How did you get your Gov Job

[Anonymous]

Why can I NOT get a job at the government? I'm an ex-Big Law attorney who tried to get a job with various agencies for the past 6 years. What am I doing wrong? Any tips?

[Anonymous]

While I'm not a lawyer I can tell you what I did. 10+ years private sector in marketing and project management. When you are responding to a job the first thing the computer does is see how many key words that are picked up by your resume and the job description. I've been told the first descriptive paragraph is where these words are keyed from. After that, the hiring manger reads the resumes that are forwarded on and reviews the KSA's to make a list of applicants to interview. Do not lie about your experience, but make sure you are using the same phrases that the government agency uses. Also, it helps to have STAR approach for the KSA's. Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I'm not a lawyer I can tell you what I did. 10+ years private sector in marketing and project management. When you are responding to a job the first thing the computer does is see how many key words that are picked up by your resume and the job description. I've been told the first descriptive paragraph is where these words are keyed from. After that, the hiring manger reads the resumes that are forwarded on and reviews the KSA's to make a list of applicants to interview. Do not lie about your experience, but make sure you are using the same phrases that the government agency uses. Also, it helps to have STAR approach for the KSA's. Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Good luck.

THANK YOU!

[Anonymous]

This is all true but only applies to jobs that are NOT in the Excepted Service. Most attorney jobs are in the Excepted Service. That said, I suggest resume be organized by skill and not by matters that you have worked on (if it is not that way already). I also recommend reading books (I think that the author I liked was Katherine or KathleenTausend or something similar) about how to apply for fed. gov. jobs. There is a lot of luck and connections involved too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all true but only applies to jobs that are NOT in the Excepted Service. Most attorney jobs are in the Excepted Service. That said, I suggest resume be organized by skill and not by matters that you have worked on (if it is not that way already). I also recommend reading books (I think that the author I liked was Katherine or KathleenTausend or something similar) about how to apply for fed. gov. jobs. There is a lot of luck and connections involved too.

This. Also, the feds are overwhelmed by apps for attorney jobs because so many people have gotten laid off in biglaw.

[Anonymous]

Attorney here. I switched from private practice to gov't 10 yrs ago. No connections or inside track, just spent 6 months applying to various agencies. I guess I just got lucky, and the job market was very different for lawyers in 1999 than it is now.

[Anonymous]

Got hold of a list of all the Employment Law Division Branch Chiefs in the General Counsels Offices of the major agencies. Sent cover letters and resumes directly to them instead of to the HR departments. I interviewed for positions that were never advertised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can I NOT get a job at the government? I'm an ex-Big Law attorney who tried to get a job with various agencies for the past 6 years. What am I doing wrong? Any tips?

Don't write like Big-Law. I'm not being snarky. The G works totally different and you have to get through HR before you get to the actually offices that are going to hire you (as someone who has been on countless interviewing pannels and teams). The way you tend to write a resume and answer the KSAs as a "big law" lawyer - is probably not going to get through the Avue Computer.

And I second a prior poster - you need to answer using the words from the prior poster (think college essay) - use the words from the question. If the question is:

Do you like to eat fruit?

The answer is:

Yes I like to eat fuit. I like fruit because fruit is good. Fruit is good because A. Fruit is good becuase B. Fruit is good because C.

Then get into the meat of the question - it's almost if you have to be two people - "the beat the computer" person and the "responding to the person you want to hire you" person.

[Anonymous]

Another convert from BigLaw to gub'ment. The PP's are all correct. What you need is lots of patience. The feds move like molasses in January.

[Anonymous]

Do you think the process will change any after Nov. with the initiative to make fed hiring more like private hiring (no more essays, etc)? Just curious. I have a good fed job that I like, but am hoping to find something closer to my house.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, if you can hold off, why not wait until Nov., when the KSAs and rigamrole get eliminated (at least at the first step?)

There is lots of the "you start working for us after college at 23 and work for us for 35-40 years" culture still around in the civil service, so it's harder to break into the middle ranks.

[Anonymous]

"There is a lot of luck and connections involved too. "

And politics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think the process will change any after Nov. with the initiative to make fed hiring more like private hiring (no more essays, etc)? Just curious. I have a good fed job that I like, but am hoping to find something closer to my house.

Not really -- most federal agencies are anticipating operating on continuing resolution through spring of next year, which means budget shortfalls and hiring freezes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think the process will change any after Nov. with the initiative to make fed hiring more like private hiring (no more essays, etc)? Just curious. I have a good fed job that I like, but am hoping to find something closer to my house.

Not really -- most federal agencies are anticipating operating on continuing resolution through spring of next year, which means budget shortfalls and hiring freezes.

But what about the hiring process itself. Will they phase out the stupid KSA's or will there be an abrut end. I can't stand those stupid things.

[Anonymous]

Fed atty (and former biglaw) here. I just kept applying. I didn't have any inside connections or contacts. Now that I'm inside and I occasionally do hiring and look at the candidate pools, I feel very lucky. Every time we have hired since I started in 2005 (and it was probably this way before), we are flooded with applications. We have many highly qualified candidates (on paper), mostly from the private sector.