We recently had a federal employee ask us to help him restructure his resume so
that he could get his current job reclassified. The employee had a professional
degree in Engineering, but had accepted an Engineering Technician position to
"get his foot in the door." He felt he was performing professional work, and
wanted to ask the classification specialist to review his job and change it to
that of a professional. He believed that re-writing his resume would convince
the classifier to change the position.
What is the relationship between your resume and your job classification?
Actually, they are two different things and are used differently in the federal
employment process.
The job classification is all about federal personnel processes. The
classification process is a structured method of assigning a title, series, and
grade to each federal position. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
publishes government-wide job grading standards that describe all the different
types of work found in federal agencies. The classification specialist in each
human resources office looks at the job duties your supervisor assigns to the
position you occupy, and uses the OPM standards to place it in the appropriate
job series. The classifier then uses these same standards to determine the grade
level of the job, based on factors such as how complex the work is and how
closely your supervisor reviews your work.
Although you may hold a professional degree and be qualified to perform work
that is far more difficult and demanding, it is the job requirements, and not
your personal abilities or work history, which determines how your job is
classified. In other words, the classification process is all about the job
requirements, and not about you. There are cases in which an employee has had
such a profound impact on the way a job functions that it does affect the
classification, but these instances are rare. In most cases, unless the
supervisor is willing to change your job duties, re-writing your resume is
unlikely to affect the classification.
The federal resume/job application qualifications process is all about you! If
the classification process is all about the job and not about you, the
qualifications process is just the opposite: that process is all about you, and
not about the job you occupy. Just as job classification standards guide the
classifier, OPM also publishes qualification standards to guide the staffing
specialists who determine whether or not your experience qualifies you for a
certain vacancy. This is where your resume comes in. When you apply for a job,
the staffing specialist reviews your resume to discover whether or not you have
held the right types of jobs for the required amount of time. If you have, the
staffing specialist will rate you as eligible for the vacancy even if the job
you currently occupy is different. So, if you occupy a technician position but
hold a professional credential and the required work experience, you can qualify
for jobs that may be classified in a professional job series.
Though the above is a very simplified explanation of two very complicated
processes, the important thing to remember is that while it is very difficult to
change your job classification, which is determined by your supervisor and the
HR specialist - factors beyond your control - it is much easier to control the
content of your resume, which the staffing specialist uses to determine whether
you are rated as "qualified" for a job.
The Resume Place can help you explain your work history and develop your KSAs to
showcase your experience in the very best light. While we probably can't help
you get your current job re-classified, we certainly can help you improve your
chances of getting another one!
