If you could be interested in living in Beckley, W. VA, you could get a nice bonus of $5K.

The HR specialist who wrote the vacancy announcement gives this instruction about your federal resume:  IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE ON YOUR RESUME, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.  If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Job Title: Police Officer

Department: Department Of Veterans Affairs

Job Announcement Number: VHA-517-11-GM577206

Salary Range: $34K to $45K

Operation Period: Tues, Dec. 13, 2011 to Wed., Jan 4, 2012

Series and Grade: GS  0083-6

Duty Location: Beckley, W. Va.

$$ RECRUITMENT INCENTIVE: One-time $5,000 incentive with a 3-year employment contract for an applicant who is Law Enforcement Training Center certified at the time of application, job offer, and upon appointment. $$

DUTIES:

Ensure compliance with and enforce a full range of Federal, State, local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations as they pertain to law enforcement work. Arrest/apprehend individuals.  Provide physical protection of patients, visitors, and employees.  Preserve a peaceful environment necessary for medical treatment program operations. Protect United States Government and personal property on VA controlled property.  Conduct foot and vehicle patrols.  Provide directions/assistance to patients, volunteers, visitors, and employees. Respond to emergencies including crimes in progress or just discovered, disturbances, and assaults.  Intercede in physical assaults in progress by stopping the aggressor in compliance with use of force policy/regulations to prevent the physical injury or death of others.  Pursue and apprehend persons causing disturbances. Take charge of crime or accident scenes and detains witnesses or suspects as necessary.  Transport arrested persons to detention facilities and perform required booking procedures.  Fully investigate crimes which may extend beyond one duty shift. Interrogate suspects; take witness statements; collect, mark, identify, and preserve evidence. Prepare reports of investigations. Seek and detect signs of alcohol and drug abuse. Identify signs of trafficking alcohol, drugs and other activities involved in the introduction of contraband on VA controlled property.  Check occupants of vehicles parked on grounds to ascertain legitimacy of presence.  Perform searches and seizures.  Establish surveillance operations.  Respond to routine or emergency calls for assistance from other officers or acts as backup officer on these calls.  Report fire and safety hazards and take immediate action to extinguish, to control fires and secure fire areas.    Write Uniform Offense Reports covering incidents on his/her shift containing pertinent information which is factual, classified properly and timely. Issue citations for violations of the law, rules, or regulations.  Assist victims of accidents or assaults by providing first aid and/or calling for medical assistance, or assist in transporting to a specific location for medical treatment.  Testify in courts of law.

Keywords:

• Knowledge of full range of federal, state and regulations to law enforcement work.
• Arrest / apprehension of individuals
• Physical protection of patients, visitors and employees
• Intercede in physical assaults
• Take charge of crime of accident scenes
• Fully investigate crimes
• Interrogate suspects; take witness statements
• Prepare reports of investigations
• Investigate crimes, interrogate suspects, prepare reports of investigations
• Identify signs of trafficking alcohol
• Write Uniform Officer Reports
• Issue citations
• Assist victims of accidents
• Testify in courts of law

Specialized Experience Required: Experience that provided knowledge of a body of basic laws and regulations, law enforcement operations, practices, and techniques and involved responsibility for maintaining order and protecting life and property. Creditable specialized experience may have been gained in work on a police force; through service as a military police officer; in work providing visitor protection and law enforcement in parks, forests, or other natural resource or recreational environments; in performing criminal investigative duties; or in other work that provided the required knowledge and skills.  No substitution of education or training may be made for the required specialized experience at GS-6 and above.  For this position, specialized experience must be equivalent to at least the next lower grade level GS-5, or equivalent.

Keywords:

• Knowledge of basic laws and regulations
• Law enforcement operations, practices and techniques
• Maintain order and protecting life and property
• Military police officer
• Visitor protection and law enforcement in parks, forests
• Criminal investigative duties

Already there and eying another position? The Federal Government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) estimates that as many as 50% of federal senior executives employed at the start of 2011 will leave government by the end of 2015. The mass departure of these Baby Boom-generation federal executives will create a crucial need for strong new Federal workforce leaders. But if you want to join the SES, you first must learn how to jump through many application hoops. These are not easy jobs to get.

The New SES Application, the latest title from noted Federal Career authors Kathryn Troutman and Diane Hudson Burns and award-winning Federal Career Publishers, adeptly covers the challenges and intricacies of applying for the best Federal jobs available today, the Senior Executive Service (SES). This just-released book covers all new changes in SES applications since the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) decision in 2008 to pilot a new method for SES applications, adopted by many agencies since 2009. Now is the time to think SES, as the OPM predicts a surge of retirements by senior executive Baby Boomers over the next four years.

Part of the challenge is that these are the most senior Federal civil service jobs, and have highly demanding technical and leadership qualifications. Another challenge comes from President Obama’s 2010 initiative calling for improvements in federal recruitment and hiring. Applying for SES positions can be confusing.

“The process of applying for SES has changed a lot recently,” notes Federal Job Guru Kathryn Troutman, one of the co-authors of The New SES Application (Fall 2011, $21.95, 189 pp.). “They’re trying to get rid of the separate essay-style narratives, the 10-page Executive Core Qualification Statements (ECQs), and they created a comprehensive five-page SES federal resume to replace it. Not all the agencies are doing it, so the book was created to cover all the various possible requirements.”

Her co-author Diane Hudson Burns notes that applicants need to scrutinize their selected vacancy announcements carefully. The announcements will reveal which SES application format should be used. Chapter 3 explains how to analyze announcements and it describes the different formats in use.

“However I would suggest you prepare a full SES application in advance,” Hudson Burns says. “Then, when an announcement is posted, you can customize the documents to fit the specific opening. Otherwise, you might be scrambling and miss an application deadline.”

Books from Federal Career Publishers, a division of Troutman’s Resume Place, are known for their top-rate samples of resumes and other application pieces, and this most recent title is no exception (see Chapter 9). Another helpful feature of The New SES Application is Chapter 7, “Lessons Learned.” It’s the “What Not To Do” chapter. “It’s based on actual feedback applicants received from OPM,” reveals Troutman, “and includes crucial writing tips and the main reasons an application might be rejected.”

This book presents a process for writing the application package based on years of in-class training experience. The authors recommend kick-starting the writing by drafting a list of your Top 10 Accomplishments (Chapter 4). “Thank you, David Letterman,” Troutman joked. “When you write your accomplishments, and spell out what you’ve done, it gives you a solid starting place.”

Wondering if you’re SES ready? “The Leadership Journey” chart at the beginning of Chapter 2 can help as it displays the competencies required at the different management levels in federal government. The chart can also help you plan for a federal senior-executive career. Additionally, the book is a great resource for employees being groomed within a government agency for SES through a Federal Candidate Development Program.

The SES hiring process uses the application and the interview together to score candidates. “The structured interview format is the most popular for SES,” notes Troutman (see Chapter 8).

A two-day intensive SES workshop run by the Resume Place utilizes The New SES Application as a text. The workshop offers support on application writing and interview prep for federal managers and administrators, military officers and senior enlisted, as well as private industry executives considering SES careers. Attendees learn about the SES corps, develop a 5-page SES federal resume, and practice their interviews using video and class feedback. The next scheduled SES Application Writing Course is January 17-18 in Catonsville, MD.

It can take 20 hours or more to write a SES application package. Troutman’s firm also offers consulting and writing services for time-pressed executives and others who need support beyond the book. Bryan Hochstein is an SES applicant who decided to turn to the Resume Place for help in writing his application and prepping for the interview. “They obviously have the experience, and understand the process,” he observed. “Out of fifty candidates, I was among the top five who qualified for an interview.” Another one of Hudson Burns’ clients received three SES job interviews and two job offers after working with her on a SES application. “I have been dreaming of obtaining an SES position for 25 years,” the applicant revealed. “You helped me achieve a personal goal.”

“Writing the SES application is really about articulating leadership,” explains Hudson Burns. “It’s a complex process, but it is necessary to meet the SES requirements. The book explains all the nuances of the application process clearly, including development of what I call the ’super resume’, the new five-page SES/ECQ combined resume.”

More information and easy online ordering »

On October 5, Krista Nowicki and Kathryn Troutman teamed together to present a program to encourage both supervisors to consider and hire more people with disabilities, and for the applicants to write a better federal resume for their Schedule A applications.

Krista Nowicki collects and manages the resumes of Schedule A applicants for this agency in Battle Creek, Michigan and serves as applicant advocate as well as supervisory consultant on hiring through the Schedule A hiring authority. Krista’s goal is to match the best qualified candidates with positions that will be a win-win for both the employee and the supervisor.

More than 100 supervisors, employees and applicants attended the workshop to learn more about why supervisors should be reviewing the resumes and considering candidates that are currently sitting in the Disabilities Program Manager’s folder of Targeted and Non-Targeted Disability candidates.  In just the last 60 days, DLA Logistics Information System has hired five targeted employees with more candidates under consideration following this program.

The President’s Executive Order

The President has urged all federal agencies to embrace the federal hiring practices in a more user friendly way as the percent of hires and total workforce with disabilities are below 5%. The President has asked all federal agencies to step up to the plate to hiring more qualified individuals with disabilities including the war veterans.  Please make this your status quo and your priority to making a difference in your hiring practices.

“Individuals with disabilities currently represent just over 5 percent of the nearly 2.5 million people in the Federal workforce, and individuals with targeted disabilities (as defined below) currently represent less than 1 percent of that workforce.” … As the Nation’s largest employer, the Federal Government must become a model for the employment of individuals with disabilities.  My Administration is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in the Federal workforce through compliance with Executive Order 13163 and achievement of the goals set forth therein over 5 years, including specific goals for hiring individuals with targeted disabilities. Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-increasing-federal-employment-individuals-with-disabilities

+ Tip for Applicants

Follow the laws, executive orders, articles having to do with hiring people with disabilities. Stay in tune with the agencies that are hiring and writing about this topic. Pick up the names of Disability Coordinators in various agencies and write to them, sending your Schedule A package.

Supervisors have a very unique opportunity to hire high quality individuals who may have a disability.

These individuals have been screened through their respective Disabilities Coordinator and are well qualified to work. By going through you Disabilities Coordinator, you as a supervisor not only have a unique opportunity to hire an individual with a disability with skills, abilities and are qualified but are also very reliable and highly productive citizens.

+ Tip for Applicants with Targeted or Non-Targeted Disabilities

Write your federal resume toward one or two specific occupational series / positions in government. Research the government job titles and the agency’s mission to determine how you could best fit into an agency. Include a cover letter which states what kind of positions you are seeking, and your top 5 skills that you can offer this agency.

Your Disabilities Coordinator is your Schedule A Hiring Consultant.

Your Disabilities Coordinator will assist you in utilizing the Schedule A process which not only streamlines the hiring process to bring employees on board quickly and faster than the competitive process but also give you the opportunity to give back and to give others a chance and a opportunity to be working and pay taxes and not be reliant on public support as you and I are paying for out of our taxes.  The more we can get these individuals who want to work and be productive citizens the less taxes we all pay.

+ Tip for Applicants

Be an advocate for yourself and others who are disabled. Share information about what you learn on social networking so that others can be educated about the Schedule A process. You will learn by communicating with your Disabilities Coordinator various lessons, tips and strategies to get your resume in front of supervisors in their agencies.

Hire faster!

When the hiring opportunity comes up in these circumstances that require quick turnaround time to fill your position(s).  When you are given an opportunity to hire and at times it’s in a very short timeframe, your Disability Coordinator is an excellent resource to turn to on a monthly basis or as needed basis. Refer to Schedule A as your hiring resource as you don’t have to advertise your vacant position through the Schedule A process.  By utilizing the Schedule A process, you will cut your hiring timeline process in half especially when u have a direct hiring and a hiring freeze in place.

+ Tip for Applicants

Send the resume and cover letter and Schedule A letter to the Disability Coordinator, but also apply for jobs online through USAJOBS. Just submit the same package applying for positions that are posted. Follow all the directions and apply for Schedule A positions online.

Get to know your friendly, hard-working Disability Coordinator.

By keeping your communications open on a regular basis (monthly) will also increase your chances of filling your positions not only in a timely manner but also making a difference for others whom will do the same once hired and off the public support roles.

+ Tip for Applicants

Get to know the agency’s Disability Coordinator. Send your resume and cover letter and follow up. Ask questions about the types of positions that are available and write your resume to include skills that will help the Disability Coordinator market your specialized experience.  Follow-up once every 2 or 3 weeks, to see if there is any interest, or if the Disability Coordinator has had the chance to present your resume to any supervisors.

Photograph: Krista Nowicki is the People with Disabilities Program Manager for Defense Logistics Agency Logistics Information System in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kathryn Troutman is the author of Federal Resume Guidebook, 5th Edition which contains a new chapter on applying for federal positions with the Schedule A Hiring Authority.

USAJOBS 3.0 went up last Wednesday!  Have you checked it out?  Our reviews have found some important updates to USAJOBS that you will want to be aware of. We have certainly heard some complaints about accessing the new site and the advanced search function.  However, the resume builder has clearly been improved with new features and additional space. This change can make a big difference for the savvy federal job search applicant who can adjust their resume to take advantage of these improvements.

Find out what you need to know and what you need to do to improve your resume visibility in USAJOBS 3.0. Join our upcoming webinars to get the details of our review and our recommendations. Our USAJOBS 3.0 webinars are being offered once a month for the next few months.  The first webinar is THIS FRIDAY–don’t miss this opportunity to get ahead of the game! Register now »

Here are some immediate improvements to USAJOBS that we want to make sure you know about:

• USAJOBS will now be searchable by HR recruiters!
• USAJOBS 3.0 allows you to customize your job search.
• Your USAJOBS account is now managed by your email ID.
• USAJOBS 3.0 has a new Profile format with five pages of questions to answer to update your information.
• Work Experience Block space limit has increased from 3,000 characters with spaces to 5,000 characters with spaces.
• Work Experience job listings are now at the top of the Work Experience page. This helps resume writers to quickly see which jobs they have already listed without having to scroll down to the bottom of the page.  The same improvement has been made for the Education section.
• Now there are expand and shrink functions that allow you to see up to 50 lines of type in the Work Experience block, a huge increase from the previous 15 lines, making it easier for resume writers to get the full picture of their writing.
• Training and Publications increased to 5,000 characters with spaces from previous 3,000 characters.
• Final Resume View comes up automatically for you to quickly preview your final product and get a look at how the recruiters will view your resume. Make sure you use this opportunity to proof your resume carefully and make changes to improve the readability of your resume.
• Resume Upload: Now you can upload a Word document version of your resume into USAJOBS to be searchable by recruiters. There is even a sample federal resume that is acceptable, and tips for writing a good federal resume on this page.

Learn how to translate these changes into federal job search success in USAJOBS 3.0.

Here are some of the questions we will answer in our webinars:

• How can you make the most of the additional space for your resume?
• What changes should you make to your resume to make it more searchable in the new system?
• What does it mean that you can customize my job search?
• What is this feature? How can you use it to improve your chances of getting your resume recognized?
• What are the tips you should know for filling out the five-page profile section to make your information more visible to HR recruiters?
• What should you be careful about when managing your account information in the new system?
• How are the hiring eligibility and preferences fields being used by HR?
• What do you do with your Social Security number in USAJOBS 3.0?
• What do you writing the 500 character personal information block?

Overall, the improvements in the Profile, Resume Builder, and Resume Upload are very good. I especially like the restructure of the Work Experience and Education pages, so that the listing of jobs and education is on the top screen. And the 5,000 characters are now great (especially for former CHART resumes), and I like the Expand and Shrink work experience blocks. AND … the final preview of the resume before the FINISH button is really nice.  That is a great finale for a lot of hard work!

Thank you, USAJOBS 3.0 Resume Builder Team. This is a great improvement for thousands of resume builders who would like to land a federal job or internship! Kathryn Troutman, Author, Federal Resume Guidebook, 5^th Ed.

Register Now »

We are saying goodbye to CHART, the Department of the Navy’s hiring system.

I was the very first workshop leader for Navy Resumix in the Southeast Region in 1999-2000. At that time, Navy Civilian HR recruiters were transitioning from paper / SF-171 / resume to Resumix. I taught a group of 35 Human Resources specialists that they would be using an automated system to query for keywords from the applicant resumes. And the keywords would be taken from the announcement, PD or occupational series for the position. This was world-class change in Federal HR Recruitment.

Now in 2011, we are leaving Resumix and the keyword query system behind. I wrote the first (and only) book on how to write a Resumix resume for the Navy/USMC system, the Electronic Federal Resume Guidebook – filled with keywords for many occupational series.

Navy and US Marine Corps are moving to USAJOBS.gov, which is an automated application system of resumes online, and a questionnaire system in Application Manager. The Self-Assessment Questionnaire was originally designed and developed by Bryan Hochstein, Founder of QuickHire. This Questionnaire is now the “valid, reliable assessment tool” that President Obama wrote about in his Hiring Reform Executive Order.

Below is a summary of the major differences between CHART and USAJOBS for your consideration when revising your resume and applying for jobs with the NAVY and USMC through USAJOBS. Please share the dates, times and access to USAJOBS info with your colleagues and federal job-seeking friends.

Key Points About the Transition:

• All resume information in CHART will be manually uploaded and transferred to a USAJOBS account by September 30 as USAJOBS will not be available October 6-12 (due to updates and maintenance).
• If you didn’t make the September 30 deadline, you can still try to access your CHART resume and move it to USAJOBS before October 6.
• If you have an electronic copy of your CHART federal resume, you can copy it into the USAJOBS Resume Builder after October 12.
• CHART will be taken offline on October 12 for external applicants.
• Current DoD or DON employees will have access to CHART via their CAC until December 30.
• Applicants should search for civilian Navy and Marine Corps jobs at USAJOBS.

At a recent training, we said our farewells to CHART with CAKE!

** Photo of our Bye Bye CHART cake taken at the Federal Career Training Institute in Baltimore, MD with the following class members:

Front Row: Felipe Gonzalez (Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA); Victor Johnson (Marine Corps Community Services, Arlington, VA); Kathryn Troutman (President, Resume Place); Lisa Bauch (Military and Family Support Center, Joint Base Anacostia Bolling, DC); Paul Alen Stewart (Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA); Pamela Sikora (Resume Place)

Back Row: Dong Kim (McConnell AFB, Wichita, KS); Stephen Petro, Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY); Walter Anderson (Laughlin AFB, TX); Coletha Cox (Hanscom AFB, Woburn, MA); Sharon “Dee” McCrae (Aberdeen Workforce Center, Havre de Grace, MD)

The Differences Between CHART and USAJOBS

DONHR Civilians and Navy Civilian Jobseekers will be getting used to the USAJOBS.gov resume builder and the Applicationmanager.gov questionnaire after October 13. The new combination USAStaffing application is a whole new world for Navy Civilian Job Applicants. DONHR Civilians and Navy Civilian Jobseekers will be getting used to the USAJOBS.gov resume builder and the Applicationmanager.gov questionnaire after October 13. The new combination USAStaffing application is a whole new world for Navy Civilian Job Applicants.

How Applications are Processed

CHART: No More Resumix! CHART was a Resumix System where the HR specialists searched for best qualified candidates with keywords and keyword phrases. Army CPOL is still using Resumix for some agencies and bases, but this will end very soon also. Resumix will be totally gone in 2012.

USAJOBS: This is a human system, where the keywords are important for the resume for the human HR specialists and the supervisors to read, but there will not be any keyword searches for the best qualified candidates.

Document Submission

CHART: Resume Only + Supplemental Data Sheet + Documents.

USAJOBS: Resume Builder + Applicationmanager.gov Questionnaire + Documents (including optional cover letter).

Closing Dates

CHART: Most closing dates in the job announcements were Open Inventory – open for a year or more.

USAJOBS: Most closing dates have a closing date of 5 days to maybe 1 year.

Vacancy Announcements

CHART: Vacancy announcements were short, generic and used to collect resumes for entire occupational series for the program or organization to consider. The Navy Civilian announcements were not very helpful for finding keywords for writing the best federal resume.

USAJOBS: Vacancy announcements are usually more specific for a particular position or positions. The announcements will include better descriptions of duties, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities, specialized experience and questionnaires. Some announcements collect resumes for future consideration for a number of programs or organizations; some are for locations throughout the US or the world.

Character Counts

CHART: You could write up to 6,500 characters for each of your Work Experience job blocks.

USAJOBS: You can write only 3,000 characters (including spaces) for each of your Work Experience job blocks.

Resume Format

CHART: Big Block format. The Work Experience blocks were typically written in Big Block format with the 6,000+ characters in one paragraph, which is difficult for HR reviewers and supervisors to read. It was commonly thought that “since a computer reads the resume, the big block of type is just fine.”

USAJOBS: Small paragraphs with Accomplishments. No computers are reading the resumes, only people. Therefore, the Big Block paragraph format is not a competitive style for the USAJOBS HR reviewers and supervisors. For USAJOBS, the federal resume should be written in small paragraphs, 6 to 8 lines long; should include accomplishments to support the KSAs in the announcement; and should include keywords that match the duties and questionnaire questions. This combination of small paragraphs, keywords and accomplishments will be easy for HR reviewers and supervisors to read.

Resume Selection

CHART: The first cut was made by Resumix and keywords. The HR specialist review was done bykeywords with the Resumix system. The HR specialist and supervisor would agree on 5 to 7 keywords to “pull” the best qualified candidates. The applicant had to show minimum qualifications and have the keywords in order to get referred.

USAJOBS: The first cut is made by the Questionnaires. The HR specialist review is done by getting the score on the multiple-choice, self-assessment questionnaire. Therefore, you should give yourself all the credit that you can on the questionnaire. Your questionnaire score is added to your resume score, and that will determine if you are Minimally Qualified, Qualified or Best Qualified.

Moving Resumes from CHART to USAJOBS for DON and DoD Employees

After I posted my blog two days ago about the USAJOBS 3.0 transition, I learned about some important updates regarding the USAJOBS 3.0 transition for another Resume Place, Inc. Blog. I am very glad to see these updates and would like you to share the dates, times and access to USAJOBS info with your colleagues and federal job-seeking friends.

During the transition to USAJOBS 3.0, please be aware that:

>> The transition will begin at 5:00 pm EDT on October 7 and extend through the Columbus Day Holiday Weekend. OPM has worked hard to compress the schedule to just the Columbus holiday weekend.

>> There will be announcements posted to USAJOBS prior to and even during the transition. OPM requested agencies close their announcements before October 6th. Many agencies chose, however, to leave announcements open over the transition period. So, during the transition, a listing of open announcements will be available on USAJOBS.gov, but not the robust search function.

>> The search and apply functions will continue to be available until 5:00 pm EDT on October 7, 2011, at which time the transition will begin.

>> Jobseekers can access USAJOBS during the transition. In fact, we suggest they visit USAJOBS.gov for daily status updates.

>> Jobseekers will NOT be able to upload/build a resume or check status during the transition, because the data is stabilized during the transition – nothing is added, deleted or changed until after the transition is complete.

>> Who’s doing the update: OPM has an IT staff (the Human Resources Tools and Technologies staff in Macon, GA) that focuses specifically on building and maintaining secure, scalable HRIT systems for OPM, as well as other Federal organizations. Different personnel within that organization work on the different systems HRTT builds and maintains. USAJOBS and USAStaffing are just two of the systems maintained by HRTT. The USAJOBS staff within HRTT will execute the transition of USAJOBS along with the USAJOBS program office staff. Note: USAStaffing is an OPM-owned Talent Acquisition System (TAS); Monster and other vendors also offer TASs. TASs interface with USAJOBS, but are the “back-end” systems used by HR specialists within the federal agencies.

>> OPM will extract, validate and convert five billion lines of data (not documents) before loading it into USAJOBS 3.0.

>> USAJOBS 3.0 will no longer capture social security numbers as previous versions did in the account profile. Some applications submitted through USAJOBS, however, may request SSN based on the hiring agency’s requirements.

>> Still a good idea: Before the search and apply functions are taken offline on Oct. 7, you may want to consider downloading and backing up the latest versions of your resumes posted in USAJOBS.

• 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:

Activity #1: Review and edit your federal resume versions.

Copy out your resumes from the builders and then update and improve the content. Work on new accomplishments that should be featured on pages 1 or 2 of your resume (since KSAs are now in the resume). Review your keywords for each of your occupational series targets. You can look at the OPM Classification Standards for keywords since USAJOBS will be down.

Activity #2: Prepare for a Federal Job Interview.

Work on your Top Ten List of Accomplishments so that you can be more prepared for the Behavior-Based Interview in October to December of this year. Use the KSA CCAR Builder designed by the author of this article. Tell your story in a compelling way with the Context, Challenge, Action and Result principles. Practice your stories and get ready to land a federal job.

Activity #3: Read the American Jobs Act.

Check over the information to see whether there is something that could affect your job, your payroll taxes, or other jobs-related info. I like the Short Fact Sheet. Some of the ideas are highly useful.

Activity #4: Read new reports on Merit Systems Protection Board website.

Browse excellent Federal Employment-Related Studies that could help the federal jobseeker to gain insight into federal jobs and federal employment “language” include Job Simulations: Trying out for a Federal Job and A Call To Action: Improving First-Level Supervision of Federal Employees.

Activity #5: Read the latest reports from Partnership for Public Service.

The latest publication posted on 9/8/11 is a white paper on Best Places to Launch a Career in the Federal Government Snapshot.

Activity #6: Set up an account and look for jobs on www.avuecentral.com.

This is a separate website for federal jobs for certain agencies. Avuecentral.com will have some federal jobs posted for their client agencies: Peace Corps, Forest Service, US Marshals, Millennium Challenge, Library of Congress, USAID, and a few others. These agencies are “clients” of Avue and post on avuecentral.com. You can apply for Avue positions without touching USAJOBS.gov. You can set up an account here, and search for job titles that could be of interest to you. You will find that at avuecentral.com the position descriptions are listed for the posted job. This is an interesting source for keywords and language for your federal resume.

Activity #7: Say Good-Bye to DONHR’s CHART website.

On Oct. 12, 2011, the Department of the Navy’s Civilian Hiring and Recruitment Tool will no longer be accessible to the general public. The CHART site has been posted since around 2000 and is one of the last Resumix automated recruitment sites. CHART recruited for US Navy and USMC Civilian positions. All of the CHART job posting will be moved to USAJOBS and applicationmanager.gov after Oct. 12, 2011. According to the website, “Applicants are strongly encouraged to save a printed and electronic copy of their CHART resume and transfer this information to an USAJOBS account by 30 September 2011.” See the fact sheet on how to move your resume from CHART to USAJOBS.

Activity #8: Read GovExec for articles on federal hiring topics.

Excellent Government Executive writers will write about federal jobs, federal employment, USAJOBS 3.0, Resuming Mining, Veteran’s Hiring, and many other topics about federal hiring for 2011 and 2012.

Activity #9: Read and join GovLoop.

This is a new government website where federal employees and managers write about federal job topics. You can write about your own background with the popular INTRODUCTION membership feature.

Activity #10: Read FedManager.

This resource contains informative articles on federal employment, security clearances, employment case law, and Tips of the Week by Kathryn Troutman.

Activity #11: Check out your federal retirement benefits.

You can find more information about federal retirement benefits on Scott Thompson’s popular website, www.myfederalretirement.com. You can even calculate your retirement with his handy-dandy retirement calculator.

On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the “America Invents Act,” overhauling our patent system in order to stimulate our nation’s economic growth. At the same time, he announced new initiatives designed to help entrepreneurs create jobs. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/16/president-obama-signs-america-invents-act-overhauling-patent-system-stim. The historic patent reform legislation is intended to speed the patent process so that products can be brought to market faster. Among other things it provides a fast track option for patent processing within 12 months, cutting the average wait time by a factor of 3.

Although the legislation is intended to spur future jobs in the private sector, it is creating jobs in the public sector now. The new law provides additional resources allowing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to continue to combat a backlog of nearly 700,000 patent applications.

On USAJobs.gov today, there are dozens of jobs posted for USPTO, representing approximately one in five of all jobs posted for the entire Department of Commerce. Posted positions include four for patent judges, two of which are in cutting edge fields (biotechnology and IT). Two are Senior Executive Service (SES) positions, including a new Director of Planning and Budget and a senior level trademark attorney. All posted positions are graded at GS-11 and above, covering broad areas of expertise, among other things, public affairs, security, engineers, economists, educators, and document management specialists.

The new law provides additional incentives to help move ideas from bench to bedside. NIH, for example, will establish a new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). NCATS will help biomedical entrepreneurs develop ways to reduce the costs and time needed to develop new drugs and diagnostics. An initial project involves partnering with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to support development of a chip to screen for safe and effective drugs far more swiftly and efficiently than takes place now.

In a related development, USPTO will collaborate with the National Science Foundation and Small Business Administration to help emerging technology companies take advantage of the USPTO’s small business programs and resources. The USPTO pilot will support 100 grants, with more expected as the program takes off. This is designed to fit hand-in-glove with the accelerated examination process provided under the new America Invents Act. Again, this suggests additional federal jobs will be created as well.

Those who wish to apply for current openings need to act swiftly. As has been widely reported, USAJobs is about to undergo its long awaited overhaul. Scheduled to be offline from October 6 to 12, 2011 (although they have been cagey about the precise dates until recently), USAJobs’ postings now all reflect closing dates of October 3 or sooner. Since new or unfilled positions will not be posted until some time later this year, prudence dictates applying for these positions now. Although avuecentral.com will continue to post jobs for their agencies: Peace Corps, Forest Service, US Marshall’s Office, Millennium Challenge, etc., and other agencies may accept applications via email, fax, and even the US Postal Service, all announcements for USPTO positions state prominently that applicants “must apply online,” meaning, through USAJobs.gov. In other words, if you are interested in a USPTO job, you’ve no time to waste!

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