As you search for new job opportunities, you’re likely to pay attention to your prospects, your portfolio, and your wardrobe. You may have many professional attributes that set you apart from your competition, but without a well-worded, eye-catching resume, you may never have the chance to share them with hiring personnel.
Quick Question: What is a federal resume? In the United States, a federal resume uses the same information as a standard resume, but goes into further details regarding your skills, duties, and professional accomplishments. A typical federal resume runs between two to five pages, but longer that a standard one- or two-page resume.
Creating an effective resume can be challenging because the requirements change as work environments evolve. Stay current with these developments by learning from strong resume samples. These examples incorporate the best practices for resume writing, including formatting and word choice.
We’ve gathered together a collection of the most effective government resume samples and provided explanations regarding what makes them right for specific government positions. We offer the tips you need to create your own powerful resume.
Government Resume Samples
It takes a lot of involvement to keep government services running smoothly and junior government workers play important roles in carrying out tasks. Positions within the government often come with comfortable benefits and a certain amount of influence, but they can be hard to come by. An effective resume is vital for getting you past applicant tracking systems (ATS) and landing interviews. Your resume must demonstrate a strong academic background, include numerous volunteer and community activities, and concisely describe professional achievements.
How do you set up a resume?
According to Go Government, a well-written federal resume is set-up in the following layout:
- Candidate Information: Name, contact information, and legal status, federal employee information, and whether you can claim veterans’s preference.
- Work Experience: Each role should include employer name, location, title, start and end dates, average weekly hours, and responsibilities.
- Education: School name, degrees earned. You can also include GPA, related coursework, academic papers, presentations, and additional academic accomplishments.
- Recent college graduates with plenty of experience who are ready to tackle the challenging tasks involved in government work.
- Familiarity with computers and software systems
- Experience with multiple types of filing procedures
- Understanding of government standards
- Background of community involvement
- Accurately quantified accomplishments
For:
Government Skills To Include:
More Information: Visit our junior government worker resume sample for a more in-depth look.
Individuals hoping to work in government agencies must present a lot of information in a format acceptable to the ATS and containing specific keywords for each position. This means sticking to an open format where every word matters. Applicants for national parks jobs must have a wide range of skills in nature and the office. Review government resume samples for examples of correct formatting and word choice.
- Prepared individuals looking to work in the creation and use of environmental projects, including public education, wildlife surveys, and park maintenance.
- First aid, CPR, and relevant safety trainings and certifications
- Experience in environmental education, surveying, program development, etc.
- In-depth knowledge of specific national parks
- Strong communication and public service skills
- Up to date with current environmental regulations
For:
Government Skills To Include:
More Information: Get a closer look at our national parks worker resume sample for more information.
Government intern positions are often hard to obtain. However, a strong resume can help you increase your chances to get an interview. This document must demonstrate to hiring personnel that you have the skills and integrity to be a good fit for an agency. It must also satisfy and pass through ATS protocols. Turn to government resume samples to get a good idea of what is appropriate.
- Recent college graduates looking for intern positions within government agencies.
- Relevant academic diplomas and achievements
- Proficiency in software, such as spreadsheets, word processing, and databases
- Ability to create solutions, such as client tracking processes and follow-up procedures
- Experience working independently and collaboratively with a variety of personalities
- Exceptional communication and interaction skills to maintain positive atmosphere
For:
Government Skills To Include:
More Information: Learn more about creating a winning resume by visiting ourgovernment intern resume sample.
Popular Government Resume Questions
A government resume must be concise, presenting information in a powerful, condensed form. The most successful resumes focus on specific position-related skills, relevant areas of expertise, quantifiable accomplishments, and professional certifications. Most importantly, determine how long your resume should be for a federal job. Most federal resumes fall between two- to five-pages. Review you career goals and past work history to determine the right length for yours.
Hiring personnel expect to see a clear description of your career goals and a couple pertinent qualifications. Your top qualifications should appear in the first half of the page with keywords selected directly from the job description. Keep previous job responsibilities brief and place more emphasis on accomplishments, listed in a bulleted form. Always include quantifiable results. Visit our government resume samples for good examples of this.
While there are many skills required for work in a government agency, you must also include those specific skills necessary for the position you want. These typically include computer proficiency, oral, and written communication expertise. Government workers must also have excellent time management and organization skills. If you’re applying for a job as a national parks worker or as an office manager, include skills pertinent to that position. Of course, there are also some characteristics necessary for government work, including integrity, tact, and an appreciation for confidentiality. You may want to include specific examples that demonstrate these qualities. Hiring managers will check this information.
3. What sections should I include in my government resume?Maintain the concise nature of your government resume with short sections and bullets when appropriate, as in our government resume samples. The first sections hiring personnel look for include a professional profile, skills, areas of expertise, professional certifications, and accomplishments. Your professional profile may include your work history; follow each position with a list of achievements in bulleted form and specific metrics chosen to exhibit your positive results. Round this out with a quick description of your education.
4. What should I do to make sure my government resume makes it past an ATS?Recognizing that government agencies use the ATS is just the first step. This screening technology reduces the number of applications that reach hiring personnel by focusing on resumes with words and phrases that match those in job descriptions. Many qualified applicants don’t reach the interview phase because their resumes didn’t include those specific phrases. A government ATS will look for keywords specific to the open position, so create your own list of words as you review each posting. Some examples many include “evaluate,” “research,” “communicate,” or “organize”. Tracking systems may also look for specific computer software or administrative phrases.
5. What is the best way to show I work well in a team on a government resume?Simply listing “works well with others” is not an effective way to demonstrate your interpersonal abilities. Hiring personnel look for teamwork skills, including communication, effective listening, conflict management, reliability, and respectfulness. Refer to these and other team skills in your resume. Choose phrases such as “collaborated” and “communicated” and then back those words up with detailed metrics. For example”, “Collaborated with a team of six co-workers to develop a database tracking client performance, reducing discrepancies by 13%”. Use our government resume samples to recognize ways to show, rather than simply state, your ability to work on a team.
6. What is the Veterans’ Preference?Veterans’ Preference gives all eligible military veterans preference over other applicants. It’s important to note that this preference does not guarantee veterans a job and only applies to new hires. It cannot be used for promotions, transfers, or reassignments.
Government Resume Tips
A government resume must present information quickly, clearly, and in a way that makes your experience relevant to the position in question. That means condensing your information down to its most powerful form. The following are a few useful tips to be kept in mind while designing a government resume.
Focus on the following areas :- Skills
- Areas of expertise
- Certifications
- Accomplishments
Job Objective :
You need to have a clear job target as you need to develop your government resume. Create a brief headline that encapsulates your career goal and one or two of your top qualifications.
Summarize :Summarize your strengths and key qualifications within the top half of the first page of the resumeunder sections like "Professional Profile" and the "Areas of Expertise" listing keywords that are pertinent to your career choice. Also include your industry certifications and licenses.
Emphasise your accomplishments :Describe your basic job responsibilities, followed by a bulleted list of accomplishments. Show quantifiable results of your work.
Remember- Adapt your resume for the specific position for which you are applying.
- Demonstrate your strengths in the resume through job experiences, academic background, or volunteer/community activities. Always put your best selling points first.
- Do not misrepresent yourself or exaggerate; employers do check information.
- Keep it short, concise, and clear.
- Make it easy to read. Avoid a cluttered look. Leave spaces between sections. Use headings to organize the details.
- Eliminate irrelevant information and re-write until you think it is succinct and accurate.
- Instead of long, dense paragraphs distill the matter by creating bulleted, indented, focused statements. Short, powerful lines show the reader, in a glance, exactly why they should keep reading.
- Connect your skills to your job history.
- Use the Keywords pertinent to your job profile.
Action Verbs
| accelerate | advise | analyze | approve | arrange | assemble | assist | build | collect | complete |
| conceive | conduct | control | coordinate | create | delegate | detect | develop | direct | discover |
| distribute | edit | deliver | demonstrate | design | eliminate | establish | evaluate | examine | expand |
| expedite | formulate | generate | implement | improve | increase | influence | install | instruct | lead |
| maintain | manage | motivate | obtain | operate | order | organize | originate | oversee | participate |
| perform | pinpoint | plan | prepare | present | process | produce | program | promote | propose |
| protest | prove | provide | purchase | receive | recommend | record | reduce | reinforce | reorganize |
| represent | research | revamp | review | revise | schedule | select | sell | setup | solve |
| streamline | structure | study | supervise | support | teach | test | train | write |