Federal Resume Building
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FederalResumeSampleSlides.pptxFederal Resume Sample
Mary Doe
Any Street Any Town, 11111 USA
(H) 111-111-1111
(W) 222-222-2222
SSN: 6789
Citizenship: United States of America
Veterans Preference: 5-Point (DD 214 attached)
Federal Status: Program Analyst, GS-343(Series)-12(Grade)
Objective: Ann#12345-SS, Program Manager, GS-301-13
Summary of Experience
This should be a concise and concrete statement of work experience. Use of words like,
� “Over 11 years experience as a . . .” are OK, however, you want to watch how you “date” yourself. If you only have two years of experience, you may not want to bring this out in this summary. On the other hand, saying you have 35 years of federal experience can be just as ineffective. This summary should be about 6 to 8 lines and bulleted to quickly show what you want them to know about you up front. Use this as your “brag” time.
These items are
REQUIRED. Veteran’s Preference is either “None,” or 5-Point or
10-Point. Federal Status, give your official job title, followed by your series
and GS number.
What is a Federal Resume?
The Federal Resume is accepted as an official application for position vacancies within the Federal government.
Read the job vacancy announcement VERY carefully. Some agencies have their own requirements for presenting your experience. If a Federal resume is permitted, please read the format for constructing it as explained in this document. Federal resumes should be developed in the “Chronological” resume format. The Federal staffing specialist who reviews the resume for initial qualifications must know where, when and how long you were at the position mentioned, along with a lot of other information. The Functional resume format will not work for a Federal resume.
What Information Must Be Included?
The Federal Resume must include additional information that is not typically requested in the private sector and if you don’t supply this information, your application could be rejected. Required information is as follows:
Job Information (Announcement number, title, series and grade of job for which applying)
Personal Information (Full name, mailing address w/ zip code, day and evening phone numbers w/ area code, social security #, country of citizenship, veteran’s preference, reinstatement eligibility, highest Federal civilian grade held)
Education (High school: name, city, and state, date of diploma or GED, Colleges or universities: name, city and state, majors, type and year of any degrees received)
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Professional Accomplishments
Department of Transportation, Washington, DC 8/99-Present
Office of the Director 40 Hours per Week
123 Streets, Any Street Starting Salary $98,000
Any town, Any State 12345 Ending Salary $99,000
Supervisor: John Doe, Phone 333-333-333
May be contacted
If you do not want the person contacted, say “Do not contact.” Give explanation in Cover Letter as to why.
Staff Assistant, GS-Series-Grade
Summarize the job here. This is optional. If the hiring office knows about this kind of work, maybe you don’t need this. If they do not know about this work, this is the place to tell them, in a few concise sentences.
Bullets should tell job duties in terms of what happened in your work or accomplishment statements. This is where your results from the work you have done in this position make you different from the other applicants. Each bullet should be somewhere between 4 to 6 lines.
Starting and Ending Dates – Month and Year
Optional; however very effective
Bullets need to focus on outcomes
Work Experience (Job title, duties and accomplishments, employer’s name and address, supervisor’s name and phone number, starting and ending dates, hours per week, salary, indicate whether we may contact your current supervisor)
Other Qualifications (Job-related training courses, skills, certificates and licenses, honors, awards and special accomplishments; for example, publications, memberships in professional or honor societies, leadership activities, public speaking and performance awards)
More Specific or General?
The purpose of the resume in the private sector is to get an interview and is more general in nature. In the Federal government, the purpose of the resume is to “show” your qualifications so that you can be “certified” by the Human Resources office, by meeting eligibility requirements. This means that your resume needs to include more specifics and similar language as the vacancy announcement because the Human Resources Specialist is looking to see if you have the “specialized” or directly related experience requirements of the position for which you are applying.
How Far Back Should I Go?
It is suggested that you develop a resume that covers about ten years, with lots of stories about what you did and how well you did it, or accomplishments. Focus on the position for which you are applying, in a way that best reflects your competencies for the position.
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In some of the bullets, you can speak of your results in terms of “percentages”, “time”, or dollars. “. . . as a result, the budget came in under 9% of the projection.” “. . . the report was submitted 70 days before it was due." “My work in monitoring expenses for the program resulted in a savings of over $29 billion.
The position(s) you have held for the last five years typically should have more bullets (approximately 4 to 8 bullets), since this is the position that best relates to the position for which you are applying. The position you had five or more years ago typically does not add as much value to your resume, so reduce the number of bullets for this position to maybe two bullets, unless your previous experience is the only experience from which you are taking job-related experience.
Bold only first line of organization and dates so they stand out.
Department of Transportation, Washington, DC 5/95-8/99
Office of the Director 40 Hours per Week
123 Streets, Any Street Starting Salary $97,000
Any town, Any State 12345 Ending Salary $98,000
Supervisor: John Doe, Phone 333-333-333
May be contacted
Program Manager, GS-Series-Grade
Use a text box to summarize what you did in the position. Indent it so it stands out.
Same ideas about bullets as noted above
How Long Should My Resume Be?
The resume that goes into the application package should be no more than three to five pages; ensure that you tailor your resume to include your knowledge, skills and abilities as they relate to the job and any other announcement-specific information, such as performance ratings. There are exceptions to this, of course, but use three pages as a guideline. If you do not have the work experiences for three pages, then your resume may only be one or two pages long.
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Education
Masters of Science in Wagon Wheels, University of Anywhere
City, State Anywhere, Zip Code, 19XX
Bachelors of Arts, Wheel Design, College of Anywhere
City, State Anywhere, Zip Code, 19XX
Diploma, Any High School, City Anywhere, State Anywhere, Zip Code, 19XX
Indent so the degree stands out.
Don’t mix “Training with Education.
Name, City, State, zip code (if known) and date of diploma are required
High School Info Required
Training
2001 English Composition
University of Maryland Graduate School, 3cr
2000 Computer Keyboard
USDA Graduate School, 40 hrs over five days
1999 Conflict Management
Price George’s County Adult Education Program, 1 hr
1998 Brain Surgery
John Hopkins Medical School, First year medical student (part time)
1997 Basic Supervision
DOT Connection, 40 hrs for First Time Supervisors
Only required information is title and year; however adding name of school and hours completed could work to your advantage.
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Awards
5/99—Received $25,000 cash bonus for developing a new concept in traffic management of camels
10/98—Recognized for outstanding work in developing a new phone system for the office. Certificate presented by the President of the United States
Certifications
1/99—Business Coach Certification awarded by the National Association of Business Coaches, Anywhere, NN. Certified to conduct coaching sessions and to train others in the techniques of coaching.
3/99—Wagon Bander. Certified to install steel bands on wagon wheels. Awarded by the International Association of Wheels.
Publications
Doe, Mary. (19XX). How To Put Sails on Covered Wagons. New York: Any Publisher.
Presentations
“Will Oxen Remain the Prime Mover of Ox Carts.” Presented to the National Association of Cow Dealers, Any Town, USA, March 19XX.
List all of your awards, starting with the most recent and working backwards.
To be “certified” usually means you did something special to get it.. Classroom attendance and the like do not count.
Current
Only
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