1. Tips on the Federal Job
Process
Or How Do I Really Get To The Interview Stage?
Marianne Giltrud
November 5, 2011
2. Presidential Memorandum May 2011
Designed to Improve the Federal
Recruitment and Hiring Process.
Making it easier to apply for a federal job.
3. Good News Bad News
Federal Hiring Managers do not have any
input into the evaluation of applicants
The first “eye” that “sees” your application is
a computer.
The next is the Human Resource employee.
Third, is the hiring official.
To get to this stage, your resume needs to be
focused and targeted to the job
announcement.
4. Best Qualified???
Yes, KSA’s…..No, KSA’s
Explicitly Call Out in Resume
Typically receives 80+ out of a possible 100
Point Value for demonstrated qualifications
Superior Ability =4
Satisfactory Ability=3
Barely Acceptable or Potential Ability=2
Some Value=1
No value-0
5. Roadblocks
Veteran’s Preference
“Stoppers”-Priority Placement Lists and First
Consideration
Multiple Lists of Eligible candidates
Desire to promote from within
Too many candidates….Too few jobs
Hiring freezes and slow downs
Alas a silver lining?
6. How do I know?
If the announcement says…
Public
All Qualified
US Citizens
All Sources
All groups of qualified individuals
All qualified candidates
US Citizens and Status Candidates
YOU MAY APPLY FOR THE POSITION-EVEN IF
YOU ARE NOT A CURRENT OR FORMER
FEDERAL EMPLOYEE, HAVE NO PRIOR
FEDERAL SERVICE, OR ARE WORKING IN AN
EXCEPTED SERVICE POSITION
7. Two Classes of Federal Employees
Competitive Service
OPM, Civil Service Laws enacted by Congress.
Candidates must meet all qualifications of the job.
Excepted Service
Not subjected to Pay, Appointment, Classification
Rules in Title 5, U.S. Code
FBI-GSA-STATE-CIA –May or May not advertise on
USA Jobs
LOC --- Advertise on USA Jobs
8. 2011 FLICC Competencies for Federal
Librarians
http://www.loc.gov/flicc/publications/Lib_Compt/2011/2011Competencies.pdf
9. USA Jobs
FAQ’s https://help.usajobs.gov/index.php/Top_Ten_FAQ
What’s new at USA Jobs at http://
www.usajobs.gov/Content/pdfs/What%27s%20New%20in%20USAJOBS.pdf
Advanced Search http://
www.usajobs.gov/Content/pdfs/Advanced%20Search.pdf
Saved Searches http://
www.usajobs.gov/Content/pdfs/Saved%20Searches.pdf
Resumes http://www.usajobs.gov/Content/pdfs/Tutorials-Resume.pdf
Executive Service http://
www.usajobs.gov/Content/pdfs/Senior%20Executive%20Service.pdf
13. Job Announcements
Read everything, read it again, reflect, read it for key
words.
Go Through Every tab
Overview, Duties, Qualifications & Evaluations, Benefits & Other
Info, How to Apply
Be aware of timetable. If it says at 11:50pm on Nov. 5, 2011, it
you turn it in at 12:00pm it won’t be accepted.
Deconstruct the announcement
Identify Key Words based on the frequency in the
announcement.
Think about the announcement…..
What are key elements to the job?
What are the skill sets required to do that? How can I translate or transfer
my skills to this announcement?
Restate any questions from the job questionnaire in your resume.
15. How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for the position based
on the qualifications for this position as
evidenced by the education, experience and
training you report relevant to the position,
that demonstrates that you possess the
knowledge, skills and abilities required.
Be specific, explain the why and the how.
Look at the announcement and Map the Duties
and Skills
16. Duties and Skills Map
Duties of the Jobs Skills/Knowledge Required
Designs, develops and tests Designs, develops and maintains web
website. sites using Drupal CMS. Updates
versions, customizes content, creates
taxonomies.
Contributes content to the website. Skilled in network communication, client-
server architecture, programming
languages, testing and debugging code.
Acts as production coordinator for Creates and maintains websites using,
the web page, multimedia postings HTML, PHP, PERL JavaScript, XHTML,
and for public national website. XML, and CSS.
Communicates with library wide Engages, connects and interacts with
communities‘ of practice. users to ensure web accessibility and
ADA compliance.
17. Achievements
Created Association’s DRUPAL CMS website
from the ground up. Awarded Best in Class for
New Trends in Website Usability.
Created a Wiki to enhance communication
between various stakeholder groups. Improved
quality and quantity of face to face networking
activities.
Constructed taxonomies, organizational
frameworks, and structured content for easy
access as well as improved look, feel and
usability.
18. Frame Experience = Competencies
Knowledge: Knowing about or understanding
something, learning through study or
experience
Skills: Ability to perform something; knowing
how to do something
Ability: Capacity to do something, an
inherent mental or physical characteristic
that helps someone do certain things.
Paid and Non Paid
Volunteer-Homemaker
Capstone projects, practicum or internships
Other work experience
19. Tell Your Story
Write in the first person.
Use action words.
Identify who you are dealing
with…..Management, Customers, Team
Members
Show level of responsibility- Team Leader, team
member, subordinate, providing support to
management, etc.
Include specialized education or training that
helped make you successful.
Include any awards or praise received.
20. Character Traits
Take control of your part of the application process.
Be selective in applying for the jobs and spend the time to do it right.
Focus your time and efforts on the jobs for which you are best
suited.
Invest time and effort to create a strong, focused and targeted
resume.
Create as many word and phrase matches as you can with the
announcement.
Do everything they tell you to do within the time frame allowed.
Be persistent. Keep trying.
21. Resources
Careers in Federal Libraries Google Group
Subscribe by sending an email to
careers-in-federal-libraries@googlegroups.com.
Job Announcements, Resume Reviewers, Discussions
New Feds on Facebook
newfeds@groups.facebook.com
2011 FLICC Competencies
http://www.loc.gov/flicc/publications/Lib_Compt/2011/2011Competencies.pdf
Education and Career Planning Wiki
http://educationandcareerplanning.pbworks.com
Careers in Federal Libraries Slide Share Account
www.slideshare.net/CareersinFederalLibraries/
Tips on the Federal Job Process Did you know that there are 2200 federal libraries nationally? That means that library and information professionals are serving Americans every day in many ways. Informal survey--- How many of you have used the tutorials on the USA jobs website? How many of you have researched your top three federal organizations that you believe matches your vision and personal mission statement? Why, Why not?
The Presidential Memoranda intends to make the hiring process easier. You still need to do the research! That’s what library and information professionals are really good at! Focus and target your resume to the job announcement. Be creative and think about what is important to the hiring manager. The Why and the How? Why do you want this job, i.e. what skills and abilities can you bring to the table to add value to the organization? How do you do what you do and why is that important to the hiring manager? While the KSA’s may appear to be gone, it is still very important to answer the questionnaire and restate those items in your resume.
Be specific. The good news is that you can apply online. The bad news is that the resumes are screened by machines that look for WORD MATCHES. Be Clear. Be Precise. Map your competencies to the announcement and give specifics.
To get to the hiring manager a best qualified candidate receives 80+ points and is considered to have Superior Ability to perform the job as announced. Be specific, targeted, use action words, like …Designed, developed and implemented. Created, Communicated, researched, wrote, analyzed.
These are all true. Veteran’s Preference and any priority placement lists do get first consideration, so make sure that you are a good match to the position. Then take the time and energy to do it right. Be Persistent.
Please know that some positions are being announced Publicly as well as for Status Candidates. So read the announcement carefully. So what that means is that there might be an internal candidate but the hiring manager wants to get a broader cross section of applicants.
If you are targeting positions managed by OPM then USA Jobs is your default portal. What that means is not all federal jobs are announced via USAJobs.gov. What do you do then? Check out the agencies website to see what vacancies appear there. Follow those instructions and apply.
Read these carefully. They state the competencies that are expected of an employee in a certain classification of position.
Not many Librarian Positions being announced and that may be becoming less over time.
The skill sets that are used by library and information professionals are very important. We organize, synthesize, verify, analyze, arrange and report on information. We research, recommend, and provide insight into the most complex problems. We think critically and identify bias, and add our expert knowledge to answer questions.
Technology skills are even more important today.
It’s really important to take the time to read the announcement carefully. Deconstruct the announcement by looking at the key elements of the job and what skills/competencies are necessary. It might be useful to compare the Duties stated in the announcement to the compentencies articulated in the Competencies for Federal Librarians.
Here’s a job announcement I found recently. It’s in the 2200 series and its called an IT Specialist Internet Series.
To give you an example I’ve broken down some of the key duties and skills/knowledge required.
Here I’ve taken some of the basic duties and then mapped the skills/knowledge required that included some of the concepts from the job questionnaire.