First let me begin by saying that I was actually in the process of applying for a federal job when I began looking at the webinar. Like many of you though I too get distracted and begin to do several things at once, but this was the best distraction I have ever had because as it turns out my entire resume was wrong! Some of you might have been aware of this already, but I had no idea that when applying for a federal job they have different resume format requirements. These are not small differences either, the entire format is different than what is taught at the career service center. Among the biggest differences is the fact that federal resumes are not expected to meet that one, two if you absolutely must, page rule that regular resumes follow. As a matter of fact it is not out of the norm for a federal resume to be 5-8 pages long. I brought this up with to a colleague of mine, who has worked for the federal government for several years now, and he said he thought this was common knowledge. He showed me his resume and it is a super detailed monstrosity with zero white space taking up 4 pages. He even said that if updated, his resume would probably be 6 pages long. Meanwhile, I'm breaking my head deleting important relevant information about myself trying to get my resume down to one page. Also, important is actually including the job post number, having minimum or zero white space, and making sure you state whether or not you are qualified for extra points i.e. veteran points, disability points, even having certain degrees and certifications can earn you points. Maryjo from the College of Public Service and Community Solutions will be posting this webinar up soon, I highly recommend watching it if you are at all interested in applying for a federal government job.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Federal Resume (Career Service Event)
For my second professional development post I want to talk about a webinar I recently attended. The webinar was was part of the go government series put on by the “Partnership for Public Service” Unlike the other webinar I've attended from this organization this one was extremely helpful. So much so that I actually entered the link and watched the recording of the webinar again. This webinar was titled “resume” and as the title mentions the webinar was about federal resumes.
First let me begin by saying that I was actually in the process of applying for a federal job when I began looking at the webinar. Like many of you though I too get distracted and begin to do several things at once, but this was the best distraction I have ever had because as it turns out my entire resume was wrong! Some of you might have been aware of this already, but I had no idea that when applying for a federal job they have different resume format requirements. These are not small differences either, the entire format is different than what is taught at the career service center. Among the biggest differences is the fact that federal resumes are not expected to meet that one, two if you absolutely must, page rule that regular resumes follow. As a matter of fact it is not out of the norm for a federal resume to be 5-8 pages long. I brought this up with to a colleague of mine, who has worked for the federal government for several years now, and he said he thought this was common knowledge. He showed me his resume and it is a super detailed monstrosity with zero white space taking up 4 pages. He even said that if updated, his resume would probably be 6 pages long. Meanwhile, I'm breaking my head deleting important relevant information about myself trying to get my resume down to one page. Also, important is actually including the job post number, having minimum or zero white space, and making sure you state whether or not you are qualified for extra points i.e. veteran points, disability points, even having certain degrees and certifications can earn you points. Maryjo from the College of Public Service and Community Solutions will be posting this webinar up soon, I highly recommend watching it if you are at all interested in applying for a federal government job.
First let me begin by saying that I was actually in the process of applying for a federal job when I began looking at the webinar. Like many of you though I too get distracted and begin to do several things at once, but this was the best distraction I have ever had because as it turns out my entire resume was wrong! Some of you might have been aware of this already, but I had no idea that when applying for a federal job they have different resume format requirements. These are not small differences either, the entire format is different than what is taught at the career service center. Among the biggest differences is the fact that federal resumes are not expected to meet that one, two if you absolutely must, page rule that regular resumes follow. As a matter of fact it is not out of the norm for a federal resume to be 5-8 pages long. I brought this up with to a colleague of mine, who has worked for the federal government for several years now, and he said he thought this was common knowledge. He showed me his resume and it is a super detailed monstrosity with zero white space taking up 4 pages. He even said that if updated, his resume would probably be 6 pages long. Meanwhile, I'm breaking my head deleting important relevant information about myself trying to get my resume down to one page. Also, important is actually including the job post number, having minimum or zero white space, and making sure you state whether or not you are qualified for extra points i.e. veteran points, disability points, even having certain degrees and certifications can earn you points. Maryjo from the College of Public Service and Community Solutions will be posting this webinar up soon, I highly recommend watching it if you are at all interested in applying for a federal government job.
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Federal Government jobs have never really passed through my mind for some odd reason, but I am not really surprised to hear that resumes for such jobs can end up being up to 8 pages long. Its funny how the homework that we used to complain about doing is going to become the normal type of activities in our careers.
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