Jason Kugel ⋅ Yulee, FL U.S. Navy, Chief Petty Officer ⋅ 21 years served

Joshua, try looking into the various companies that have and maintain contracts with the government. I know quite a few people who did this, and got to know their government-employed counterparts very well. The end result was getting tips that a GS position was about to come open, and in one case, created for him. You can establish yourself directly with the people who do the hiring for the GS positions, and make a good name for yourself in the industry- contractors follow the contracts, and often get a lot of positive exposure. I see numerous "intel" related positions on Indeed, but go right to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, DynCorp and other "biggies" and see what is listed. Good luck !

Joshua Maynard ⋅ Saint Pauls, NC U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

These are all very great answers and I really didn't realize that the Advisors would answer so quickly, so thank you very much for your time. Unfortunately my background in Intelligence is not Cyber Security, I was officially titled an All-Source Intelligence Analyst and I have noticed that because this is not necessarily considered a specialized field that I am not finding as many job openings. I have seen plenty of openings for Cyber Security Analyst and those kinds of technology based intelligence fields but I do not necessarily have the right experience for those kinds of jobs. I also have tailored my resume for certain job openings that I feel I could be considered as one of the top most qualified for that spot, based on the job announcement, but I do not tailor my resume for ALL of the openings that I apply. I think I will start to try and tailor my resume for every job opening from now on. However, I do actually get referred to the hiring manager on some of the jobs I apply to; so I was really wondering what kinds of things can I put on my resume that will help the hiring official make the decision to actually call or contact me for an interview? I have been referred to the hiring official on several different job openings but I never get any kind of telephone call or email sent to me about possibly arriving for an interview. I understand the patience portion of my attempting to get a government job but I am already employed by the government as a GS-5 just not in the field that I want to be in. Given the fact that I am already in the government system as an employee I imagined that it would be a little easier for me to get a government job in my old field of Intelligence but for some reason as I stated before the hiring officials who see my applications/resumes are not attempting to make contact with me before making their decision on who to hire. My resume is also about 3 pages long and I believe it is very detailed but if your husband has some extra time on his hands I would love to send him a copy so he could give me some insider tips on how to make my resume more appealing to government hiring officials. I would really appreciate it if he could do that for me, please email me on my personal email if you or your husband could help me out with this. Email: joshua.maynard89@gmail.com
I want to thank everyone again for these answers they have been very helpful and I appreciate what all of the Advisors are doing for other veterans such as myself.
V/R
Joshua Maynard

James Stracener ⋅ Madison, MS Entergy ⋅ 20 years experience

Joshua,
It took me almost 2 years to get a government job, so patience is key. On USAJOBS.com the key is to use the skills listed in the posting to describe your work experience. That way you are guaranteed to match the screening key words they are looking for. On USA jobs always build your resume for each individual job posting, it takes more time and can be tedious but the payoff is matching the posting better. If you want more info, I'd be happy to help.

Po Wong ⋅ Orlando, FL Johnson & Johnson (retired) ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Joshua,
I respond this to another veteran with intelligence background. Depending on your specific expertise, your intelligence background would be a huge assess. One of the most concerns to any Private Business (or government) today is Cyber Security. Target’s recent system break in is a good example. It cost them millions of $ to notify customers and fix the problem. I know many companies like e-Bay, Amazon, Facebook, Target and Fortune 20 companies are constantly looking for qualify people. If you in fact have the expertise, tailor your resume to address their urgent needs.

Alisha Gray ⋅ Chillicothe, OH ⋅ 3 years experience

My husband works for the Human Resources dept at our local VA and is very good with tailoring resumes to meet the needs of the federal government. He encourages for people to be as detailed as possible. I know in college, professors encourage a one page resume, but for the government you have to qualify for certain GS levels. A lot of the time with short resumes, the qualifiers can't determine that a person meets a GS level because the resume isn't detailed enough. Take the job posting and go through each requirement and address that on your resume in some form (be truthful, of course). In the end, your resume should be two or three pages long. Let me know if you'd like some additional help or some examples. Good luck! :)