Posted in Federal Job Info, Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on September 26th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »
During the transition to USAJOBS 3.0, please be aware that:
- No new announcements will be posted Oct. 1, 2011 to Oct. 12, 2011.
- No access to USAJOBS will be allowed Oct. 6 to Oct. 12, 2011.
Five billion documents are being reviewed and re-uploaded into a new USAJOBS system in Macon, Georgia by USAStaffing IT specialists. The USAJOBS IT specialists will be downloading, analyzing, and re-uploading over 5 billion documents from jobseekers who have their resumes and documents loaded into USAJOBS 2.0; eliminating your Social Security Numbers; doing something with passwords (you will probably have to reset your password with your same email account after the Oct. 12 reset); and set up parameters for Resume Mining by HR specialists.
There won’t be a totally new look and feel, but there will be some new features that are better for you and for the HR customers who post the positions.
Before the site is down on Oct. 6, you may want to consider downloading and backing up the latest versions of your resumes posted in USAJOBS.
If you are an active federal jobseeker, what can you be doing while USAJOBS is down for six days, and there are no new announcements for almost two weeks?
Below is a list of suggested activities that will keep your federal job search moving forward and prepare you for when USAJOBS becomes available again:
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Posted in Federal Job Info, Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on August 18th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »
If you applied for a federal job between late afternoon Sunday, August 7, 2011 and midday Tuesday, August 9, 2011 the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has some bad news for you and 70,000 of your closest friends: Your application is lost in cyberspace and it isn’t coming back. The USA Staffing system was unexpectedly taken offline on August 9th, according to a message first posted on a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) server. The error occurred during routine maintenance, but the only way to fix it was to take it entirely offline and restore it to its pre-glitch form. This means any work done during those two days was erased. Many more people who tried to apply for positions on August 10th found that they couldn’t. The result was a flurry of complaints posted on the USAJobs Facebook page. OPM has apologized for the problem.
The good news is that anyone who applied during that time is getting a second chance. Any position that closed between August 7th and 10th has now had its deadline extended to August 15th. In addition, HHS says anyone whose application was affected by the outage will receive a notice from OPM. That means that if you applied during this time, it’s time to make sure your resume and supporting documents are still organized and together. The government is making sure you can still take that shot at the job you want.
The staff at The Resume Place is committed to helping you locate, apply for, and land government jobs. The Resume Place also provides our clients with expert federal career training and consultation. Contact us today for a free estimate on your federal resume writing project. Visit us at http://www.resume-place.com or give us a call at (888) 480-8265.
The Federal Times published an article regarding the USA Staffing computer glitch.
Posted in Federal Job Info, Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, KSA Writing
by Kathryn Troutman on August 12th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »
Many long-time federal employees struggle with focusing their federal resume when they are seeking new positions or promotions. After 10 or 20 years, a typical federal employee has worn at least 4 to 6 “hats” and can be qualified for several different occupational series. The goal is to be deemed “best qualified” to be referred to a supervisor and invited to interview. The “Jack of All Trades” federal resume approach is not recommended. It’s best to focus each resume toward one or two occupational series and even three series, which are closely related with functional or technical skills. Let’s analyze John’s dilemma in writing and targeting his federal resume.
John is a GS-13 with 20 years of experience who is looking for a new position. He says, “I am the jack of all trades with experience in Human Resources, Budget, Finance, Procurement, Facilities, Asset Management, IT Project Management, Program Analysis, Supervision, Capital Planning and Investment Control to name (my specialties) that come to mind. I understand that each job must be tailored, but with the job market like it is, I think I need to leverage all my experience and consider many types of positions.”
It is important to understand that some resume writing strategies are better than others. John has two options. He can write one resume covering all of the different accomplishments and skills he possesses or create at least four or more different resumes that each feature a certain skill set and add accomplishments for each skill set tailored to the specific job he is apply for, while leaving out irrelevant and old experience. Remember, human resources specialists and supervisors will review your last 10 years of experience, so make sure you only analyze, write and present the specialized areas of expertise for these recent positions.
In John’s example, I would recommend four different resumes.
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Posted in ECQs, Federal Job Info, Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, Interviewing, KSA Writing, Self-Assessment, Vet Federal Resumes, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on April 21st, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »
This week I have been teaching “Federal Job Search – By the Numbers” to hundreds of current and former military personnel who are about to be separated or retired and would like to land the best government jobs in America.
My book and curriculum, Ten Steps to a Federal Job™, is a favorite because of the 10 steps “campaign process” for this highly complex job search method. The curriculum is utilized in hundreds of military bases worldwide because it is easy to teach, learn, and follow.
I created the “Numbers Federal Job Search Strategy” curriculum when my daughter, Emily, and I were teaching senior NASA Engineers how to write Senior Executive Service applications. We had two days to get two ECQs written. We examined the numbers – 5 ECQs, 28 Leadership Competencies, 10 pages, 2 pages, and set time-lines for each and every writing step. In two days, the engineers had written at least two ECQs and were actually having a great time with their production and ideas.
Which numbers are your favorites? I have underlined my typical training numbers.
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Posted in Federal Job Info, Federal Job Search, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on April 8th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »
Since 800,000 federal employees are probably now receiving their furlough notice instructions today, this will include human resources specialists and hiring managers. It’s time to think about how the shutdown will affect federal hiring and federal job search for thousands of jobseekers. Remembering the furloughs of 1995 and 1996, here’s what happened with federal job hiring due to the furlough and the lack of a government budget. Here’s what’s already happening with today’s hiring due to a potential furlough and the Continuing Resolution that continues today.
CURRENT APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED FOR USAJOBS ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE NOW AND WILL BE FURTHER STALLED: For thousands of active federal jobseekers who currently have applications submitted on USAJOBS, their applications will be further stalled for weeks and months if the human resources specialists are furloughed. The federal hiring process is long and complex, even without a furlough. The furlough will be very difficult for human resources specialists and managers who are trying to hire for new positions.
CURRENT POSITIONS THAT ARE POSTED ON USAJOBS WILL BE CANCELED: Many current vacancy announcements will be cancelled, due to the time of the deadline of the position closing, the lack of time to review the applications and manage the hiring process. If the HR Specialists are furloughed, they cannot handle the new applications efficiently or at all. The positions will eventually be re-posted, but it will be a couple of months from now, in order to catch up with hiring activities that are in progress at the time of the furlough. Many jobseekers who have applications in process will check their application status and find that the position is cancelled. This is happening now.
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