[Blind-Gov] Federal resume writing

Sat Oct 26 18:18:59 UTC 2024

Olivia and All,

Ronza beat me to it and then added much more. And all of what she shared is excellent! Follow each and every one of her suggestions.

Specific to this announcement, this position, anyway, is direct hire. That means, at least if you worked for my Federal department (Department of the Army), the questionnaire will be short, and anyone who self-certifies as qualified will have her or his resume passed along to the hiring manager. I am a very new supervisor and hiring manager, but I have already screened resumes for two different announcements, one of which was at this level. It’d be very important for you to fully explain your specialized experience and how you are qualified on each of the bullet points. If you’ve done this job before but for a private sector employer (or a state or local government), explain what you did, addressing each of the specialized experience bullet points. You may well be competing among dozens or more resumes, so a manager like me who sees how you’ve addressed each bullet of specialized experience will help you stand out.

Please let me know how I can help further, and I’d be happy to correspond more and get back with you tomorrow evening.

My best! It’d be great to have a well qualified professional with lived experience working 508 compliance for the Office of Personnel Management.

Nathanael Wales

From: Blind-Gov [mailto:blind-gov-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Othman (She/her), Ronza (CMS/OEOCR) via Blind-Gov
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2024 8:03 PM
To: List for blind government employees
Cc: Othman (She/her), Ronza (CMS/OEOCR)
Subject: Re: [Blind-Gov] Federal resume writing

Hi,

Let me add my thoughts as a hiring manager:

1.	Use the USAJobs builder if you can.  It gives you all the pieces you need in a Federal resume.  For example, you need to show salary for previous jobs, name of previous supervisors, way to contact them, if you give permission to contact them, dates of employment, number of hours per week, and so on.  It’s a cookie-cutter – use it.
2.	Federal resumes are supposed to be long – private sector resumes are supposed to be short.  Remember, you have to get past a computer that is looking for key words before you ever get your resume in front of a human.  That means, and hate to put it this way, but the more words, the better.  In a private sector resume, you have maybe three bullets for each previous job.  For Federal resumes, you should put the kitchen sink down – it isn’t unusual to have 15 or 20 different bullets.  Make sure they’re substantive and meaningful, and group like things in the same bullet.  If you did clerical work, don’t just say “provided clerical support” but instead say “provided clerical support including answering phones, responding to emails, scheduling appointments and meetings, greeting and checking in guests, organizing files…”
3.	Look at the vacancy announcement and include whatever key words there are in the duties and qualifications sections (as long as they’re true – don’t lie).  This might mean at first you’re tailoring your resume every single job to which you apply – you can save as many versions of your resume as you want on USAJobs.  For example, you might have one resume for clerical jobs, another for administrative assistant jobs, another for HR assistant jobs, and so on.  Eventually, you’ll get to a space where you know what specific type of job you’re seeking, and you might have fewer resumes.
4.	Don’t say “references available upon request.”  Actually provide a list of references – with accurate and up-to-date contact information.
5.	If the application says you need to upload supporting documents, upload those.  This is sometimes a transcript or a Schedule A letter or a veteran eligibility form or a previous performance evaluation.  One quick way to get kicked out of consideration is to forget or ignore those instructions.  No one’s going to call you and remind you or say “hey, you forgot X, so could you send it?”  You’re just disqualified.
6.	For the sake of everything holy, proofread and spell check your resume.  One quick way to not get an interview is to have typos.  Also, if you are blind, have someone look at it for visual appearance for you – they don’t think you’re blind if you have two different font styles or sizes, they just think you’re careless; and that means, you guessed it, no interview.
7.	You can use volunteer experience as employment experience – you list it all out like a paid job and put $0 in the salary box.  It does count toward both qualifications and length of time you did something that might be job relevant.
8.	In terms of the assessment questionnaire, they’re going to ask a bunch of questions.  If you don’t have experience doing a thing they’re asking about, and frankly if your questionnaire doesn’t say you’re an expert in doing it – then odds are you won’t get past the computer review of the application.

Hope this helps.

Ronza

Ronza M. Othman (she/her/hers), Director, EEO Compliance Group, Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – 7500 Security Blvd, N3-22-16, Baltimore, MD 21244 - 410-786-3274 (o); 443-380-5044 (f)

CMS aspires to create: a culture that values and recognizes our employees’ unique identities and perspectives; an environment that provides all employees with equitable access to opportunities for growth and development; and a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. 

From: Blind-Gov <blind-gov-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of CODY GREISER via Blind-Gov
Sent: Friday, October 25, 2024 7:31 PM
To: List for blind government employees <blind-gov at nfbnet.org>
Cc: CODY GREISER <CGREISER at msn.com>
Subject: Re: [Blind-Gov] Federal resume writing

Hello Olivia,

My name is Cody Greiser. I have been working as a Customer Service Representative with the IRS for the last ten years. You asked about resume writing ideas when applying to a public sector job. I have included some information below.

On my resume, I have: 

Contact information (first and last name, address, phone number, and email address), all listed from top to bottom.

Objective

To obtain a fulltime position with future advancement potential where my talents, skills and experience will add value to an organization 

Education

University I graduated from and GPA

Year of graduation and type of degree (such as B.S. Secondary Education)

Major or Majors: 

Professional Experience

List all your professional skills, i.e. customer service, communication, time management, familiarity with multicultural and diversity issues, public speaking, lesson planning and teaching, different kinds of technology you use (such as JAWS, outlook, and so on), etc. I would put these in a bulleted list, each skill with its own bullet next to it, with the list running vertically down the page, or you can put them in a table if you wish. Do not be afraid to use words like “excellent”, “proficient”, and so on, when describing your skills, such as “excellent customer service skills”.

Work Experience

List all your work experience from most recent to farthest back. Give the date you started the particular job, how long it lasted, and detail your duties and accomplishments in that position. For example, I have:

July 2014 – Present           - Internal Revenue Service                                                                         City, State

Contact Service Representative, 40 hours per week.

Answered taxpayer inquiries concerning their personal accounts, established payment plans, carried out payment transfers, input math error adjustments, refund traces, and advised taxpayers of procedural actions when required. Answered various tax law inquiries in areas of filing requirements, pensions and annuities, and basic tax law subjects. Also provided excellent customer service. I also work the Identity Theft Line handling inquiries on questionable accounts to verify true identity.

I am also familiar with various software applications, such as Windows 10, Acrobat Adobe, and Microsoft Edge. (I also listed several internal IRS software applications). I have also given feedback regarding internal references used in the performance of my job when these references needed to be corrected to match our organization’s procedures.

Honors, Awards, and Activities

List any awards, such as employee performance awards, scholarships, community service awards, etc. Again, I have these organized in a bulleted list running down the page. 

Below this I have my references section. It is usually recommended to have 3 references. 

This is how I have organized my resume. Feel free to use these examples as you will, or adjust your resume to best suit your needs. Of course, the main thing is to be certain your resume is professional looking, with correct spelling and grammar, professional formatting, etc. As a final note, on www.usajobs.gov, I believe they may have a limit on resumes, and I believe it is 3 pages. I hope this helps. Best wishes in getting the position.

Cody Greiser

From: Blind-Gov <blind-gov-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Olivia Norman via Blind-Gov
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2024 8:54 AM
To: Tara Chavez <tmatzick06 at gmail.com>
Cc: Olivia Norman <olivianorman at gmail.com>; List for blind government employees <blind-gov at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Blind-Gov] Federal resume writing

Thank you so much. Any health is appreciated!

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 24, 2024, at 11:27 AM, Tara Chavez <tmatzick06 at gmail.com> wrote:

Hey all,

Is anyone on this list good at translating a private sector resume to a federal resume? Any assistance is appreciated, my friend who is copied on this email is trying to apply for the job posting Kay posted here yesterday. The application period closes on Monday. My friend is concerned because she doesn’t speak government.

Thanks all,

Tara

Very Respectfully,

Tara Chavez, 

President , National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico (NFBNM)

Board member, National Association of Blind Government Employees (NABGE)

(505) 328-3349

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