I recently applied for a job I was very highly qualified for, and had inside connections.

There were 300+ applicants, 100 of whom apparently rated themselves as a 5/5 on every single qualification in the multiple choice questionnaire, basically saying they regularly supervised others doing tasks that were ridiculously diverse and very obscure. Even the hiring manager thought it was pretty unlikely such people existed in such quantities, especially considering it was a mid-level position. Of those, HR reviewers (who had little understanding of what would actually make a good candidate for the particular position) sent a handful of the 100 perfect scoring resumes to the agency. My resume didnt even make the 100 cut, since, while I was generous with the questionnaire, I didn't blatantly lie. So yeah, I think the process is a bit of a joke.

26 years of IT Experience; worked at Microsoft, EMC and Hewlett Packard. Could not get a GS07/09 or GS11. Yup, it's a Joke. Tried for 3+ years with various agencies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I applied for two attorney jobs with the same agency through USAJobs. Got an interview within two weeks for one and a job offer. Interview request two weeks later for the other, but had already accepted the job offer at that point. I am a woman, but no other special status.

Are you also white?

Yes, I am white.

Applying through USAjobs without internal networking is equivalent to applying to a F500 company online without networking; the application goes in a blackhole.

Everyone complains about USAjobs without recognizing the process is no different than applying to Apple online. You are competing with hundreds of other qualified candidates and maybe 2-5 applicants will get through without networking.

Just like the real world, a majority of jobs are filled via networks not through random online databases.

People like to blame the preferences when they don't make it, but it is really just luck if you don't network. I view it similar to applying to Harvard grad school; so many people applying it is just luck that you make it in because an admissions officer liked your app over a similarly qualified person.

Anonymous wrote:I applied for two attorney jobs with the same agency through USAJobs. Got an interview within two weeks for one and a job offer. Interview request two weeks later for the other, but had already accepted the job offer at that point. I am a woman, but no other special status.

Are you also white?

My husband and I were both hired for the first job each of us applied for on USAJobs, no connections. It happens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my friend was working at an agency for years and her boss created a new job specifically for her (she has very specialized skills) BUT then the boss had to give the job to a less-qualified vet. my friend just left after that - so heart breaking for her.

This is annoying to me. Up front, no, I'm not a vet. Yes, I believe accommodations should be made for veterans who have served our country. But I hate the "vet preference" that gives additional weight to their qualification scores. Those scores should be based on merit alone. If, after the scores are calculated, there is a vet on the list, I have no problem giving them the first interview/preference for the job, but they should make that list on their own merits first. Just my opinion, I'm sure someone will have a problem with it.

I complete agree with you. And I think if the vet were more qualified then my friend wouldn't have been so upset.

Take a close look at the jobs you're applying for and how the specialized experiance and questions are written. If these are very generic and look like any other Program Analyst position out there then you can assume that almost anyone who puts in an application will qualify (because the qualifications are written so generically that the random HR person will qualify them all) and assuming there are a few vets in this large group then you will not even get referred if you are not a vet.

If the write up is more specific to the position and you have those skills then your chances greatly increase. But you MUST pick the "best" answer to all the questions (in most cases this portion is purely automated) and you MUST make sure your resume demostrates experiance in the areas they list under specialezed experianced. Use those same words (not verbatim, but enough so a random HR specialist will see the connection).

Signed, an experianced federal hiring official who got her job via applying on USAJobs in 2009 (not a vet or eligible under any special hiring authority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh, this is interesting. I'm not a fed, but I did apply for one job for which I was very well qualified. I never heard from anyone, which surprised me a little, and they ended up hiring someone who I think was less qualified. I would have been much less surprised if they'd just hired someone internally, which is what I had thought they'd do. I found the questions really repetitive and not particularly relevant to the job, plus I had a lot of trouble with formatting the electronic resume and I suspect it ended up looking pretty crappy. I have a great private sector job, so I didn't care that much, but it's sort of the government's loss if this is driving away good candidates.

+1

+2

I am a Fed and I agree with you. I recently tried to apply to another Fed job and was surprised at this system.

I applied for two attorney jobs with the same agency through USAJobs. Got an interview within two weeks for one and a job offer. Interview request two weeks later for the other, but had already accepted the job offer at that point. I am a woman, but no other special status.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh, this is interesting. I'm not a fed, but I did apply for one job for which I was very well qualified. I never heard from anyone, which surprised me a little, and they ended up hiring someone who I think was less qualified. I would have been much less surprised if they'd just hired someone internally, which is what I had thought they'd do. I found the questions really repetitive and not particularly relevant to the job, plus I had a lot of trouble with formatting the electronic resume and I suspect it ended up looking pretty crappy. I have a great private sector job, so I didn't care that much, but it's sort of the government's loss if this is driving away good candidates.

+1

+2

Anonymous wrote:Huh, this is interesting. I'm not a fed, but I did apply for one job for which I was very well qualified. I never heard from anyone, which surprised me a little, and they ended up hiring someone who I think was less qualified. I would have been much less surprised if they'd just hired someone internally, which is what I had thought they'd do. I found the questions really repetitive and not particularly relevant to the job, plus I had a lot of trouble with formatting the electronic resume and I suspect it ended up looking pretty crappy. I have a great private sector job, so I didn't care that much, but it's sort of the government's loss if this is driving away good candidates.

+1

Huh, this is interesting. I'm not a fed, but I did apply for one job for which I was very well qualified. I never heard from anyone, which surprised me a little, and they ended up hiring someone who I think was less qualified. I would have been much less surprised if they'd just hired someone internally, which is what I had thought they'd do. I found the questions really repetitive and not particularly relevant to the job, plus I had a lot of trouble with formatting the electronic resume and I suspect it ended up looking pretty crappy. I have a great private sector job, so I didn't care that much, but it's sort of the government's loss if this is driving away good candidates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not a vet, and just got a job through USAJOBS. I am a lawyer, and got a DOJ job. I applied to ~25 jobs, and only got 2 interviews, and one job.

DOJ has direct hire authority for lawyers. It's not the same as other positions.

Gotcha.

Do other fed agencies have that authority?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not a vet, and just got a job through USAJOBS. I am a lawyer, and got a DOJ job. I applied to ~25 jobs, and only got 2 interviews, and one job.

DOJ has direct hire authority for lawyers. It's not the same as other positions.

Gotcha.