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Respond to the needed keywords. You'll have to read the announcement very carefully, dot all i's, cross all t's and make sure you get those keywords in there.
Don't apply for any job you aren't 100% qualified for. You're just wasting your time because you won't make the cert.
Respond to the needed keywords. You'll have to read the announcement very carefully, dot all i's, cross all t's and make sure you get those keywords in there.
Don't apply for any job you aren't 100% qualified for. You're just wasting your time because you won't make the cert.
So that has been one of my issues, my degree and experience is in chemical/process engineering, specifically in oil and gas which is a niche but the experience and education that I have is most certainly transferable. With some electrical engineering and aviation maintenance on the side. My side work has actually got me to the point where I can sit for my EE PE and my A&P. I have been taking EE classes since 2009 on the side and crafting my day to day work over the years to incorporate the electrical side of control systems work so I could get the sign offs. So not quite a full blown second degree but I have taken all the brutal stuff and some graduate level EE as well.
That being said when I go through the KPA's there is always like 3-4 questions out of the, like, 8 sections that I simply can not say that I have experience with.
I am attempting to stay within a certain area because my soon to be wifes pay combined with a fed job wage and the job security that goes along with it would be solid gold, but to move thousands of miles away for a fed job that maybe breaks 100k if you are lucky while my wife will have to start over is not really a tenable situation. That being said I am trying to cross over my skills into what is available in my area which is maybe a loosing situation?
So how do I take the KPA's and perhaps build those experiences and how far do I have to take it?
Typically there are like 5 radial buttons ranging from I know nothing to im an expert, is it true that if you are not an expert all the way down the line then don't bother? how much exaggeration can you put before you run afoul of the disclaimer you have to click on?
My wife makes GOOD money so if I lost my also good money but highly unstable oil job we would be better off with me working at a liquor store than moving to timbucktu to find the exactly matching fed job for chemical engineering, however I would like to avoid the scenario of working some low level job.
I still have a good job and I have the money to build experiences on the side if that's what needs to happen, however, I will add another spin to that. I do have an acquaintance at on of the organizations and I was asking if an A&P would help, an extra PE etc etc and they said no and that was with the FAA, so now I am at a loss as to how to make up those deficient KPA's.
Also even if I were to volunteer on the side at the FAA and if they let me by the time I could meet the threshold on the KPA (what like 3 radial buttons down?) then the job would be long gone and there would likely be another job that pops up that I am also missing 3-4 KPA's on.
Are most people single and willing to move ANYWHERE when their first get into the fed system? That would actually explain a lot. Once you have fed time in you can transfer and keep tenure and I am guessing at that point you can afford to not meet all the KPA's?
Had I known what a quagmire oil was going to become I would have gotten this USAjobs process over with a decade ago. I just dident really even know about USAjobs or how awesome fed jobs are.
OPM does free workshops on federal resume writing. I attended one and it was VERY helpful. I highly recommend attending a session. There is an active announcement now:
usajobs.gov/ResourceCenter/SpotlightDetails/?contentID=950
If the spots fill up, don't worry. They do these periodically. Someone from HR walks you through the process and gives you tips on how to craft your resume.
Respond to the needed keywords. You'll have to read the announcement very carefully, dot all i's, cross all t's and make sure you get those keywords in there.
Don't apply for any job you aren't 100% qualified for. You're just wasting your time because you won't make the cert.
Also I think you were the one saying that fed jobs are not actually very stable but that is contrary to what everyone has told me, people working in the FAA right now as well as OSHA.
What agency did you work for? I know that there can be base closures and other major events that can trigger furloughs and in rare? instances an actual lay off.
However that is a far different thing from someone telling you one day your contract is done because the bosses are all freaking out over a shift in oil prices and no one wants to upset the share holders profit margins. VERY different levels of stability.
OPM does free workshops on federal resume writing. I attended one and it was VERY helpful. I highly recommend attending a session. There is an active announcement now:
usajobs.gov/ResourceCenter/SpotlightDetails/?contentID=950
If the spots fill up, don't worry. They do these periodically. Someone from HR walks you through the process and gives you tips on how to craft your resume.
These ones are filled up but I will be looking out for sure.
Typically there are like 5 radial buttons ranging from I know nothing to im an expert, is it true that if you are not an expert all the way down the line then don't bother? how much exaggeration can you put before you run afoul of the disclaimer you have to click on?
HR will not even look at your resume if you don't score high enough. Unless they are asking something super specific, I pretty much ignore those targeted questions. The ones people say "are written for someone the want in the job." If the announcement says: "Rate your experience in the analysis of Shakespeare novels". If I have not analyzed Shakespeare but have analyzed a writer whose work is damn close, I'm rating myself an "expert". In my resume, I will highlight the analysis of the writing I've done and mention how it's close to Shakespeare. At this point, the HR person can either accept it or not. But if I say "I have no experience" because I have not analyzed Shakespeare specifically, I definitely won't get rated high, and my aggregate score might not be high enough for HR to even look at my resume.
This is a **** poor example, but basically...if you have done comparable work and KNOW you can do the work they are asking you to do, rate yourself an "expert" if you can show in your resume that you have the skill. Don't just randomly go down picking "expert" so you can rate high. That is a red flag and losing strategy. There are a number of times I'm on the fence about an answer, and if, say, on a scale of 1 to 5 ("1" being no experience and "5" being an expert) I have a slew of answers where I could truthfully only answer a "3", I will rate myself an expert on those "on the fence" questions to boost my overall score (but only if I can back it up on my resume). Once you learn how the system works you can strategize. But seriously...sign up for one of the OPM workshops. That will be a GREAT start.
Do not be modest about your experience. Do not get stuck in the "I don't have the specific experience they're asking about so I can't say I'm an expert" game. That is a losing strategy.
HR will not even look at your resume if you don't score high enough. Unless they are asking something super specific, I pretty much ignore those targeted questions. The ones people say "are written for someone the want in the job." If the announcement says: "Rate your experience in the analysis of Shakespeare novels". If I have not analyzed Shakespeare but have analyzed a writer whose work is damn close, I'm rating myself an "expert". In my resume, I will highlight the analysis of the writing I've done and mention how it's close to Shakespeare. At this point, the HR person can either accept it or not. But if I say "I have no experience" because I have not analyzed Shakespeare specifically, I definitely won't get rated high, and my aggregate score might not be high enough for HR to even look at my resume.
This is a **** poor example, but basically...if you have done comparable work and KNOW you can do the work they are asking you to do, rate yourself an "expert" if you can show in your resume that you have the skill. Don't just randomly go down picking "expert" so you can rate high. That is a red flag and losing strategy. There are a number of times I'm on the fence about an answer, and if, say, on a scale of 1 to 5 ("1" being no experience and "5" being an expert) I have a slew of answers where I could truthfully only answer a "3", I will rate myself an expert on those "on the fence" questions to boost my overall score (but only if I can back it up on my resume). Once you learn how the system works you can strategize. But seriously...sign up for one of the OPM workshops. That will be a GREAT start.
Do not be modest about your experience. Do not get stuck in the "I don't have the specific experience they're asking about so I can't say I'm an expert" game. That is a losing strategy.
VERY VERY good advice, thank you. Do you know if there are pre-recorded webinars of these classes?
I don't think they're recorded, but they give you a copy of the presentation afterward.
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