Archive for December, 2010

KSAs and Federal Resumes

Now that the Federal government job application process no longer requires KSAs to be individually written, there is some confusion on how to respond when KSAs and other questions are stated in either the announcement or as requirements to answer during the application process.

AS WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE: FederalResumes.net INCLUDES examples (BEST) and duties showing YOUR experience and expertise to answer ALL of the KSAs and QUESTIONS in the announcement. We also address all of the job responsibilities in the announcement to show how YOU (if you have done so) have added value by doing the exact or similar assignments during your career (or have gained knowledge on how to do so – if the job is a lower level position).

Unlike some other companies in this space, we have not had to change our resume style to meet the changes in the Federal application requirements, since we ALWAYS believed the resume needed to stand alone and describe all of YOUR experience. Since this always has been our style, we can help you get the Federal job you want.

Salary Cost of Living Freeze for Federal Jobs

President Obama, on November 29th, announced a Salary Cost of Living Freeze for Federal Jobs. It is still being debated in the media if it is a good thing to control the deficit, if it will have a negative impact on Federal hiring/retention or if it will even work.

Controlling the deficit: This is probably in response to the deficit talks and the need to negotiate the budget.

Negative impact on Federal hiring: Currently, due to the economy, Federal job postings can have hundreds, if not thousands of people applying for each job. Since non-Federal job salaries have also fallen and the unemployment rate is NOT falling (and will probably not fall significantly for the foreseeable future), this will not have an effect currently on people applying for jobs. As far as hiring, there still is flexibility in the starting salary within a range – so hiring managers can hire someone at a higher step within a range to bring someone onboard.

Negative effect on Federal retention: For the short term, probably not. There are 10 steps in each GS level for the Federal government and they can give folks hired in the government a step raise. In addition, this order does not impact bonuses.

Will it work? I am not sure if freezing cost of living raises will work – due to the flexibility within agencies to give step raises within grades.



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