Head Staff’s Guide to Federal Jobs Part2D Final Thoughts on Qualifications

Head Staff’s Guide to Federal Jobs

Part2D Final Thoughts on Qualifications

I was going to move onto evaluations- but a few last thoughts on qualifications.

If you are applying under a Direct Hire Authority- that’s it- if found qualified you will be referred to the selecting official.

Your resume serves two functions, first is to get you past HR , the next is to make the hiring official want to contact you.

For GS positions, the HR specialist MUST be able to find the magic one year of specialized experience at the appropriate lower grade. If you have a resume that does not give the dates (month to month is fine), place, title and duties of your experience, the HR office is going to be unable to determine your qualifications, unless they can use education substitution. So, include all of your transcripts- even if you went to 15 different community colleges. HR is not going to use what is in your cover letter to make a qualifications determination.

I now some folks are not a big fan of the USAJobs resume builder, but I think it is a good place to start because it makes sure that you give the information HR needs to do the qualifications review.

If you are a veteran translate your military experience into something that a civilian can understand. I’ve seen resumes where the experience is all acronyms in caps and no one has any idea what you did.

5 CFR 300.104(b) provides that agencies must provide a reconsideration procedure. If you think there was a mistake, contact the HR contact in your announcement right away, even if it just a general mailbox. Specifically request reconsideration, give the job and the announcement number you asking about and give the reasons why you think the office was in error. You can vent on Reddit all you want, but that is not going to do anything.

Putting occupational series and grades after non-Federal jobs isn’t fooling anyone.

OPM is on a major project to have multiple hurdles or competency-based qualifications where applicants need to show they have the ability to perform the job. If you had to take a USAHire assessment, this is part of that approach. If you don’t pass the assessment, you are not considered qualified. SSA is using CAIP (Competency Assessment Interview Process) interviews as part of the qualifications process for positions that require customer service skills. If you do not pass the CAIP assessment, you are not qualified. I think for entry level positions, we will see an increase in this type of qualification review.

If you make it past qualifications and you score high enough on the assessment and are referred, then the cover letter and resume now have to impress the hiring official.

Questions, comment, corrections always welcome.