How can the Goverment's reorg of www.usajobs.gov help you?

Tips for Understanding the Government’s On-line Revolution

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) plans to present a stream-lined version of www.usajobs.gov as part of a general reorganization which will occur by January 23, 2011 according to OPM. The usajobs.gov site, for example, will display a lot more features than before in close proximity of each other. With the click of a mouse you will be able to see the pay scale, grade and occupation for the job you’re applying for. You can also share your document on LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media sites. The Remix on-line resume format has been updated and will serve as one uniform resume which contains all the information necessary to apply for all types of government jobs on-line. Although, currently you can store up to five resumes on usajobs.gov.

OPM says you can use keywords to communicate multiple skills and qualifications that you can discover by reading the job announcement. When constructing a resume, they advise putting all your selling points at the top of the page. This sounds a lot like a kind of summary of your work history describing your background, skills and accomplishments. The Government suggests that you highlight your activities by describing them using figures or percentages.

For example, “Produce 10 publications by using lower cost paper reducing costs by 15 percent.”

Since time equals money, OPM suggests that you describe other accomplishments with time as part of the consideration.

For example: “Produce twice monthly payroll or write four 750 word articles for a monthly newsletter consistently meeting 3 pm deadline.”

Another tip is to add figures when you describe how you save money, for example, managing the office supply budget.

“Buy yearly office supplies on sale at Staples saving over $500 dollars.”

Or when describing how many people you manage you could say:

“Manage 450 people in the five offices of OGP, prepare performance appraisals and assist 40 employees implement a plan for personal growth.”

Job seekers interested in grade GS15 jobs have the choice of using the 612 form which can be downloaded from the OPM website and when completed faxed or mailed to the appropriate address at OPM. Applicants must answer ECQ questions that represent three types of qualifications described as cases. For example, A- cases are based on demonstrated executive experience.

B-cases support successful participation in the OPM approved SES Candidate (SESCDP) program. There is a form executives can fill out that leads to eligibility for non-competitive appointments to the SES. On this form, you can document short and long term developmental activities, managerial, or leadership skills developed through reading books, attending webinars/Pod casts and other training which helps deliver broader perspective and deeper knowledge of the agency and Federal government. This form can be downloaded from the OPM website.

C-cases are based on having special or unique qualities that provide evidence of the likelihood of success in the SES.

While completing a resume candidates must address all five ECQ’s for each job or write a general resume and then attach a narrative that contains a discussion of the five Esq.’s statements: The ECQ statements are: Leading Change; Leading People; Results Driven; Business Acumen, and Building Coalitions. For an in depth discussions of the key words related to each ECQ go to http://www.opm.gov where you can download the Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualifications.

Another way to apply for an SES job is to organize a narrative that follows the (CCAR) model which describes skills needed to be successful in a variety of SES positions. The CCAR model describes the context of the challenge, the action you deliver, and the result. You can start with this model as the basic structure of the narrative. Then integrate the Executive Core Qualifications (Esq.’s) along with key words into your statement to describe how throughout your career you have provided strategic leadership and commitment following the goal of one of the cases mentioned earlier such as in case A-- demonstrating executive experience.

Your resume and the narrative can be faxed or mailed to the appropriate personnel office. The entire job announcement and other attachments are found by doing a search on SES jobs by utilizing the usajobs.gov search engine. When the job announcement information is downloaded, you will see listed the personnel specialist assigned to answer your questions and a phone number as well as the address of where to send your application