I recently transferred federal jobs two years ago and am going through the interview stage now for a job I applied for in June. When I was originally hired it took 3 months, then 5 months, and I expect this current one to take around 6 months.

For those who recently got hired, did you go through the interview? How long does it take from being sent to the selecting official till actually get the job offer? They will call you or email you for the interview?

Anonymous wrote:If you weren't hired recently, don't respond. It doesn't help anyone -now- to know how you were hired 5-10+ years ago.

It's still the same, USA Jobs (granted some agencies had their own online jobsite back in the day), recent graduates, PMFs. The difference is now there is a lot of competition and a lot of that is from Veterans who have preferance, not to mention jobs receiving thousands of applications.

I got my Fed job through USA Jobs, tailoring my resume using advice from DCUM. What I did was to take the posting and the list of questions, and re-word my resume so that it extensively quoted the posting & questions. So instead of saying "Tracked new developments in U.S.-Africa relations," I used "Tracked U.S. national security and foreign policies related to Africa," quoting the language that USA Jobs had already given me. I did this for all the materials (posting & questions) on USA Jobs, to the point that my resume was about 75% quotes, and I'd reproduced nearly all of the material from the posting. That got my resume to he hiring official's desk, and then the rest was on me to show the skills I had.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do things work differently in the defense/intelligence as opposed to the civil world?

I applied for a few dozen defense/intelligence positions and got zero response other than automated rejections (and even then only 15% of the time).

The standard advice to tailor my resume for each and every single position might work in theory, but ...

I can get a 10-20% response rate from crafting a cover letter + a standard resume to private industry positions. Maybe 10-20 minutes per job posting.

Why should I spend 2+ hours per fed position crafting a resume and answering the litany of essay questions (or are those actually gone away now?)

The essay questions are gone now. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll ever make it past the initial culling process if you don't re-tailor your resume for each posting you go for. If you don't want to re-tailor, don't bother applying at all. It's a choice you can make.

The essays are not all gone. They may not be called essays, but there are often numerous questions about skills and abilities that allow up to 8,000 characters.

Anonymous wrote:Do things work differently in the defense/intelligence as opposed to the civil world?

I applied for a few dozen defense/intelligence positions and got zero response other than automated rejections (and even then only 15% of the time).

The standard advice to tailor my resume for each and every single position might work in theory, but ...

I can get a 10-20% response rate from crafting a cover letter + a standard resume to private industry positions. Maybe 10-20 minutes per job posting.

Why should I spend 2+ hours per fed position crafting a resume and answering the litany of essay questions (or are those actually gone away now?)

The essay questions are gone now. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll ever make it past the initial culling process if you don't re-tailor your resume for each posting you go for. If you don't want to re-tailor, don't bother applying at all. It's a choice you can make.

USAJOBS.gov

I did not know anyone. I have two MSc degrees and lots of experience.

If you weren't hired recently, don't respond. It doesn't help anyone -now- to know how you were hired 5-10+ years ago.

Patronage, just like everyone else.

Anonymous wrote:Questions:

Do you have to have more than a bachelors degree to get a fed job?

Is a 'fed' job just in DC or in any state?

What are some entry level fed jobs?

Many of my coworkers only have AAs or GEDs, but they're older. No one gets hired now without a bachelors.

There are federal jobs everywhere, but the majority would be in DC.

I don't know of any entry level jobs. We just don't hire entry level any more. Normally we're looking for 5-10 years of experience in everything, even secretarial and the pay isn't great. Our new secretary came in at a GS 5...

Dual fed family here. I was hired in an honors program out of college and my DH was heavily recruited through a job fair.

Questions:

Do you have to have more than a bachelors degree to get a fed job?

Is a 'fed' job just in DC or in any state?

What are some entry level fed jobs?

I was an intern during grad school and was fortunate that my agency was hiring when I graduated.

Do things work differently in the defense/intelligence as opposed to the civil world?

I applied for a few dozen defense/intelligence positions and got zero response other than automated rejections (and even then only 15% of the time).

The standard advice to tailor my resume for each and every single position might work in theory, but ...

I can get a 10-20% response rate from crafting a cover letter + a standard resume to private industry positions. Maybe 10-20 minutes per job posting.

Why should I spend 2+ hours per fed position crafting a resume and answering the litany of essay questions (or are those actually gone away now?)

Two positions through USAJobs. Didn't know anyone at either agency.