By Lily Whiteman
Federal News Career Columnist
When you apply for your next federal job, your application will likely first have to impress a computer. Before a human resources professional or selecting official decides whether to call you in for an interview, a computer scores your responses to short-answer questions to determine whether you have, in government lingo, “made the cert.”
Your answers to these questions — which will be formatted as true-false, check-the-boxes and tiered-response answers — may make or break your application.
Here’s why: Each potential response has a certain point value; the more types of experience and the more advanced experience each answer represents, the more points it is worth.
If the computer determines your total score, together with any veterans’ preferences points you have, falls below a predetermined threshold, your application will be rejected automatically, even before a human being has so much as glanced at it.
If your answers meet or exceed the threshold, your application will be forwarded to the selecting official for a possible interview.
Here is how to ace your short-answer questions: Troll through all of your educational and professional credentials, and interpret them liberally and leniently. Then give an answer — without lying — that represents your highest level of experience, biggest influence, most responsibility and most seniority. In tiered-response questions, this winning answer will not necessarily be positioned first or last in the list of possible answers. Then, in your résumé and application essays, support your short answers by further describing your credentials. Why? Because if you make the cert, a human resources official will cross-check your short answers against the rest of your application. If he determines that your answers aren’t corroborated, he will reject your application before forwarding it to the selecting official.
As you answer short-answer questions, remember that job applicants are not expected to judge themselves strictly or harshly. The heartless, soulless computer won’t give your application any points for candor; it will give your application points only for offering winning answers. Therefore, if you don’t judge yourself liberally and leniently, you may sabotage your own application.
This means that you should, for example, interpret vague terms in application questions to your advantage. So, where you are asked whether you are an expert in a certain field, answer affirmatively if you have significant educational or work expert in that field.
If you are asked if you have been a supervisor, answer affirmatively if you have allocated assignments and evaluated the work of members of a team you have led, even if you were not the first-line supervisor of team members.
If you don’t have a requested credential, give yourself full credit for any equivalent credential you do have. For example, if you are asked whether you took a course in a subject you never formally studied, answer affirmatively if you learned the subject through on-the-job experience, self-study or travel.
Your experience does not have to be earned on a federal job or your current job to count. Nor does it have to account for the majority or even a significant amount of your time to count.
If you cannot give yourself the winning answer for all or almost all short-answer questions on a particular application, your application probably won’t make the cut and will be rejected.
Therefore, your time would be better spent applying for other jobs.
If you do apply and are rejected from your target job, call the contact person identified on the vacancy announcement, and ask for your application’s point score and whether you “made the cert.”
The feedback should help you determine if your application approach is on the right track or warrants an overhaul.
Lily Whiteman is a public affairs officer at the National Science Foundation and author of “How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job,’’ available from Federal Times’ Books & More at http://www.federaltimes.com.
Her Web site is www.IGotTheJob.net
Showing posts with label jobs with federal government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs with federal government. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
How to Make the Cut
By Lily Whiteman
"Careers Columnist" for the Federal Times
When you apply for your next federal job, your application will likely first have to impress a computer. Before a human resources professional or selecting official decides whether to call you in for an interview, a computer scores your responses to short-answer questions to determine whether you have, in government lingo, “made the cert.”
Your answers to these questions — which will be formatted as true-false, check-the-boxes and tiered-response answers — may make or break your application.
Here’s why: Each potential response has a certain point value; the more types of experience and the more advanced experience each answer represents, the more points it is worth.
If the computer determines your total score, together with any veterans’ preferences points you have, falls below a predetermined threshold, your application will be rejected automatically, even before a human being has so much as glanced at it.
If your answers meet or exceed the threshold, your application will be forwarded to the selecting official for a possible interview.
Here is how to ace your short-answer questions: Troll through all of your educational and professional credentials, and interpret them liberally and leniently. Then give an answer — without lying — that represents your highest level of experience, biggest influence, most responsibility and most seniority. In tiered-response questions, this winning answer will not necessarily be positioned first or last in the list of possible answers. Then, in your résumé and application essays, support your short answers by further describing your credentials. Why? Because if you make the cert, a human resources official will cross-check your short answers against the rest of your application. If he determines that your answers aren’t corroborated, he will reject your application before forwarding it to the selecting official.
As you answer short-answer questions, remember that job applicants are not expected to judge themselves strictly or harshly. The heartless, soulless computer won’t give your application any points for candor; it will give your application points only for offering winning answers.
Therefore, if you don’t judge yourself liberally and leniently, you may sabotage your own application.
This means that you should, for example, interpret vague terms in application questions to your advantage. So, where you are asked whether you are an expert in a certain field, answer affirmatively if you have significant educational or work expert in that field.
If you are asked if you have been a supervisor, answer affirmatively if you have allocated assignments and evaluated the work of members of a team you have led, even if you were not the first-line supervisor of team members.
If you don’t have a requested credential, give yourself full credit for any equivalent credential you do have. For example, if you are asked whether you took a course in a subject you never formally studied, answer affirmatively if you learned the subject through on-the-job experience, self-study or travel.
Your experience does not have to be earned on a federal job or your current job to count. Nor does it have to account for the majority or even a significant amount of your time to count.If you cannot give yourself the winning answer for all or almost all short-answer questions on a particular application, your application probably won’t make the cut and will be rejected. Therefore, your time would be better spent applying for other jobs.
If you do apply and are rejected from your target job, call the contact person identified on the vacancy announcement, and ask for your application’s point score and whether you “made the cert.”
The feedback should help you determine if your application approach is on the right track or warrants an overhaul.
Lily Whiteman is a public affairs officer at the National Science Foundation and author of “How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job,’’ available from Federal Times’ Books & More at http://www.federaltimes.com/ times.com. Her Web site is IGotTheJob.net.
"Careers Columnist" for the Federal Times
When you apply for your next federal job, your application will likely first have to impress a computer. Before a human resources professional or selecting official decides whether to call you in for an interview, a computer scores your responses to short-answer questions to determine whether you have, in government lingo, “made the cert.”
Your answers to these questions — which will be formatted as true-false, check-the-boxes and tiered-response answers — may make or break your application.
Here’s why: Each potential response has a certain point value; the more types of experience and the more advanced experience each answer represents, the more points it is worth.
If the computer determines your total score, together with any veterans’ preferences points you have, falls below a predetermined threshold, your application will be rejected automatically, even before a human being has so much as glanced at it.
If your answers meet or exceed the threshold, your application will be forwarded to the selecting official for a possible interview.
Here is how to ace your short-answer questions: Troll through all of your educational and professional credentials, and interpret them liberally and leniently. Then give an answer — without lying — that represents your highest level of experience, biggest influence, most responsibility and most seniority. In tiered-response questions, this winning answer will not necessarily be positioned first or last in the list of possible answers. Then, in your résumé and application essays, support your short answers by further describing your credentials. Why? Because if you make the cert, a human resources official will cross-check your short answers against the rest of your application. If he determines that your answers aren’t corroborated, he will reject your application before forwarding it to the selecting official.
As you answer short-answer questions, remember that job applicants are not expected to judge themselves strictly or harshly. The heartless, soulless computer won’t give your application any points for candor; it will give your application points only for offering winning answers.
Therefore, if you don’t judge yourself liberally and leniently, you may sabotage your own application.
This means that you should, for example, interpret vague terms in application questions to your advantage. So, where you are asked whether you are an expert in a certain field, answer affirmatively if you have significant educational or work expert in that field.
If you are asked if you have been a supervisor, answer affirmatively if you have allocated assignments and evaluated the work of members of a team you have led, even if you were not the first-line supervisor of team members.
If you don’t have a requested credential, give yourself full credit for any equivalent credential you do have. For example, if you are asked whether you took a course in a subject you never formally studied, answer affirmatively if you learned the subject through on-the-job experience, self-study or travel.
Your experience does not have to be earned on a federal job or your current job to count. Nor does it have to account for the majority or even a significant amount of your time to count.If you cannot give yourself the winning answer for all or almost all short-answer questions on a particular application, your application probably won’t make the cut and will be rejected. Therefore, your time would be better spent applying for other jobs.
If you do apply and are rejected from your target job, call the contact person identified on the vacancy announcement, and ask for your application’s point score and whether you “made the cert.”
The feedback should help you determine if your application approach is on the right track or warrants an overhaul.
Lily Whiteman is a public affairs officer at the National Science Foundation and author of “How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job,’’ available from Federal Times’ Books & More at http://www.federaltimes.com/ times.com. Her Web site is IGotTheJob.net.
U.S. Army Reserve, Customs and Border Protection Launch Jobs Partnership
Partnership to Assist Border Agency in Filling 11,000 Positions
Jason P. Ahern, acting commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (left) and Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, U.S. Army Reserve (right) sign the official Employer Partner Initiative agreement in Washington, D.C. on April 21, 2009. photo by Nick Crettier)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Army Reserve and U.S. Customs and Border Protection formally agreed today to work collaboratively to enhance job opportunities for America's Soldiers and Veterans. The alliance, launched under the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative, will help strengthen the community, support Army Reserve Soldiers and their Families, and contribute to a strong economy.
"This formal alliance with U.S. Customs and Border Protection presents a remarkable opportunity for our some 10,200 trained and skilled Army Reserve Soldiers to potentially achieve their career goals with this federal agency," said Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, Army Reserve. "This formal partnership also sets the standard among other federal agencies and the Army Reserve."
Through the employer partnership, the Army Reserve is collaborating with public and private sector leaders across the country to develop staffing solutions to meet America's industry demands, tackle the issue of work force preparedness and reinvigorate America's human talent to remain competitive in the global economy. Since its inception in April 2008, nearly 300 employers have joined the initiative.
CBP is the first federal agency to join the Army Reserve's Employer Partnership.
"CBP maintains a deep commitment to hiring and supporting the brave men and women who protect and defend America," said Jayson P. Ahern, acting commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "These Citizen-Soldiers have a well earned reputation as exemplary employees with proven leadership, teamwork, discipline and grace under pressure that are immeasurably valuable to any organization."
With an estimated 11,000 jobs opening in CBP, the partnership will aim to help Army Reserve Soldiers and Veterans find jobs in today’s economy.
Read the article in Tuesday's Washington Post: Border Agency to Hire More Army Reservists.
ABOUT THE UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE
The Army Reserve is a positive investment for America. Community based and federally directed, the Army Reserve provides trained and ready units to complement the Army, ready to perform their mission during peacetime, overseas contingencies and war. Our Soldiers are highly skilled full-time patriots whom civilian employers share with the Army Reserve. The value the Army Reserve brings to America is embodied in these professional men and women who possess the skills and capabilities that can be used on the battlefield and in the civilian sector.
The Army Reserve is a reservoir of trained and experienced professionals in transportation, logistics, supply chain management, law enforcement and public safety, health care, telecommunications, information technology, construction trades, engineering, civil affairs, finance, legal services and human resources. Army Reserve Soldiers have played a vital role in every American military and humanitarian mission of the past 100 years. Today, roughly 206,000 trained Army Reserve Soldiers in units across the country stand ready to serve the Nation when called upon by the President of the United States. The quality of our force has never been higher. Our Soldiers are one of the best returns on investment American citizens make for the security and freedoms they enjoy.
ABOUT U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
CBP is one of the Department of Homeland Security's largest and most complex components, with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. It also has a responsibility for securing and facilitating trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. regulations, including immigration and drug laws.
The uniformed men and women of CBP make up the largest law enforcement organization in the nation and take a solemn vow to secure the homeland from terrorists and other threats.
CBP performs two crucial roles in facilitating trade to and from the U.S. and around the globe: securing it from acts of terrorism and assuring that goods arriving in the U.S. are legitimate and that appropriate duties and fees are paid.
Last year CBP safely welcomed more than 400 million people into the U.S., continuing America's tradition of being a welcoming country while also preventing dangerous people from entering.
Jason P. Ahern, acting commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (left) and Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, U.S. Army Reserve (right) sign the official Employer Partner Initiative agreement in Washington, D.C. on April 21, 2009. photo by Nick Crettier)WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Army Reserve and U.S. Customs and Border Protection formally agreed today to work collaboratively to enhance job opportunities for America's Soldiers and Veterans. The alliance, launched under the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative, will help strengthen the community, support Army Reserve Soldiers and their Families, and contribute to a strong economy.
"This formal alliance with U.S. Customs and Border Protection presents a remarkable opportunity for our some 10,200 trained and skilled Army Reserve Soldiers to potentially achieve their career goals with this federal agency," said Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, Army Reserve. "This formal partnership also sets the standard among other federal agencies and the Army Reserve."
Through the employer partnership, the Army Reserve is collaborating with public and private sector leaders across the country to develop staffing solutions to meet America's industry demands, tackle the issue of work force preparedness and reinvigorate America's human talent to remain competitive in the global economy. Since its inception in April 2008, nearly 300 employers have joined the initiative.
CBP is the first federal agency to join the Army Reserve's Employer Partnership.
"CBP maintains a deep commitment to hiring and supporting the brave men and women who protect and defend America," said Jayson P. Ahern, acting commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "These Citizen-Soldiers have a well earned reputation as exemplary employees with proven leadership, teamwork, discipline and grace under pressure that are immeasurably valuable to any organization."
With an estimated 11,000 jobs opening in CBP, the partnership will aim to help Army Reserve Soldiers and Veterans find jobs in today’s economy.
Read the article in Tuesday's Washington Post: Border Agency to Hire More Army Reservists.
ABOUT THE UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE
The Army Reserve is a positive investment for America. Community based and federally directed, the Army Reserve provides trained and ready units to complement the Army, ready to perform their mission during peacetime, overseas contingencies and war. Our Soldiers are highly skilled full-time patriots whom civilian employers share with the Army Reserve. The value the Army Reserve brings to America is embodied in these professional men and women who possess the skills and capabilities that can be used on the battlefield and in the civilian sector.
The Army Reserve is a reservoir of trained and experienced professionals in transportation, logistics, supply chain management, law enforcement and public safety, health care, telecommunications, information technology, construction trades, engineering, civil affairs, finance, legal services and human resources. Army Reserve Soldiers have played a vital role in every American military and humanitarian mission of the past 100 years. Today, roughly 206,000 trained Army Reserve Soldiers in units across the country stand ready to serve the Nation when called upon by the President of the United States. The quality of our force has never been higher. Our Soldiers are one of the best returns on investment American citizens make for the security and freedoms they enjoy.
ABOUT U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
CBP is one of the Department of Homeland Security's largest and most complex components, with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. It also has a responsibility for securing and facilitating trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. regulations, including immigration and drug laws.
The uniformed men and women of CBP make up the largest law enforcement organization in the nation and take a solemn vow to secure the homeland from terrorists and other threats.
CBP performs two crucial roles in facilitating trade to and from the U.S. and around the globe: securing it from acts of terrorism and assuring that goods arriving in the U.S. are legitimate and that appropriate duties and fees are paid.
Last year CBP safely welcomed more than 400 million people into the U.S., continuing America's tradition of being a welcoming country while also preventing dangerous people from entering.
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