Any tips on how to get a federal job near/in Richmond? PLEASE HELP!!

[JDlaw]

Thanks to everyone for your tips! I'm taking your advice and if I land an interview I'll update.

@stp-fan maybe its a coincidence but I made my onto the fed reserve website today (before reading this) and there maybe 2 positions I might qualify for on there so I'm excited. Thx!

[EricB4]

JD Law:
I'll try to answer your question, contract specialist is a good field and Defense Contract Mgmt Agency (DCMA) recently relocated their HQ to Ft. Lee. As someone posted earlier, you may want to look at jobs with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, LMR, LMI, JLMI, L3, Cubic, Alion Science and Tech, etc. for contract specialist type of work. It's usually a little easier, and faster to get hired with them over the federal government. Once you get a "foot in the door" with a contracting company, get experience, and know people (very important), and IF a federal job opens, then you have a better chance of getting hired. From my experience with a GS job in the DoD, people are usually hired from the contract workforce, or they retired from the military and were already in the position. So the government already knows who they were hiring and many of the openings are advertised because it’s the law. It might not be fair, but that is usually the case. Good luck in your search.

[JDlaw]

@EricB4- Very informative! I've heard the contract companies are the way to go but I only knew of one such company locally which is JMLI...I've reached out to them twice with no luck. But I appreciate you listing some other options because I definitely had hit a wall in looking for contract companies! Thanks a bunch!

As an update...I checked out opm for the federal career intern program. Seems the program has been scrapped. :'-(

And as always, everyones responses are greatly appreciated! Thank you all!

[EricB4]

JD Law: Other contracting companies are General Dynamics, Turnaroud Factor at Defense Supply Center Richmond, Triumph Enterprises and Serco. Look for job fairs in the area (Ft. Lee has them sometimes) and go talk to the recruiters and apply to specific position. Good luck, it can be a double edged sword as people won't hire you w/o experience and you can't get it unless they hire you. Also, USA Jobs sometimes has contracting specialist positions open, even at the GS 7/9 level, although some may require you to relocate. In addition, you may have more luck in the Hampton Roads area with Ft. Eustis, Langley AFB, Norfolk Naval Base, etc.

[WBGuy]

Originally Posted by JDlaw

Over the past few years I scour USAJOBS submitting 100s and 100s of applications/questionnaires/resumes to no avail. I revamp my resume and try to write strong cover letters but I can't even score an interview! Is there a secret to getting a job on Ft Lee or Bellwood? I have education (a BA & a JD) and I'm trying to build my experience. I do not qualify for any veteran or spousal preference. I'm hoping to become a contract specialist...but I'm open to other positions like project or managenent analysts. If anyone has any tips, ideas, suggestions, contacts I'd greatly appreciate them. I NEED HELP!

Thank you in advance!

There is an art to applying for federal jobs on USAJobs. I recommend reading the looking to be hired discussion forms on Federal Soup. You can Google it for the address. Also, if you put two and two together, you should be able to figure out part of the reason why you're not getting interviews even after scoring 100 (Hint: 100 isn't the maximum score).

The economy is so bad that there are thousands of people applying to every job opening and hundreds are fully qualified for the position.

A successful candidate will need to stand above all the other applicants, which can often be demonstrated by having nearly identical work experience as the ones being announced in the application. A bachelors degree and five years of relevant work experience will trump a recent masters grad with no relevant work experience any day of the week.

Getting a federal job without preference is a friggin pain in the ass but worth it, for now at least.

[G-Burg Native]

Do you know if you're making the cert? The cert is the list of applicants who successfully completed the application package...met all the minimum requirements for the job. A cover letter is not important. The most important thing on your resume is indicating very clearly that you meet the minimum requirements for the job. This may sound harsh, but you will need to write your resume as if four year old were reviewing it. Human Resource specialists that review thousands of resumes skim the resumes looking for those minimum requirements for the job. You better have those spelled out blatantly for them to see.

Keep track on USAJobs as where your application is in the process. If you don't make the cert it will tell you. If you do make the cert, you will see a comment like "your resume has been sent on to the hiring official for review". I would say this is your first step. If you are not making the certs, contact the Human Resource Specialist that is indicated on the announcement. Call them directly. Ask them why you didn't make the cert. Be nice, they are usually rude because hundreds of people are calling them. Call them anyway. So if you want to find out why you didn't make the cert be friendly and they will tell you.

I second the idea of becoming a contractor first. That is how I got in. I am a contract specialist.

One last thing, look at the announcements. If they say that they are "Direct Hire" this means that the hiring official can hire anybody off of the cert (list of people who made the cut). If it doesn't say this, then the hiring officials have to go down the list I believe in groupings of three. The most highly qualified for the job down. This means that Veterans will get first dibs. You will be at the bottom of the list most likely.

Hope some of this helps.

[JDlaw]

@ EricB4- Thanks again! I googled for fed contract companies and found a list of some....many of the ones you mentioned weren't on the list so your post has been valuable! I have included the Tidewater area in my search and even though I'm not really wanting to go back to the DC area I do occasionally apply for positions there too.

@WBGuy- Thanks! I will check out Fed Soup. And you are right...experience trumps education. And I don't have any contract negiotiation experience....I try to sell the legal education and legal experience but that hasn't gotten me far...yet at least.

@G-Berg Native- Thanks! I have made cert a handful of times. Most of the time I get that email about being qualified but not the BEST qualified or that one about there being so many preference candidates that my application cannot be forwarded to the hiring manager a this time. I have called one of the contacts listed on an announcement. She fowarded my inquiry to someone else who wrote me an email basically saying that I need to tweak my resume for each submission...can't use the standard resume for each application. He essentially said what you said...you have to make sure the minimal requirements are explicitly listed on your resume b/c the 1st hurdle is a computer keyword search. You can be qualified but if you don't get past that keyword search you'll never make it to the hiring manager.

I'm actually working more toward getting into a contract company at this point....I think they will be the most likely to take a chance on someone without contract spec experience. Not saying I'm abandoning USAJOBS, but my current jobs is taking up alot of my "free" time so I must use my time wisely. We shall see. I'm still hopeful to get my foot in the door sometimes this year...

Many thanks to all!!