With jobs in the private sector considerably less plentiful than in healthier economic times, job seekers are searching alternative avenues of employment.  A major avenue for such job seekers is the federal government with opportunities accessed via submission of resumes for government positions, also termed resumes for federal employment.  Although offering a broad range of career paths and job functions, the federal government (as well as many state, county, and municipal governments) has established application processes for federal resumes that are starkly dissimilar to private industry.  When submitting your qualifications to potential employers in the business sector, your opportunities are often maximized due to the flexibility inherent in private industry.  For example, if you apply for a specific job and the hiring manager for that opportunity believes you to be better suited to another open position, he or she may arrange to forward your resume to an appropriate colleague.

When presenting resumes for government employment, however, you have no such “play,” since the requirements and duties for government jobs are very carefully circumscribed – allowing no deviation on resumes for federal positions.  Thus, your resume must either be targeted to the specific position, or you must otherwise ensure that the specific positions for which you submit your resume for federal employment match your qualifications and skills sets exactly.
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