USAJobs.gov Application

Applied for a federal job recently, and a former co-worker told me that unless your resume has the "right" number of keywords in it, that a human doesn't even look at it. He and others have claimed that there is an algorithm that scans the resume, and if the "right" frequency of keywords are in it, it gets considered by a human evaluator. Anyone know if there is any truth to this? Seems like a bunch of BS to me.

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SephStorm

I missed this thread somehow, I will be reading it closely.

Gess

Congrats, sincerely. I wrote my post hoping you would still be around to see it and would have a success story to contribute. I kept my applications east of the Mississippi for the most part so we were never in direct competition. Excellent work. 11 is a great place to start, too. Was hoping to find a ladder position for myself but I'm happy with 9 to get in the door. Before I knew what I was doing I was applying to 14s. Needless to say I was found not qualified universally.

I do put my degree as "University of Maryland - UC" on my resume but more because UMUC written out is awkward on its own. I don't think I'm fooling anyone, nor trying to.

zxbane

zxbane wrote: »

I agree with a lot of what Verities said. I am a DOD contractor and I see tons of Gov workers who got in because they either know or are related to someone. Many of them can hardly perform the role they are in and even when they do have the knowledge they just don't put in the effort because ultimately they don't really feel like they have to. I'll stick with the contractor route myself for now. Granted there isn't as much security but the pay is much better and if you have the right education/certifications/skills/clearance then you can always find another role if the one you are filling did manage to go away.

Since making this post (and applying for numerous openings on USAJOBS) I have actually been contacted about a few positions and made tentative offers on a few positions. I ended up accepting one that is part of the STRL pay scale but the pay is equivalent to a GS 13, the difference being STRL pay band allows for performance based pay increases etc.

I am pretty excited about it, and despite my earlier claim that pay is much better as a contractor, the position actually offered me a higher salary than I currently earn now as a contractor and twice the vacation time (in part due to my 4 years of military service being counted as government service). I don't know anyone at the command I am going to work for and I honestly think a large part of it is luck, and also my education/certifications that I have been working diligently on non-stop for the last few years. It will be an INFOSEC role.

Best of luck to others applying as well, it is stressful and discouraging but determination pays off as well.

Gess

zxbane wrote: »

I am pretty excited about it, and despite my earlier claim that pay is much better as a contractor, the position actually offered me a higher salary than I currently earn now as a contractor and twice the vacation time (in part due to my 4 years of military service being counted as government service).

This is great too. I did 68 months active duty so I'm also coming in at the accelerated leave accrual rate. Combine that with the set work schedule and military style pay chart/progression I feel I'll be much more happy/secure than where I am in the contracting world.

Look into buying back your military time if you're thinking of making a career with the Feds. You only have 24mo to begin the process and once you miss it, it's gone. Four years shouldn't cost that much to buy back.

Good luck.

DrB1986

Verities wrote: »

I'm a sub contractor, working on a NAVY base and more than half of the GSs' in the building I work in are all Filipino and are related in some way. Nepotism is rampant in Government jobs. I have a friend who works for the DHS, who told me job opportunities with his department are almost always forwarded to the current employees who then forward to their friends/family members before they open so they can be ready to submit there resume and be considered/selected for the positions before the general public has a fighting chance. Personally, working for the government is not all its cracked up to be; there's a lot of red tape, which often means you have to work with your hands tied behind your back, you get paid less than the private sector, and most of the time the only way to move up is if the person above you leaves or croaks. All of which probably explain why there are so many unmotivated and lazy government employees.

100% agree with you and I saw the same damn thing and worse. I myself recently worked with NMCI as a sub-k in Hampton Roads, VA and can't tell you how many stupid, lazy GS people I saw, which I do not mean to generalize for there are great one's but the bad ones seem to be more visible and I question how the **** they got hired in the first place. To add it working in the network I also had to deal with managers in the company that was in control of the contract and some of them were just the same as the lazy GS folks and even had a disdain for sub-k's and treated us like we were inferior or something, lucky for me I knew it was all a bunch of BS and I took in all the knowledge I could and got the "you know what" out of there to take a job up north working at a lab in the NE area which I am before taxes in the lower/upper class as a single male

, plus the cost of living is not bad where I am at. Long story short, gov jobs are not what they are cracked up to be though I will say in private non-government jobs I did see the same thing there so in the end a good paying job is a good paying job no matter what, but if you do get a GS job, learn all you can, make money and for god sakes don't be that guy lol.

curtisc83

Just wanted to post an update. Yesterday I received and accepted a final offer for the 2210 GS11 position I talked about in this thread. The preemployment process was super slow and doing my fingerprints for a TS was a tad of a pain. My start date is Dec 15th at my request.

sigsoldier

curtisc83 wrote: »

Just wanted to post a update. Yesterday I received and accepted the final offer for the 2210 GS11 position I talked about in this thread. The preemployment process was super slow and doing my fingerprints for a TS was a tad of a pain. My start date is Dec 15th at my request.

Congrats and best of luck to you!

zxbane

Congrats, I am also starting a civil service position on the 15th myself.

jvrlopez

Congrats to both of you.

Inprocessing on 15 Dec? Good luck with that! Most places will be on cruise control from around then until after New Years

zxbane

That's fine by me, means it should be pretty laid back until after the New Year! Although at the same time I anticipate it will be pretty boring as well.

curtisc83

jvrlopez wrote: »

Congrats to both of you.

Inprocessing on 15 Dec? Good luck with that! Most places will be on cruise control from around then until after New Years

That's why I picked that date for in-processing. I want to ease into things and the timing couldn't be better.

tprice5

bryguy wrote: »

Anyone know if there is any truth to this? .

In my experience it has been. There is also a portion where you rate your skills and experience with certain things. My manager on the GS side at the time told me to fill in 'Highly Proficient' for everything. Selecting 'Expert' requires you write text detailing your experience. Sure enough, after following his advice, my resume made it through the first batch of screenings.

devils_haircut wrote: »

I stopped using it after a couple years with no hits. I think federal jobs are more about quotas and who you know than skills and interview performance.

A lot of the time they have zero intentions of hiring anyone. The position already has a candidate for that seat but they are required to post the position. If you removed all of the jobs that fit this criteria, I think usajobs would have a much better rep.

bryguy wrote: »

Haven't met too many new hires that weren't related to a GS13 that was already there, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyways.

I've never heard of a GS13 being hired off the streets. I know you say you work there but you are JUST a contractor

CarlSaiyed wrote: »

What is the allure with government positions?

Employment, for starters.

bryguy wrote: »

For me, I think the appeal was feeling more like I was part of the team. Where I work, there's a lot of open hostility towards contractors... It was kind of a "culture shock" when I was first hired. Ah well, I'll keep trying and see what happens. Thanks for the consolations.

GS side of the house are treated so much better. It's mostly apparent when they announce some benefit or offer training to which the GS are only eligible. The biggest difference between the us and them is the contractors actually knew what we were doing and handled the brunt of the work. This was less so after a few crossed over but for the most part the statement remains true.

curtisc83 wrote: »

I've never met a GS with a degree from a completely online school. I am 100% sure they exist and I always hear stories about a guy who knows someone.

The GS-15 director at my last location got his PhD at an online college.

curtisc83 wrote: »

Aside from the snobby hiring officials many of the people that get interviews and hired are at least 5 point vets with campaign medals like myself. That gives a huge edge to them. Just keep plugging away at it and something will start happening.

This. If it's you vs a veteran, they are going to take the veteran every time.

Gess wrote: »

My problem is the jobs I apply for keep getting filled by Federal transfers.

Bingo!

zxbane wrote: »

I ended up accepting one that is part of the STRL pay scale but the pay is equivalent to a GS 13

Link for anyone who isn't familiar with STRL.