Am i wasting my time applying for jobs on USAJOBS.gov?

[Anonymous]

What does no certificate issued even mean....does it mean the job went away? Does it mean no one was qualified?

[Anonymous]

OP what GS level are you aiming for?
I was never in military or peace corps, but I was a contractor for a little while and was able to get my foot in the door as a GS-7. 2.5 years later I’ve been promoted twice, now an 11 in 9-13 ladder position. There’s a lot of focus on my agency in the last couple of years and the workload has been crushing at times, but that has translated into opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP what GS level are you aiming for?
I was never in military or peace corps, but I was a contractor for a little while and was able to get my foot in the door as a GS-7. 2.5 years later I’ve been promoted twice, now an 11 in 9-13 ladder position. There’s a lot of focus on my agency in the last couple of years and the workload has been crushing at times, but that has translated into opportunities.

I mean 9-12.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been applying for jobs on USA jobs for YEARS AND YEARS, with only one interview. I’ve even applied for entry level well below my qualifications and I don’t even make it through the initial resume review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apply to jobs that say "many vacancies", say you're an expert in everything on the skills survey, use words from the announcement in your resume.

Yes, say you're an expert in everything, but you HAVE to show proof of your expertise on your federal resume. If the HR specialist doesn't see the match between your resume and how you answered the questionnaire, your resume isn't going any further.

A computer does the initial run through. There is no way a real person is going through each resume. I’ve been turned down for jobs that I was an expert in every category and showed it in my resume and didn’t make it through stage one, for years now.

[Anonymous]

We get our new hires via USAJOBs so you are not wasting your time but, i have to say, it is very very difficult. Be patient, don't give up and keep trying. Take each application seriously and address what they asked for.

[Anonymous]

It takes more applications to get call backs than for private sector jobs, but I got two federal jobs as a non-status applicant through usajobs.

[Anonymous]

For non-excepted jobs, it is 99.99% waste of time unless you have veterans' preference or, in many cases, disabled veterans' status. It's a total racket.

[Anonymous]

It is not a waste of time. I have been conducting interviews to fill a position all this week. Every person applied through USA Jobs and no one has any connection to our office.

I will emphasize a couple of things others have said: 1/3 of the people who qualified applied for the position did not have the minimum qualifications listed in the vacancy announcement; several candidates were clearly overqualified for the position; several candidates either failed to submit required documents (cover-letter, writing sample, etc.); some provided writing samples that were so short and dealt with matters so basic that it didn’t showcase their writing; and multiple people submitted cover letters that were for other jobs. The people who made it to the first round of interviews clearly adjusted their resumes to highlight their relevant experience without simply parroting language from the vacancy announcement.

It is difficult to get into the federal government if you have to compete with people who have veterans’ preference, but it is not impossible. If you are not tailoring your application packages to the specific vacancy announcement, however, it is a waste of your time because at least 1/3 of the applicants will have tailored their application packages.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t an over qualified person atleast Be interviewed. I’ve resorted to apply for anything I qualify for, even entry level so I can just get into the government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t an over qualified person atleast Be interviewed. I’ve resorted to apply for anything I qualify for, even entry level so I can just get into the government.

Because if you are not a government employee and a vet applies, we are only allowed to review the resumes for vets. I was a SME for several positions and I literally could not see other outside applications if vets were on the roster, unless I was able to disqualify them. Only once was I able to disqualify the vets and see other outside applicants. So you can be ridiculously overqualified and it won’t matter if there are semi-qualified vets on the roster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t an over qualified person atleast Be interviewed. I’ve resorted to apply for anything I qualify for, even entry level so I can just get into the government.

Because if you are not a government employee and a vet applies, we are only allowed to review the resumes for vets. I was a SME for several positions and I literally could not see other outside applications if vets were on the roster, unless I was able to disqualify them. Only once was I able to disqualify the vets and see other outside applicants. So you can be ridiculously overqualified and it won’t matter if there are semi-qualified vets on the roster.

I am the poor PP and want to add that when we did get past the vets on one roster, all our interviews were outside applicants. We hired an outside applicant off that roster and that was the best hire I had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t an over qualified person atleast Be interviewed. I’ve resorted to apply for anything I qualify for, even entry level so I can just get into the government.

Because an overqualified person is likely to be unhappy in a position below their skills, is likely to leave, and we have to go through the entire process again.

[Anonymous]

Club Fed is pretty hard to get into unless you’ve got veteran status, are an extreme specialist like an attorney in some niche area, or just out of college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a waste of time, but it is pretty much the only way to apply for government jobs. Why do you want a gov job? This area has lots of other better paying, interesting jobs.

But right now, the security of these jobs is quite priceless.