Becoming a federal employee is challenging. You must be determined to succeed, and set your goals. When applying for a government job, you have to make sure that you include everything on your resume. You background activities are essential in this field.

How to Succeed in Writing Your Federal Resume

You must be aware of the qualities you possess by now. All you have to do now is highlight your abilities and prove the government why hiring you is worth it. No pressure, right? While you might be able to include white lies when applying for ordinary jobs, there is no chance you should even attempt to lie when applying for a federal job. Take a look at the following ways to succeed in writing a federal resume.

Include details

Set your past experiences in chronological order. Make it easy for your employer to follow. You must include all your experiences, examples of them, and hours of work. Here are some tips to include:

• The date you started and ended your job position

• The number of hours you worked for every job

• How much experience you’ve accumulated during your job

• Examples of your accomplishments and tasks required for your previous jobs

• Every qualification or awards you won

Include volunteering

Volunteering is always a good thing to include on your resume. It proves that you care about other things besides work and that you have a strong impact on your community. It is wrong to think that the government does not care about this – they actually care more than you might think.

Alyssa Stromberg, CEO at ResumesPlanet, shares her opinion. “Volunteering helped me get the government job I wanted. They appreciated my enthusiasm for nature and concluded that I will be as enthusiastic about my job as I was about my volunteering. And they were not wrong! At first, I didn’t even think about including ‘planting trees for a better planet’ in my resume; but it defines me. So I did. And hey! I got the job, haven’t I?”

Quantify your work and give out numbers

In order to underline your performances, you need to give out numbers. That does not mean you are bragging, it just means you show results and highlight skills. Ask for recommendations from formal employers – that will emphasize your good performance. You can also ask for reviews from your former coworkers. That will prove teamwork expertise.

When you describe your achievements, make sure you:

• Give certain examples of how you managed your company’s duties. For instance, write “Increased profit by 50% during the first quarter of 2015. That brought around $2.5 million to the company’s budget. Got promoted to a sales manager.”

• Never avoid “bragging,” how else are they going to know how good you are? Of course, recommendations help, but you should also know how to promote yourself.

• Include time-management skills and examples of how you managed to solve different problems – what strategies did you use? What made you decide to use them?

• Highlight as many leadership skills as you can, it will help you greatly getting an interview. Give out examples of how you managed difficult situations, and how you led numerous groups of people (for instance, as a project manager).

Don’t use “one-size-fits-all” resume

Customize your resume based on the department you are applying for. You cannot send the same resume everywhere, each section has different requirements. After you read the demands, make sure your resume includes answers to them. Highlight the skills you have by connecting them to the corresponding abilities they are looking for.

Be concise, but include everything

This sounds like a difficult task to do. It is challenging to be brief and include everything at the same time, but you can do it if you structure your resume. First, make an outline of what you want to include and stick to it. Then add the data needed, and all the other details you want to include. Answer these following questions before you finish:

• Is my resume shorter than a page?

• Does it include every single important activity I’ve done?

• Will the hiring manager be able to see my contact details within 20 seconds?

• Is the top of my resume convincing people to continue reading?

• Have I underlined the required skills more than the usual ones?

• Have I reviewed my resume completely? Do I have any typos or grammar mistakes?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then you are good to press send!

Remember that applying for a government job is different than applying for a regular job

• The Federal Government does not have a special application besides your resume – that’s why your resume has to be very good in order for you to succeed

• After applying, employment agencies will use your information to check if your qualifications fit the necessary demands

• After the agency determines if you are fit for the job, they will schedule you for an interview

Conclusion

There is no easy path to success, especially in this field. Getting there has to be challenging – after all, it’s the Federal Government we are talking about. If everybody was able to get there, how would we know who is truly fit for the job? So be honest in your application, be truthful about your experiences, and show a lot of expertise. Remember to be brief, but include everything. If you manage to do that and also respond to the job requirements by pointing out your skills, consider yourself hired. Good luck!