Federal Jobs

What are Special Hiring Authorities?

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Here are a few special hiring authorities for non-veterans that may help you better compete for your target job:

• Direct Hire Authority: Some entire occupational series qualify for Direct Hire Authority (DHA). The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides both government-wide and agency-specific direct hiring authority for filling vacancies when there arises a critical hiring need or severe shortage of candidates. Direct hiring authority can be used to fill a variety of types of appointments: permanent, temporary, and limited and term appointments with “not-to-exceed” dates. A few position types eligible for DHA government-wide include: Information Technology Management Specialist (Information Security)—grades 9 and above (job series 2210); diagnostic radiologic technologist (job series 647); medical officer (job series 602); nurse (job series 610); pharmacist (job series 660); and federal acquisitions positions covered under Title 41.

• Digital Services Experts: In mid-2015, OPM authorized excepted service appointments at the GS-11 to GS-15 levels for candidates with expertise in “modern digital product design, software engineering, product management, creating and maintaining flexible infrastructure, and designing and implementing agile governance structures,” as stated by the then OPM Director. If your work falls into this category, you may be eligible for this specialized hiring authority. Twenty-five agencies and a number of programs may use this authority. As you engage in career networking, be sure to mention your eligibility for this appointment; not all HR personnel and hiring managers may know about this.

• CyberCorps®: Scholarship for Service (SFS) is a unique program designed to broaden and strengthen the cadre of federal information assurance professionals that protect the government’s critical information technology infrastructure. SFS scholarships typically fully fund full-time student costs such as tuition and education-related fees, as long as you attend a participating institution. Funded by National Science Foundation grants, students receive stipends of $22,500 for undergraduate work and $34,000 for graduate programs. Visit https://www.sfs.opm.gov/ for more information.

• Former AmeriCorps and Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV): Agencies may appoint former AmeriCorps and PCV non-competitively within 12 months of their separation from volunteer service. The 12-month period can be extended in certain circumstances such as military service, higher education, or other activities at the agency’s discretion.

• Schedule A for People with Disabilities. Qualified individuals with disabilities can be appointed to federal jobs non-competitively through a process known as Schedule A. In order to be eligible for Schedule A, you must meet the qualifications for your target (i.e., have the required competencies and relevant experience to perform the job) and provide “proof of a disability” documentation. “Proof of a disability” is a letter stating that you have an intellectual disability, severe physical disability, or psychiatric disability. This letter is obtained from your doctor, a licensed medical professional, a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist, or any federal, state, or local agency that issues or provides disability benefits.

• Military spouse. This hiring authority is for: a military spouse who is relocating with their service-member spouse as a result of permanent change of station (PCS) orders; a spouse who is 100% disabled due to active duty service; or the spouse of a service member killed while on active duty. This appointment is authorized under Executive Order 13473. Military spouse appointments are non-competitive and may be made to competitive service (status) jobs. Because these are noncompetitive appointments, veterans’ preference is not considered for positions filled under this authority.

• Emergency Hiring Authority to support recovery from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Agencies have been authorized to make Excepted Service hiring appointments on a temporary basis for up to one year, to work on recovery and relief; these appointments can be extended in one-year increments.

The authorities above do not represent the full range of specialized hiring authorities, nor does it include the nuances of these eligibilities. Just being eligible for any of the above hiring authorities does not guarantee you a job. It does, however, provide you with some additional tools to use in your search. If applicable, ensure you include these eligibilities in your resume, mention them during networking, and include them when you complete your USAJOBS profile. Additional information special hiring authorities is located at www.opm.gov.

Helpful tips for using USAJOBS

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It is important to fully understand the distinctions for your federal jobs search. Here are some tips for using USAJOBS and understanding the system:

Job Searches in USAJOBS
When you save a search in USAJOBS, the system automatically seeks those jobs that match the keywords and other criteria in your search; this tool is helpful to further discover more jobs that fit your interests. USAJOBS email you daily, weekly, or monthly when there are new jobs that align with your desired criteria. Applicants can create and save up to 10 saved searches; however, after one year, a saved search will expire.

How to Save a Job Search and Sign Up for Email Notifications
1. Sign in to USAJOBS (only signed in users can save their search).
2. Search a keyword or location in the search box.
3. You can narrow results by using filters.
4. Click Save this search on the search results page located above the search results.
5. Give the search a name—this will help you manage your saved searches.
6. Choose how often to get notified (daily is recommended since some jobs can open and close within a week or less)
7. Click Save.

How to Manage Your USAJOBS Saved Searches
1. Sign into USAJOBS and go to Saved Searches.
2. to see more details of the search, click the +, and from here there are multiple options:
• Run saved search | Click View Results to run the saved search and see results.
• Renew a search | Click Renew to renew the search for an additional year after it expires.
• Edit your saved search | Click Edit search criteria to change keywords, location or filters. You may save you updated search.
• Edit your notification settings | Click Edit notifications settings to change notifications to daily, weekly, monthly, or to turn them off.
• Delete saved search | Saved searches can only be deleted from archived list. Go to archived saved searches and click the + and then click Delete located under the Unarchive Search button.
If a saved search is deleted, you will no longer receive emails for those search results.
• Archive saved search | Click Archive to move the saved search to the archived list.

Checking the Status of Applications
1. Sign in to USAJOBS.
2. Go to Applications located on the Home page; active applications display automatically.
3. Review list of applications (applications are listed by the date they were last updated). The application status is highlighted next to each job application.
4. Click the + to see more application details.

Meanings Each Status
Each status tells you at what stage application is within the application process—whether it’s been received, reviewed, selected, not-selected, etc.
• Advancing
Your application has been received and is being considered for employment.

• Received
The hiring agency has received your application.

• Reviewed
The hiring agency has reviewed the application but whether or not it meets the qualifications has not yet been determined.

• Referred
Application is among the best qualified and is referred to the next step in the selection process.

• Selected
The hiring agency has offered a position.

• Hired
Applicant has accepted the position.

• Paused
The job application has not been completed and requires further action.

• In Progress
The application is unfinished; it has been started, but not completed or submitted yet. If the job is still open, the application can be completed and submitted.

• Incomplete
The application is not complete; it may be missing required documents. If the job is still open, the application can be completed and submitted.

• Stopped
Application is no longer being considered for the job, or the agency canceled the job. Applications with this status will automatically archive three months after the last status update.

• Canceled
The job announcement has been withdrawn without anyone being hired. A job announcement can be canceled any time after the job is posted.

• Not Referred
Application is not among the best qualified and has not been referred to the next step in the selection processes.

• Not Selected
Applicant has not been selected for the position.

• Not Hired
Candidate was not offered the position or declined the offer.

• Unknown
The status of the job application cannot be determined.

Note: Unavailable status may appear because…
• The hiring agency may not have yet updated USAJOBS to show that your resume was received or that your application was complete.
• Applicant may not have completed the application process.
• Applicant may not have properly logged out of USAJOBS.
• The hiring agency’s system did not return the status of the application to USAJOBS.

Take 5 min to Proofread Your Resume the Right Way

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Did you know September is International Update Your Resume Month? Likely not, but it’s a perfect time to proofread your resume. Proofreading is hard—and it’s especially difficult to proofread your own work. Despite the challenges, it is critical that your resume be perfect and, if you’re including a cover letter, that needs to be perfect too.

Asking someone else to proofread your document is a good strategy but make sure the person you ask has strong grammar, spelling, and editing skills. And of course, you want to proof your own documents.

Some tested strategies for proofreading include:
• Read your document slowly from beginning to end to check for typos and other errors.
• Run spell check (recognizing that spell check is far from perfect and will not pick up errors in word usage; for example, using manger when you meant manager.
• Read your document backwards, starting at the end and then reading right to left
• Read your document out loud
• Run your document through Grammarly.com or other similar software

Here are some other ideas to address common mistakes:

Check for Punctuation Issues:
• Put periods at the end of all full sentences
• Keep your punctuation consistent when using bullets
• Periods and commas belong within quotation marks
• One space after a period is the current standard (not two spaces, which is appropriate for typewriters—and you’re not using a typewriter for your resume, are you?

Check for Spelling Errors:
• Don’t rely on spell check—it will not catch homophones or wrong words that are spelled correctly
• Use a dictionary
• Put your resume away for a couple of days and then read it; some times a few days away will help you see errors that were invisible before

Check Capitalization:
• Capitalize the first word of every sentence and bullet point
• Capitalize names and other proper nouns. The names of cities, countries, companies, religions, and political parties are proper nouns, as are days, months, and holidays. Other proper nouns including nationalities, institutions, and languages
• Governmental matters should be capitalized (as an example, Congress but not congressional, US Constitution but not constitutional)
• Government agencies are capitalized but the words federal and state and not generally capitalized unless those words are part of an official title (like Federal Trade Commission but not federal regulations)
• Titles are capitalized when they are followed by a name unless the title is followed by a comma
• Titles are not capitalized if it is used after a name or instead of a name

Tense Tips:
• Former jobs should always be in past tense
• Accomplishments should always be in past tense

Typos and other errors can be the “kiss of death.” The above tips, while not all-inclusive, will help ensure that your resume, cover letter, and other career documents are error-free.

Easy Resume Updates

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In honor of International Update Your Resume Month, I am focusing this month on providing tips to update your resume. If you’re ready to spend an hour or two updating your resume, here are some things you can do:

• Remove positions that are more than 10 or so years old. Most resumes these days only go back 10 years since most employers want to know what you have done recently.

• Check the length; if you’re updating a private sector resume, make sure it does not exceed 2 pages; if you’re working on your federal resume, try to keep your resume to 4-7 pages.

• Make sure your resume is full of key words that reflect the kinds of positions you are targeting. And make sure your language is up-to-date. If you are in Information Technology, don’t call it Management Information Systems, as an example.

• Modernize your font. For federal resumes, think Times New Roman or Arial; for private sector resumes, think Calibri or another sans serif font. No one should be using Courier anymore—ever!

• Make sure you have white space to make your resume easy to read. And if your federal resume still uses only one long paragraph for every job, break it up into several smaller paragraphs. It will be more visually appealing, plus easier to read.

• Change all written numbers to numerals; use $ instead of dollars, % instead of percent, and M instead of million. This will make your resume more visually appealing, take up less room, and make those numbers stand out from all of your text.

• Update your training and technical skills. If you’re still showing Windows95, and training classes from the 1990’s and the early 2000’s, it’s time to move on. You do not need every single class ever taken or every single software or other technology you ever used.

• Remove your objective and references from your resume. These are both considered old fashioned. Employers are not interested in what you want; instead they want to know what you offer. And instead of including references on your resume, you should create a reference page and bring that with you to interviews (and leave it with your interviewers).

• Eliminate the term “responsible for” from your resume. Just because you’re responsible for something doesn’t mean you did it…it just means you should have done it! Start your sentences and bullet points with verbs. And don’t put “s” on the end of those verbs—keep your verbs strong and varied!

15 Possible Questions to Ask During Your Interview

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Most interviews include time for you, the applicant, to ask questions. Do not let this opportunity go by and never say that you don’t have any questions! This is a great opportunity to show that you are interested in the position and the organization and you have given both serious thought. Here are 15 questions you might want to consider asking (you want to actually ask only 3-5):

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Five Things To Do Following an Interview

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Your interview went well, now what? For one thing, it is not time to rest on your laurels. You need to keep the momentum moving forward.

Here are 5 things to do following your interview:

1. Send a thank you note. If your interview was with the government, email is appropriate since most “snail mail” goes through testing before it is actually delivered. If you are interviewing with a company or nonprofit organization, then a handwritten note is still best.

2. Keep applying for other positions, even while you wait. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Some jobs never get filled. For example, the budget for the new position might not be approved. Or the responsibilities of the job opening may be distributed to one or more existing employees. Or an internal candidate may have suddenly become available, and the position is offered to him or her. There are many reasons why the position may never be filled at all.

Sometimes you were the best candidate that they had interviewed so far, but then someone whose skills and experience were an even better fit came through the door. Even though the job interview went well, you might not be offered the job. That’s why it’s important to keep applying for other jobs.

3. Develop any specific skills or knowledge that were mentioned in the job interview but that you’re weak in. Specific software platforms might be one example; knowledge of a specific law or regulation is another. Not only will this give you something to do while you wait, but it’s also an opportunity for you to demonstrate your serious interest in the position, because you can mention what you’re doing to strengthen your skills in your follow up with the interviewer or during a second interview.

4. Reach out to your network. If someone you knew at the organization who put in a good word for you with the hiring manager, be sure to check in with him or her after the interview. Your contact may be able to provide you with insight about the number of candidates interviewed, how your candidacy was perceived, and other valuable information about the hiring process and the organization culture. You can also look for connections or possible connections on LinkedIn who could put in a good word…of course you should have done this before the interview but it’s never too late!

5. Touch base with your references. Let them know that you’ve interviewed for the position (give them the job title and organization) and that they may be contacted. Make sure they have an updated copy of your resume. Ask them to let you know if they hear from the hiring manager.
BONUS: start preparing for the second round of interviews! Do more research about the organization If you anticipate you’ll be asked about a specific project you worked on, put together a brag book or portfolio to use in the second interview. Google the organization and find out what they’re working on, and how this job might impact their future plans. Be prepared!!