To potential federal employees and current employees looking to change jobs, the idea of writing a resume--rather than completing a standardized SF-171 job application form--can be daunting.
To help feds on the rise get to where they want to be, resume writing expert Kathy Troutman has published a new book, Reinvention Federal Resumes (Baltimore: The Resume Place, Inc., 102 pp., $19.95).
Troutman, the author of The Federal Resume Guidebook, and has been helping federal employees with their resumes and application forms for more than 25 years. Now she's helping applicants learn to be concise and reinvention-minded when they get ready to market themselves to federal agencies.
Job seekers "just don't know where to start sometimes with writing about themselves," Troutman says. "They worry that the resume they might prepare and send to important leads will not be competitive and they will not be considered."
And the nitty-gritty of preparing federal resumes, which have specific requirements, can turn applicants into nervous wrecks, Troutman says. Getting text to center, getting tabs to align properly, and getting a resume into the proper format can take hours of fiddling.
The changing federal workplace requires potential employees to sell themselves differently than they have in the past, Troutman says. "I know how marketable people are--because I see the resumes, I know the experience, and I know what the hiring managers want and need."
In the book, Troutman notes that federal vacancy announcements are increasingly conveying job expectations in terms of results, not duties. Applicants need to show they are results-oriented by describing their accomplishments. If a manager found a way to improve a program's operations and save money doing it, that should be included in the resume. Applicants who demonstrate they understand customer service also give themselves an edge in today's federal government, she says.
Such details show "that the individual cares about their job and works 'outside the box,'" Troutman says.
The book includes a glossary of reinvention terminology, offering phrases like "cut red tape," "form labor-management partnerships," and "improve customer service."
Troutman notes, however, that even in a world of reinvention and businesslike government, applicants don't hurt their chances by letting hiring officials know they understand federal policies and procedures.
The book guides applicants step-by-step through the resume-writing process, describing each section of a resume and offering good and bad examples. It also suggests that applicants tailor their resumes to specific job announcements, so hiring supervisors know they have the basic skills for the opening.
Troutman warns that all federal resumes are not the same. Defense Department civilians must use computer-scannable resumes in a special format, while other agencies look for specially tailored resumes. She includes examples of both in the book. For federal employees looking to make the leap to the private sector, Troutman also offers advice on crunching a federal career into a concise private industry resume.
But Troutman warns not to get lost in a sea of buzz words and format requirements. Any resume, the book says, "needs to be supported by references, former supervisors or anyone else who might be asked about it."
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