Bob Molluro ⋅ Wilmington, DE Benchmark Consulting Services ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

Did you know that as veteran the company that employees you is entitled to a tax credit up to $9,600. Most employers don't this either. I can show you what to add to your resume that will point this out plus how the employer can take advantage of the credit. Just send me an email to ramco1@verizon.net if you want to learn how. Anyone else reading this feel free to contact me for some guidance.
Warmly,
Bob

Lex Levin ⋅ Northborough, MA Lex Levin, LLC ⋅ 13 years experience

I'm happy to help. I'm a professional resume writer specializing in Federal resumes and Military to Federal transitions. Please send me your resume and your job announcement and I'll review and advise. Lex@lexlevinllc.com

Best,
LL

Karen Middleton ⋅ Fayetteville, NC U.S. Army Reserve, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

Unless the experience is directly relevant, usually it is recommended not to go further back than 10 years. With the rapidly increasing rate of technological and cultural change, some of your past experience may be irrelevant now.

I'm glad you are tailoring your resume(s). Not doing so is a mistake that a lot of folks make. For federal jobs, you should really pay attention to the entire job announcement and use the exact same or very similar terminology. USAJobs uses a computer to filter resumes, so if you do not match terminology, you will likely get rejected. I recently got hired with the federal government. If you would like another set of eyes on your resume, feel free to send me the most recent copy of your resume and job announcement via private message.

Hope this helps!!!

Deb Yeagle ⋅ Tampa, FL Plan To Win, Inc. ⋅ 39 years experience

Hi Ernest-
Thanks for your service!
The key to a successful federal resume is to tailor it using the appropriate keywords from the USAJOBS job announcement, so the screener identifies your resume as qualified.

The resume that you are using for private industry jobs is not going to work when you apply for Federal Government jobs. You will need to tailor your resume for each USAJOBS announcement that you are applying for. The key to getting a favorable screen in any USAJOBS resume is to carefully read the information in the “Requirements” section of the job announcement, and use / emphasize / highlight as many keywords as possible and as applicable from the various subsections within your work experience blocks so that the screener scores your resume high enough to be passed along to the next phase of the resume review. These subsections typically include:

Conditions of Employment
Qualifications
Experience Required
Specialized Experience
Education

If you are interested in a particular position, then feel free to send me the USAJOBS announcement and the latest version of your federal resume via private message, and I will take a look and provide you with some direct feedback on how to tailor your resume.
Thanks again-
Deb

ACP AdvisorNet Staff ⋅ New York, NY ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi Ernest,
Thank you for your service, and for your question! I recommend this very helpful article from The Balance, on different types of resume types: https://www.thebalance.com/resume-types-chronological-functional-combination-2063235.

You may find creating a functional or a combination resume will be more helpful when applying for federal jobs, especially if you have questions or concerns about what to include in a chronological resume.

Best,
ACP Staff

Merry Vickers ⋅ Richardson, TX Dallas Police Department - City of Dallas prior to starting with Raytheon 2017 ⋅ 18 years experience

Thank you for your service. Give your resume a format change and lead with a summary that outlines your skills and qualifications. Share generalities from past positions to translate how it will be beneficial in new roles, like skills, duties, projects or management. Use clear civilian language to describe your career objectives, but highlight key wording from job descriptions and any accomplishments you have achieved. Keep the verbiage in present tense and have others read through it for feedback. If you can pursue any volunteer opportunities, contract jobs, certifications or even CEU (Continuing Education Units) courses will show how interested you are and make recruiters take notice.

Large companies have numerous professional development opportunities of all kinds, like Raytheon. Look at all the positions offered, not just specific jobs and you will be amazed at the possibilities. Once you find any position, take advantage of in-house professional development and training programs which always shows management that you are willing to do and learn more.

Kindest regards,
Merry Vickers

Anna Jacobs ⋅ Cupertino, CA Waddell & Reed ⋅ 17 years experience

I agree. Including any experience, regardless of time, is important. I would caution getting stuck in the weeds. Wording and content will constantly evolve. Do your best to illustrate yourself and then let the chips fall. You can always revise, periodically. Did you post resume for review here?

Jacinda Chan ⋅ Sacramento, CA TruthOut ⋅ 5 years experience

Yes, you should tweak each resume to the specific job so the reader knows you paid attention to the job ad and genuinely think you qualify.