A couple months back I had the chance to talk to an HR Technician about a job opening that had just closed. This vacancy was open to the general public in an effort to fill two entry-level positions. The posting was only up on the USAJOBS website for three days, which is one of the shortest postings that I’ve ever seen, and the job itself was in a real remote area. Any guesses on how many applications they had come in during this time?
Over 250.
Yeah, I know there’s some kind of recession going on right now, but that still seems like a mind-blowing number of applicants for only two jobs. And as hard as it was for me to imagine the competition between the applicants, it’s got to be even more stressful for the HR lady that had to sort through their resumes. It’s nearly impossible to review such a large number of applicants, and to put it simply, that’s why the HR techs don’t even bother to look at them all!
Most new federal applicants don’t realize that once they submit their application through USAJOBS, their qualifications are screened by a software program which looks for certain keywords before any human being ever has the chance to lay eyes on their resume. These programs filter through the resumes and search to make sure that an applicant has listed that they have the required skills for the job. No matter how qualified an applicant might be, if their resume isn’t properly written then they’re just not going to make the cut.
This is why most current federal employees tend to use very long resumes whenever they apply for promotional opportunities, simply because they’re aware of the obstacles they face with keyword screening programs. A “competitive” federal resume might be as long as 4-5 (or more!) pages, a size which would leave most private sector employees speechless! Still, including more information rather than less is probably a pretty good strategy to use when submitting applications through USAJOBS.
I also recommend taking a few extra minutes to tailor your resume before you submit it to each individual vacancy. Be sure to read the job announcement thoroughly, and list your past experience in the language used in the announcement. In the case of the 250 applicants I mentioned earlier, it turns out that dozens of them were disqualified on a mere technicality. Turns out that the vacancy announcement required them to spell out that they could type 40 words per minute within the body of their resume, and a lot of them failed to do so. Never mind that these people already had similar work experience to this position, or that they were probably very well qualified—they failed to follow the vacancy announcement’s instructions to the letter, and as a result they weren’t considered for the jobs!
Listen, the federal hiring process is not a fast one, so it’s a good idea to slow down for a few seconds and take a deep breath before you submit that application. Make sure your resume is as tailored as it can possibly be before you send it in. Remember, no matter how qualified you are, you’ve got to make it past the keyword screening programs before you can actually impress anyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment