by Paul Maraschiello, Washington, D.C.’s leading Federal resume expert
My firm has helped thousands of people find jobs and get promoted within the Federal Government. Over the years, I have developed a method of preparing Federal resumes that has been very successful. In retrospect, there is one thing that every successful Federal resume has had in common. They have been extremely thorough in their descriptions of the duties, responsibilities and accomplishments of every job. In addition, all the training each applicant has completed is described in the proscribed manner.
Many people believe that all you have to do is mail in your resume and if you are the most qualified, you will be hired by the Government. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! When the Federal Government states that, “you can apply by sending in your resume,” they mean a resume that contains a ton of information that is NEVER included in a resume for the private sector. The Feds will be grading your resume like and examination and if certain information is missing, they will simply disqualify you. To achieve the most consideration, you must provide them with a much more detailed resume than you have sent to me and certain data MUST be included.
The Federal Government uses the application procedure as a weeding-out process to reduce the large number of applications they receive to a manageable number and your current resume will wind up on the trash heap in its current form. The Office of Personnel Management will NEVER assume that you have any experience that is not spelled out in your resume. To qualify, your resume must be expanded and the important data that is missing MUST be included. Your job descriptions need to include all the buzz words the Government wants to see, if you want to be rated HIGHLY QUALIFIED and actually land a Federal job.
E‑Mail your resume for a FREE evaluation to jobs@fedjobs.org
ADDITIONAL TRAINING
When you are describing the training you have had, in addition to your formal education, there are certain elements which must be enumerated to receive full credit. The first thing to list is who gave the course, list where the course or seminar was taken. The next items should be the date or dates of the training. Next, list the course or seminar title and the number of classroom hours. If a seminar was a whole day, put down eight hours, if it was for an entire week 40 hours, etc. This is a very important item that many people fail to include. You must remember, 180 hours of training in Widget Installation is much more meaningful that a 4‑hour seminar in the Application of Widget Technology.
EXAMPLE OF COMPLETE TRAINING LIST
DEA Resident Agent in Charge School, Washington, D.C., 1/98 - 5/98, 360 classroom hours.
University of Virginia, Darden Leadership School, Richmond, VA, 2/99 - 3/99, 180 classroom hours.
FBI Police Academy, Quantico, VA, FBI Agent Course, 1/67 ‑ 7/67, 960 classroom hours.
IBM, Arlington, VA, Data Base Systems & Concepts, 5/74, 80 classroom hours.
IBM, Washington, DC, Remote Communications, 7/78, 40 classroom hours.
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
Thoroughness in job descriptions on a Federal resume is critical to maximizing the points your application will attain. Too often, an otherwise qualified applicant will be rejected because he or she used the same job description they use in their private sector resume for their Federal resume. This is one of the biggest errors you can make on a Federal Resume! The Government grades these like an examination, looking for key words and phrases that demonstrate competence. Your response will be compared to the three‑page (or 10-page job description) for the position. At this stage of the process, an objective numerical rating will be developed for your application. A simple way of looking at it is that you will receive one point for every important factor and this score will be multiplied by the number of years of experience performing the task. It therefore becomes critical to enumerate all the duties and responsibilities of each job.
EXAMPLE OF A THOROUGH JOB DESCRIPTION
As an Investigator, I was responsible for planning investigations (5%); conducting investigations (70%); researching collecting and analyzing data (20%); administrative and other related duties (5%) for an investigative firm specializing in copyright, trademark and intellectual properties, corporate and personal background investigations.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Planning copyright, trademark and intellectual properties, corporate and personal background, investigation activities.
Utilizing a variety of state‑of‑the‑art communications and other hi‑tech surveillance and intelligence data gathering equipment.
Conducting interviews in person and undercover.
Conducting investigations, including undercover investigations and surveillance.
Conducting asset forfeiture investigations and missing person investigations.
Investigating employee crimes, rape cases, assault cases, and other crimes.
Participating in international investigations.
Investigating and locating hidden assets.
Coordinating activities with law enforcement personnel at the Federal, state, local and international levels.
Analyzing and evaluating intelligence data, evidence and other information.
Analyzing and evaluating financial data, legal material, investigative and other reports.
Writing, editing and presenting report findings.
Making oral and written presentations to clients and superiors.
Working independently with little supervision.
Communicating orally with Government personnel, supervisors, and others both orally and in writing.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Accomplishments are the frosting on the cake. Not only is the Government looking for people who have a lot of time and experience in their profession, they are interested in people who can do the job WELL. You should certainly list all the official recognition that you have received on the job. But, do not limit your accomplishment sections to just the awards you have received. List those things you did WELL. List those things that show YOU ARE REALLY GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO. Don’t be humble, put it all down. Obviously, a person with 10 accomplishments has to be better at the job that someone who has only shown two accomplishments.
EXAMPLE OF OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Received OUTSTANDING performance evaluations.
Established and ran new Houston Field Office covering 5 domestic DEA Divisions and DEA offices in Mexico, South and Central America.
Directed extremely sensitive internal investigations of law enforcement officials who were gathering and collecting intelligence on DEA operations for Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations.
Prevented the murder of three DEA Confidential Sources by Mexican traffickers by exploiting plot to kidnap and kill sources in Mexico.
Houston office accounted for 10% of OPR’s staffing, and 35% of DEA’s total internal caseload.
Coordinated successful investigations with DOJ’s Office of Inspector General and Military CID.
Made security recommendations on classified computer systems and protection of classified materials at DEA’s El Paso Intelligence Center.
Conducted investigation of military personnel assigned to El Paso Intelligence Center involved in theft/sale of classified information to drug traffickers.
Successfully handled large caseload of investigations and conducted a “wide range of internal investigations which are conducted then exceptionally well”, according to official evaluation.
Work ethic and investigative results were described as “OUTSTANDING†in official evaluation of performance by supervisor.
Received Letter of Appreciation from Houston Police Department for aiding them in a fake drug‑bust investigation.
AVAILABLE ASSISTANCE
ARW’s assistance in creating your Federal resume can make the difference when applying for a well paying, quality federal job. More information on this topic and a link to thousands of Federal jobs can be found at www.fedjobs.org
Paul Maraschiello will personally evaluate the Federal employment potential of all applicants who send us their resume. He will provide a free critique of the material. His firm can provide a full range of services, from developing winning Federal resumes, and answering KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills and Ability questions), to providing job search assistance, on‑line job listings and job announcement, as well as counseling. For select clients we even provide a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Maraschiello is the president of the largest resume writing company in the Washington, D.C. area and specializes in assisting people in finding Federal employment. For years, he wrote the “SF‑171 Advisor” column for the Federal Jobs Digest. Associated Resume Writers has its headquarters at 262‑M Cedar Lane, Suite 2,Vienna, Virginia 22180. (703) 208‑9770.