Are you putting together an application package for a Federal job? The first time I did this, for myself, many years ago, I had no clue what was involved. Essentially, I sent in my resume. Sure, I saw those KSA things, read them, and said, well, anyone who reads my resume can see that I have those abilities. Wow, what a big mistake.
Finally, a friend of mine already in the government clued me in. I needed to write pages of specific responses for each KSA. Well, ok. So I spent hours doing that. Looking back now, I know how I could have been even more effective, but at least what I did got me through HR and on the cert. list. The deciding official went ahead with interviews, and I got the job.
When it was time for me to seek promotion to the next level, I understood the game much better. I cast my net wide, got lots of interviews based on my applications, and finally found a fantastic fit with a fantastic boss at the Office of Inspector General, National Science Foundation.
As a supervisor there, I learned even more about the hiring process as I wrote position descriptions, wrote job announcements and the KSAs for them, reviewed job applications, interviewed candidates, and hired new employees.
If you are writing a Federal job application, your best shot at getting through HR and making it onto the cert. list is to be as specific as possible in describing examples of how you meet the KSAs. To do this, one method you can use is to frame each of your KSA responses using the following outline:
- Content: What were you doing?
- Challenge: What challenges did you face as you were doing it?
- Actions: What actions did you take to accomplish what you wanted and overcome the challenges?
- Results: What results did you get?
As you write, think about the type of organization the government is. In Myers-Briggs* circles, most find the government an “ISTJ” organization. What does that mean? It means in general, the government likes to see lots of logical, rational, literal, concrete, details, specifics, with closure and well-organized. If this isn’t your natural inclination, but you want to work in the government, make a conscious decision to complete your package in this way, or contact me and I’ll handle it for you.
*MBTI, Myers-Briggs, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are registered trademarks of the MBTI Trust, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
