Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Potomac, Maryland, January. 2, 2023
Kathryn Troutman, Founder and President of Resume Place, Inc.
Want a First-time Federal Job?
Want a Promotion in Government?
Ring in 2024
With Proven Federal Résumé Writing Strategies
The US Federal Government is the Largest Employer in the U.S.
If you want to get a federal job or get promoted within the federal system,
your federal résumé is everything.
Top tips for writing your federal résumé in 2024:
- A maximum of five pages is being recommended more and more for federal résumés.
- Be sure to match your résumé to the specialized experience section of the announcement.
- Add specific accomplishments to demonstrate your skills and show your value as an employee. Include results.
- Make sure you add month/year to month/year and hours per week for each job.
- Emphasize the work experience that is most relevant to the position, even if it does not come from your most recent jobs.
- Include your relevant volunteer positions as job blocks with month/year to month/year and hours per week. Get credit for those skills that match your target job.
- Make sure your résumé clearly supports the answers in the questionnaire.
- Make sure your accomplishments stand out, identified by a bullet. Do not blend your accomplishments with your duties.
- Proofread and spellcheck carefully. Your résumé is your first impression.
- Remember that a human HR person is reading your résumé, not an automated system.
- Use Times New Roman font and 12-point type, as required by the Plain Language act of 2010.
3 Bonus Tips:
- The HR Specialist who is reading your résumé will not INFER any information. It must be written clearly in your résumé.
- I recommend a separate TECHNICAL SKILLS section in your résumé to summarize your computer, database, research, and technical skills.
- Use the OUTLINE FORMAT federal résumé, which features IMPORTANT TECHNICAL SKILLS in ALL CAPS in the narratives of your duties and accomplishments.
Want to see samples of these recommendations in a federal résumé? Purchase the book, Federal Résumé Guidebook, 7th Ed.
Want to have a Federal Résumé Consultant review your résumé and tell you what you need to change to improve your chances of getting Best Qualified for a federal job? Résumé Place, Inc. provides excellent one-hour assessments during which we will compare your résumé to a specific job announcement! AND we write federal résumés!
Want to see samples of these recommendations in a federal résumé? Purchase the book, Federal Resume Guidebook, 7th Ed.
Federal Resume Guidebook, 7th Ed.
Purchase the Guidebook here
Want to have a Federal Résumé Consultant review your résumé and tell you what you need to change to improve your chances of getting Best Qualified for a federal job? Résumé Place, Inc. provides excellent one-hour assessments during which we will compare your résumé to a specific job announcement! AND we write federal résumés!
$210 one hour consultation
Purchase $210 one hour consultation here
If you are an employment specialist or career counselor, you would like our Certified Federal Job Search Trainer® / Certified Federal Career Coach® program.
We teach our Ten Steps to a Federal Job® trainers and coaches on writing CCAR accomplishments for Federal Resume Writing, Interview Preparation and Annual Self-Assessments.
Information about the CFJST / CFCC program is here.
Kathryn Troutman is the Founder and President of Resume Place, Inc., a Federal Career Consulting business located in Baltimore, MD. Her firm specializes in writing and designing professional federal resumes, as well as consulting, coaching and education on the federal hiring process. She is the author of many best-selling federal career books, including the Federal Resume Guidebook, 7th Ed. See the books at https://resume-place.com/books/
Troutman is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable media guest, appearing on Beverly Jones’s Jazzed about Work on NPR’s WOUB, Carol Fishman Cohen’s 3, 2, 1 iRelaunch (Relaunching Your Career), Mark Miller’s Repurpose Your Career, and numerous times on Mike Causey’s Your Turn show on Federal News Network. Her business, The Resume Place, had been featured in The Washington Post. To hear interviews of this top federal jobs expert, click here.