I am thankful that the government and its Federal employees have continued their work – no matter what challenges came up! This has been the most challenging work year that I can remember in all my years of teaching Federal resume classes and coaching people with writing their resumes.

I am especially thankful that Federal employees continued to work at home, 40 hours per week, on MS Teams, Zoom, or Adobe Connect. Meanwhile their children were taking Zoom classes on the next room, stopping by and asking for snacks, dogs were hanging around, and the house was active and noisy!! Thank you for your perseverance and patience!

2020 – COVID-19 and the Shutdown – Working from home, March 11, 2020 to Unknown. There have been many new missions to keep Americans safe by numerous Federal agencies: HHS, CDC, FDA, USACE, FEMA, SBA, DOT, DOL, Joint Services and Reservists. THANK you for helping us making it through the Pandemic !!

This year in every virtual class on Federal Resume Writing, I heard stories from Federal employees. How they achieved their job duties, agency mission and customer services while working at home – starting suddenly one day, March 11, 2020. They worked with multiple, technically challenging online meetings. They were creative and innovative in setting up new processes to continue their work with agency programs and customers – despite not being about to fly (even for critical missions), meet in person, inspect anything in person, or go into the office. What a world class difficult work year.

I heard the best Covid-19 Forklift Story ever. At Sierra Army Depot, Herlong, CA, one forklift driver was working (everyone else was out). He single-handedly unloaded and moved 2000 (approx.) containers of COVID-19 supplies to be sent to Army installations worldwide. The entire unloading and subsequent shipping had to be completed in two weeks. It was an emergency situation.

What did you do to meet the needs of your agency and your job during the COVID-19 year? You can be proud of what you did to keep working and keep people safe … While doing your job! Federal Resume Writing Tip: Add your story to your current Job Block and add it under KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS!

We have a lot to be thankful for, now the year is almost over.

-Still employed and still meeting agency and program missions!

-Still working toward promotions, new training and programs! I know this because here at the Resume Place, we are still reviewing resumes for promotions, career changes, retirements and leadership development programs. Recruitment and career change is actually the same – Pandemic or not.

-NEW! You have new accomplishments to add to your resume in terms of your COVID-19 Pandemic Accomplishments – stories about how you kept working virtually. The government agency services and programs DID NOT STOP with the Pandemic. You changed your way of working to stay safe and keep providing services. These stories are added to every resume now. These work achievements and new methods have lasted more than a year!

-The government is still hiring and will be growing this year and next. And your resume will include 1 to 3 COVID-19 Pandemic Accomplishments now! And they will be stories for your job interview as well.

-Children are back in school (with masks). Children made it through the year with Zoom; hopefully they learned a few things! Thank you TEACHERS for your amazing work – with no notice or training, Zoom Teaching to Children!!

-You can have Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends!

-You can be more Thankful than ever for your health and your family’s health!

Kathryn Troutman is the Founder and President of The Resume Place, Inc., a service business located in Potomac, MD. The Resume Place is a government agency federal career and Federal Career Certification training organization. RP also specializes in writing and designing professional federal resumes. Kathryn is the author of many best-selling federal career books, including the Jobseeker’s Guide: Ten Steps to a Federal Job for Military Personnel and Spouses, 8th Ed. and the Federal Resume Guidebook, 7th Ed.