Federal Daily - December 3, 2008
Quick Resume Writing Tips for Current Schedule C Federal Employees
By Kathryn Troutman, Federal Career Coach
Are you a Schedule C employee? With only 48 days until the inauguration, it’s time to update your resume for your next career. Here are some fast tips on what to do right now.
If you would like to stay in government and apply for competitive federal positions, start looking online at USAJOBS.gov for positions that interest you. Study the “Duties” and “Qualifications” sections to make sure you are a good fit.
The difference between your appointee application and the competitive application is that now you have to ensure that the qualifications for the position are written on paper. Even though you qualified for the appointee position, the competitive application process is very different. This time, you will complete a federal resume via USAJOBS, answer knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) narratives (probably), complete a questionnaire, and fax some other information.
Update your resume to include your past positions as an appointee for up to the last eight years. The “Federal Resume Guidebook” includes a great format called the “outline format,” which organizes your skills and qualifications into topics. And it also shows you how to incorporate accomplishments into your work experience sections. The samples are very helpful for creating the USAJOBS federal resume. To order the “Federal Resume Guidebook,” click here.
If you are considering private industry, non-profit, university or other industries, start looking for positions on www.indeed.com. Just begin looking for positions that could be of interest, so that you can find the qualifications, skills and keywords for your next career.
Update your resume to include your past positions, and keep the resume to two or three pages at most for use with private-sector resume builders and applications. (The sample resumes in “Resumes for Dummies,” 5th Ed., are excellent for all types of private industry resume formats.)
Start networking. Collect your emails and lists of contacts, and write a friendly letter of introduction stating your goals and objectives for 2009. Introduce your background by attaching a one-page resume with a quick summary of what you have been doing for the current administration and your objectives for the future.
Update or create your Linkedin Account. Create a LinkedIn account (www.linkedin.com) with a profile of your background and your entire resume. Ask your Linkedin “Contacts” to network with you and to write testimonials, as well. You can announce your career plans to your entire LinkedIn network within minutes.
Train and mentor your staff for the possibility of your leaving the position. Write a short training manual or user guide for the next person who will take your position. Add contacts, liaisons, committees and people who will be important in the position. Write a list of the “Biggest Challenges of This Job,” so that they can get a very quick start on the problems. Write a list of “Biggest Accomplishments During My Tenure” (so they will be impressed). And create a third list of “Things to Do in the First Week.” This will help the incumbent continue your work as seamlessly as possible.
Start Writing Your Memoirs—Your Legacy. Start writing a book about your appointee days. Start with the three lists you created for the next person taking the position, and write about things you did that made a difference and improved or changed something. Write this down even if you don’t intend to get it published. Your family will want to know about this someday, and you don’t want to forget. Just try to write 10 to 20 pages in case you do write a book about your days in the administration.
And good luck with your next career.
Kathryn Kraemer Troutman is the founder and president of The Resume Place, Inc., a service business located in Baltimore, Md., specializing in federal career training, consulting and professional federal resume and KSA writing. Go to www.resume-place.com for more information.
:: Back to Top ::
VA Sends Gulf War Illness Findings to IOM
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it was seeking Institute of Medicine (IOM) review of advisory panel findings confirming research that a collection of symptoms known as Gulf War Illness (GWI) are real and require treatment. The Dec. 1 VA announcement is a victory for the 175,000-210,000 veterans who are estimated to be suffering from the multi-symptom condition resulting from service in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, veterans groups said. The VA Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, an expert group empanelled by VA Secretary James B. Peake, issued its findings in October. VA said in a statement that it was asking IOM to review the report before the department officially responds to the findings. “I appreciate the committee’s work on this report and I am eager to see the results of further independent study into their findings,” Peake said. VA has long recognized conditions, granted benefits and provided health care to Gulf War veterans suffering from a broad range of symptoms, even though these conditions have not been scientifically recognized as a specific disease, Peake noted. However, the report pointed out that little research has been focused on finding treatments for GWI. One group, Disabled American Veterans is urging VA to designate the disease as a presumptive service-connected illness and find ways to treat and cure it. To seem more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1620 or DAV, www.dav.org.
:: Back to Top ::
New DoD Travel Card Goes into Effect
DoD is reminding employees that its new travel charge card went into effect at the beginning of December, The agency switched travel charge card contractors from Bank of America to Citibank. The old government-issued official travel charge cards from Bank of America were deactivated at midnight on Nov. 30, Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) officials said. Eligible DoD military and civilian travelers should have received their new Citibank travel charge cards in August or September and they are advised to call and verify receipt of their new cards—and personal identification numbers—before using them, DTMO officials said. The Citibank card will offer some of the same features Bank of America cardholders are accustomed to, including an online payment option, officials said. Current Bank of America government travel card holders were required to pay off any outstanding balances on the old cards by Nov. 29. DTMO is offering training on topics associated with the DoD Travel Card transition at no cost to users. A list of sessions can be found at: www.defensetravel.dod.mil/Sections/TCTrans.cfm. To see more, go to: www.ngb.army.mil/news/archives/2008/12/120108-Defense_Department.aspx.
:: Back to Top ::
APWU: Talks Stall Over Modified Work Week
National negotiations to implement a modified work week for some U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employees have stalled, American Postal Workers Union (APWU) President William Burrus said Dec. 1. The discussions, which had been underway between APWU and management, centered on implementation of a “10-4,” week where employees work 10 hours per day, four days per week, with three days off. The talks sought to more broadly implement a 10-4 pilot program which was agreed to by the parties in 1994. Under the demonstration project, employees who volunteered for the 10-4 week had the option to discontinue their participation at their own discretion, Burrus said. The talks stalled when management proposed that all employees within a designated section be required to work the modified work week as a condition of their bid assignment, Burrus said. “While many employees would favor the opportunity to have three nonscheduled days in the course of a service week,” Burrus said, “their entitlement does not supersede the right of an employee to work the contractually required eight-hour, five-day schedule.” Burrus also advised APWU locals to refrain from making any commitment on a Modified Work Week program as part of their negotiations with local USPS management that would compromise the national position. To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/burrus/2008/update14-2008-101508.htm.
:: Back to Top ::
|
