KSA BUILDER AND THE CCAR

The KSA Builder follows the Context-Challenge-Action-Results model for writing examples that will demonstrate your Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. This format gives the staffing specialist and hiring manager readable, interesting and specific examples that they can rate and rank based on the hiring manager’s requirements.

Each KSA Builder Form contains fields for writing two examples that support each KSA.

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Here is an example of a CCAR-format KSA:

Ability to communicate orally.

Context: As a Clinical Specialist in the Home Health Aid Group, Health Care Financing Administration

Challenge: I receive frequent calls from physicians who are seeking specialized medical tests for patients who are members of HMOs. They are advocating services that are not being provided by the HMO. The challenge of these calls is to research all of the information and provide decisions regarding the patient’s care.

Action: The research involves communicating with the Plan Manager for the HMO, researching HCFA’s policies and procedures and analyzing the situation.

Results: I determined that the HMO’s policies were out-of-date. I recommended new policies and reviewed their draft. I also recommended a simplified physician application for requesting medical services which would save time and increase services to patients.

If you were writing this KSA, the "actions" should be more detailed than this sample. You would want to describe all of the people you talked to for the resolution of this medical service problem.

The KSA Builder can help you think of and structure examples which will support your Knowledge, Skills and Abilities.

HOW TO USE THE KSA BUILDER

Follow these steps to write successful KSAs that will achieve a high rating so that you will be found highly-qualified and go straight to the hiring manager:

1. Analyze your vacancy announcement carefully to make sure you understand the KSAs and the duties and responsibilities of the position.
2. Find your previous KSAs, SF-171, resume or other application material to have as much information available while writing the KSAs.
3. Get on-line with Firefox or Explorer and begin to input data into the KSA Builder. You can go off-line to write your content, but do not leave that screen. You cannot save what you are writing in the Builder.
4. Get back on-line and send the information to your Resume Place KSA Editor.

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7. The KSA builder has writing space for two KSAs on each screen. You will complete two KSAs, send these, then return and write more KSAs (if you choose to do that).

Need more samples and instructions? Order The Federal Resume Guidebook & PC Disk – An entire chapter following the CCAR model and 20 KSA samples. Order now.

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