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.
For federal workers affected by Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC), the Priority Placement Program (PPP) provides career transition assistance. The PPP is a 45-year old career transition assistance service that retains and reassigns federal workers to relevant positions if a worker is unable to relocate to a new agency location or the position is eliminated. The PPP has proven effective and has placed more than 250,000 federal employees to date. The PPP human resources specialists will review your resume, qualifications, specialized experience KSAs, option codes, grade and series to assist with career transition.