As a Federal Career Consultant, I work with a range of individuals all over the globe and my biggest challenge is the same, regardless of the audience. Federal job seekers don’t understand that the federal government is a whole different ball game—the resumes are different, qualification process is different, selection process is different, salary negotiation process is different, interview process is different, politics are different–everything is VERY different from the private sector. You have to understand these differences and learn what to do and what not to do.
Although it can and does happen, you cannot expect to submit one application package and land the perfect job. If you really want to get a Federal job, it will take an investment of your time and 100% commitment to the process. You have to be committed to creating a quality application package and submitting it multiple times so you can get your application package in front of as many HR Specialists as possible. Never, ever put all your eggs in one basket; they will easily get broken along with your ego. You have to have thick skin and be persistent and consistent—and it can be well worth the effort!
Everyone agrees that KSAs are labor intensive and time consuming not to mention difficult to complete. So excluding them from the application process may seem to be a welcome relief. However, the purpose of KSAs is to demonstrate the skills you have in a context so that the HR folks and hiring manager can have a detailed understanding of how you perform AND can picture you as a high performer in their work environment. Without KSAs, it can be difficult to convey how you are qualified for the job.
ANSWER from Corliss Jackson, Federal Job Results President and CEO
If KSAs are removed from the application process, this makes your resume content even more important.
WHY? Your resume must be a combination of skills, duties, responsibilities, competencies AND accomplishments (we call them project success stories or KSAs), all related to the job to which you are applying. This is to provide the Agency HR staff with as much information as necessary to give you credit for the skills you have AND the project success stories credited to you. (Remember they score you from 70-100; your goal as an applicant is to get closest to 100). This can only make your Federal resume stronger.
HOW? We use the SPAR approach to describe your project success stories for KSAs. SPAR stands for SITUATION, PROBLEM, ACTION AND RESULTS. This easy acronym conveys your skills in the context of a problem, demonstrates how you solved the problem in terms of the actions you took to meet the challenge and describes the results achieved for the organization. SPAR can also be used in a simplified manner to develop project success stories for your resume. Develop 2-3 sentences for each of your top project success stories (probably 2-3 per job) using the SPAR approach. Create a section under each job listed on your Federal resume called “KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS.” List your project success stories in this section. Voila, you’ve combined your Federal resume with a simplified version of your KSAs and created a more powerful document for Agency HR staff to review.
