PP
Your detailed answer is very helpful. Thank you so much! I tend to be too humble. I may downplay some accomplishments because I am not sure people would believe some of them. It’s the work of which I am most proud! I’ve collected photographic evidence and screenshots in case I’m ever questioned, but I don’t have that for everything. |