HARRINGTON CONNECTION

Great Federal Résumé Site!

In my opinion, the National Institutes of Health's Jobs Online Tutorials are the best, hands down! I found the Online Tutorial on “Federalizing Your Résumé” very informative and useful. Click here to access NIH Jobs Online Tutorials to learn how to check your applicant status, write a federal résumé, and much more.

How to guard against age bias – Federal Career Advice - Ask The Experts - FederalTimes.com

via blogs.federaltimes.com

In almost every workshop, I get a question about age and if it matters during the interview. Well, I just came across this blog by Lily Whiteman, who outlines a few potential strategies for deflecting age bias questions during an interview.

KSA's are out the door! Well, partly yes...partly no.

Following the Administration's released memorandum about the federal hiring reform (May 11, 2010), there is no doubt that many folks are asking questions like, "Have you heard that KSA essays are going away!" or "Did you read in the paper that KSA essays are history!"  The news about the hiring reform is a welcomed change that is long over due. 

As a federal government employee and career bureaucrat, I applaud the Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, who has guided and led the OPM 'Titanic' most aptly and efficiently.

However, even though many media outlets reported the "elimination of knowledge, skills and abilities statements", don't throw away your writing tablets just yet. According to both the Presidential Memorandum ("Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process") and the Senate Bill 736, "Federal Hiring Process Improvement Act of 2010", while essay-styled questions, infamously known as KSA essays, will not be required with the initial application, agencies may require KSA essays during the assessment phase as the job candidates are narrowed down to a few.  In short, under the auspices of the new hiring reform, agencies will not be able to require job applicants to submit lengthy, narrative KSA essays with the initial application materials; but they still serve as a valuable assessment tool later in the application process.

Alumni Career Workshop: Federal Jobs

The following YouTube video is titled, "

Writing a Federal Government Résumé

Before a large group I presented my new workshop called, "Writing a Federal Government Résumé", that gave a basic overview of how to prepare a Federal résumé. I am very grateful for McLean Bible Church and Career Network Ministry for allowing me to help people who are seeking employment during these tough economic times. The new presentation is located on the "Resources" section of this blog site.

Government Jobs: New hiring rules coming

New hiring rules coming
Federal Times - November 20, 2009
The Office of Personnel Management thinks it has zeroed in on one of the big reasons it takes so long to hire new employees: procrastinating managers. Read more.

Government Jobs: Fired up about a new system for hiring

I am very hopeful that John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, will be able to bring about a new hiring reform for the Federal government. As reported in the following article, Berry wants to do away with KSAs (government essays that a job candidate must write to describe their knowledge, skills, and abilities) and move to a résumé-based system like the private sector uses.

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Fired up about a new system for hiring
Washington Post - March 17, 2010
The Obama administration's plan to redo a federal hiring process that has long been mired in the muck of bureaucracy and redundancy is nearing completion. The overhaul effort itself has moved like a slow boat to China, but it appears at last ready to reach its final port of call. Read more.

Government Jobs: How to Get Them

Government Jobs: How to Get Them - CBS MoneyWatch.com

How to Get a Job in the Federal Government

FCIC: How to Get a Job in the Federal Government

I found this article about how to apply for a federal job by Olivia Crosby. It is a pretty good primer for job seekers or career changers who want to work for Uncle Sam.

What You Should Know: Federal workforce improvement strategy

via www.washingtonpost.com

The White House introduced the FY 2011 Budget to Congress Feb. 1, 2010. As part of the Budget, the President highlighted key strategic goals to improve management of the Federal workforce in Chapter 10 of the "Analytical Perspectives" section of the budget.

The Budget also estimates that the total Executive Branch civilian employment population is "expected to grow by 274,000 positions through 2011". A significant amount of the increase (79 percent) is expected to happen at the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of State.

What does this mean to you?

As the federal government continues to hire new employees, it is important that you highlight key, transferable skills in your resume and/or government essays (also known has Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities, or KSA's) to show the following:

• You are able to manage highly sensitive situations that require great skill, experience, and judgment to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders to advance progress on complex, and often novel, problems.
• You possess sophisticated management and negotiation skills to coordinate change not just across Federal Government organizations, but also at other levels of government, not-for-profit providers, and for-profit contractor.
• You have the ability to manage large, highly complex information systems that exceed the scope of most private sector systems.

For the latest on federal career information, the Federal Diary and Career Matters are two sites that I highly recommend.