How to useUSAJOBS

for your federal job search

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Veterans Health AdministrationChief Business Office

Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Business Office – Workforce Management 120 SE 6th Avenue, Suite 102, Topeka, KS 66604

www.va.gov/cbo/wfm

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The USAJOBS website is a free, online job board offering job seekers access to thou-sands of federal job opportunities across hundreds of federal agencies and organiza-tions. As the federal government’s official source for job listings, job applications and employment opportunity information, USAJOBS can help find the right federal job for you.

How Can It Help Me? USAJOBS can improve your federal job search by providing the following resources:

• Resume and document repository: Store up to five resumes and 10 candidate documents in one place and ready for submission

• Advanced search: Search through thou-sands of jobs by using filters such as key-words, location, job category and agency to find the right opportunities for you

• Customized job searches and e-mail notifications: Run job searches automat-ically based on saved job search criteria and get e-mails on results daily, weekly or monthly

• Application status: View the progress of your application based on real-time data provided by agencies

• Resource Center: Review tutorials, job search tips and frequently asked questions to learn the best ways to use USAJOBS

• Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds: Sign up for updates and receive new con-tent based on your searches

• Mobile app: Find jobs while you’re on-the-go through our mobile app–named one of the 10 best federal mobile apps by Government Computer News

• Social media: Join the conversation across the USAJOBS community by participating on our Facebook page and following us on Twitter

Who Can Use USAJOBS? USAJOBS.gov is available to everyone! Job seekers can search for potential job matches through a variety of methods including keyword, agency, job type, loca-tion or salary range. And registered users can build or upload a resume for submis-sion across all federal agencies.

Please note that you do not need to create an account to search for jobs, but you must create an account to apply for jobs online.

How Do I Get Started? 1. Visit http://www.USAJOBS.gov

2. Click on Create an Account in the upper right-hand corner. A valid e-mail address is required to create an account.

3. Once you confirm your e-mail, you will need to enter profile and account information (password creation and password question setup), and agree to the USAJOBS terms and conditions to finalize your registration.

4. Visit the Resource Center to learn how to post a resume and conduct job searches to help lead you to your next federal job today!

WHAT IS USAJOBS?

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Review the AnnouncementIt is important that you review the job advertisement or vacancy announcement for eligibility and qualification require-ments. Although there may be some slight variations in the way agencies design their vacancy announcements, you are likely to find these requirements under the follow-ing topics on the vacancy announcement:

• Area of Consideration

• Basic Qualifications

• Conditions of Employment

• Eligibility

• Other Job Requirements

• Specialized Experience

Who May ApplyMost jobs have basic eligibility require-ments or conditions of employment. These typically include citizenship, minimum or maximum age, physical or medical requirements, licenses or certifications required, security clearances needed and, for federal positions, “competitive status” requirements.

QualificationsJobs have minimum qualification require-ments which describe the minimum edu-cation, training or experience necessary for success in the job. If you fail to meet these requirements you will not be considered. Don’t waste your time thinking it might be “close enough.” Focus on job openings for which you are eligible and can qualify.

Carefully follow the application instruc-tions for each announcement. Submit any additional documentation to verify your qualifications such as transcripts, SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action and/or Veterans’ Form DD-214.

Understanding How Employers Screen or Select Candidates for Personal InterviewsThere are a number of processes employers might use to determine the best qualified candidates. If you are eligible and qualified, an employer will rank you among other candidates using pre-defined, job related criteria. Employers will typically compare your experience, education, training or past performance with that of other candidates. Some ranking processes produce a numeri-cal score against the job-related criteria. This numerical score helps determine the best-qualified candidates for interviews.

Employers might use other methods to screen eligible and qualified candidates for interviews. These alternate methods might include subject matter expert panels, which generally review your experience, education and training as it relates to the specific requirements in the job. For some positions in some organizations, seniority is the key to getting referred.

More InformationIf you require additional information or assistance, please review the contents of the USAJOBS Resource Center or contact customer support through the “Contact Us” page.

HOW TO APPLY

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Tips for Preparing Your ResumeThere are many different resume formats. Typically, resumes with work experience arranged chronologically work best when applying for federal jobs. Regardless of the format used, however, there is certain basic information that must be included:

• Contact information: Your name and and how you can be reached

• Objective statement: What do you want to do in your career?

• Education: What you have studied and learned, including any licenses and certifications

• Experience/Employment: What can you do? What have you done?

• Professional activities and accomplish-ments: How have you been recognized? What are your professional affiliations?

• Miscellaneous: What else do they want to know? What else do you think is important that they know about you?

Sometimes this is clearly stated in the vacancy announcement; sometimes you have to do some research to figure out what might be important.

Completing Your Online ApplicationCarefully and thoroughly read the entire vacancy announcement. Provide the information requested including ALL documentation required for the posi-tion. Some agencies use automated sys-tems and others accept paper resumes. Regardless of how they want you to apply, you must ensure your submission includes

information in the following areas:

• Answer ALL job-related questions to the best of your ability. Include accurate details of your experience, education or training in the narrative input or sup-porting information fields provided.

• Use ALL portions of the application to provide unique and exemplary infor-mation that sets you apart from other candidates.

• Present your most important job-related competencies and accomplishments.

• Present information in a polished (and accurate!) manner.

• Double check for typos and grammatical errors.

• Stress actions and achievements.

• Sell yourself!

For both on-line and paper resumes, you should use action verbs to show the degree to which you were actively engaged in per-forming work. Some suggested verbs are:

Advised Delivered InvestigatedAnalyzed Demonstrated NegotiatedArranged Developed OrganizedBudgeted Directed Performed

Built Drafted PlannedComputed Evaluated PresentedConducted Filed Repaired

Coordinated Gathered ResearchedCounseled Improved Supervised

Crafted Installed TypedDelegated Instructed Wrote

YOUR RESUME

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Building & Uploading Your Resume on USAJOBSThis tutorial will show you how to build, upload, and save a resume on USAJOBS. Please follow these simple steps to become familiar with the resume builder and resume upload functionality of USAJOBS.

Begin the process by signing-in to your USAJOBS account. If you do not have an account, click Create An Account.

NOTE: You must have an account before creating or uploading resumes.

1 From your “My Account” page, click Resumes to open the “Resume Builder” page.

2 The Build New Resume link allows you to create or build a resume using the USAJOBS Resume Builder.

The Upload New Resume link allows you to upload your resume(s) from a computer, flash drive, etc.

NOTE: You may store a total of five resumes. These may be a combination of resumes you have uploaded or created using the Resume Builder.

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USAJOBS Resume Builder: Work Experience & EducationAfter selecting Build New Resume, you will be redirected to the “Work Experience” screen of the USAJOBS Resume Builder. To build your work experience, you should:

1 Complete all required fields (indicated by a red asterisk*).

2 Use Spell Check to ensure correct spelling of the information entered.

3 Click Save Experience to add additional work experience. A blank “Work Experience” page will display. Complete all required fields.

4 After entering all work experience, click Next to move to the next section.

The next section is the “Education” page. To build your education history, follow the same steps you took for the “Work Experience” section.

5 Click Save Education to add additional education. A blank “Education” page will display. Complete all required fields.

6 After entering all education, click Next to continue to the next section.

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USAJOBS Resume Builder: Job Related TrainingThe third section is for other information. There are no required fields in this section. You have the opportunity to provide information associated with:

1 Enter any job related training you have completed.

2 Add any language skills you may have. To add additional languages, click Add Language.

3 Add any organizations or affiliations you are a member of. To add multiple organizations or affiliations, click Add Affiliation.

4 Enter any professional publications you have completed.

5 Enter any additional information that you want potential employers to be aware of.

6 Use Spell Check to check your entries.

7 After entering all necessary information, click Next to continue to the next section.

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1 Complete all required fields (indicated by a red asterisk*).

2 Click Save Reference to add additional references.

3 When you have completed the “Reference” section, click Next to move to the fifth and final section.

The final section allows you to preview and finish your resume. You also have the option to either print your resume or e-mail your resume.

4 Review all information for accuracy.

5 Click Previous to edit information.

6 Click Finish to complete your resume.

When you have finished building your resume, you will be redirected to the “Resumes” page and can view, edit, duplicate or delete previously built resumes.

USAJOBS Resume Builder: References & Resume PreviewThe fourth section allows you to enter and save up to five professional or personal refer-ences. You do not have to provide references unless you want to. If you do not want to provide references, click Next to move to the next section of the Resume Builder.

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USAJOBS Resume UploaderOnce on the “Resume Uploader” page, you will see the different document formats that are acceptable for uploading (e.g. doc, docx, rtf, pdf, png, gif, jpg, jpeg). You are also able to view a sample resume and tips on what to include in your resume.

1 To upload a saved resume, click Upload New Resume on the “Resumes” page.

2 You are required to enter a name (e.g., My Resume) for each resume.

3 Use Browse to select the resume you wish to upload.

4 Click Upload

After a successful upload, you will return to the “Resumes” page where you can view or delete your uploaded resume(s).

To build or upload additional resumes, simply repeat the steps described in this tutorial. Remember, you can only have five resumes on file at any time.

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USAJOBS Resumes Page When you have finished building or uploading your resume, you will be redirected to the “Resumes” page where you can view, edit, duplicate or delete your stored resumes.

1 You can change the status of your resumes from “Not Searchable” to “Searchable” by clicking on the Make Searchable link. This will allow agencies to locate you based on your unique expe-riences, education or other accomplihsments listed on your resume.

NOTE: Only text-based RTF, PDF and Word documents are searchable by recruiters. Image files (e.g., GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG) are not searchable.

Once your resume is search-able, you can change the status back to “Not search-able” at any time by clicking the Make Non-Searchable link.

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Begin by signing-in to your USAJOBS account. If you do not have an account, click Create An Account.

NOTE: You must have a USAJOBS account before creating a Saved Search.

From your Account page, you can create new Saved Searches in two ways:

1 Expand the My Account drop-down menu and click on Saved Searches or click the Saved Searches link on the My Account page.

2 Click the Create a new saved search button

On the “Saved Searches” page, you are able to:

• Create a new Saved Search

• View all Saved Searches created previously.

Creating a Saved Search on USAJOBSThis tutorial will explain how to create Saved Searches, automatically retrieve job oppor-tunity announcements matching specified criteria and receive the results through e-mail at specified times. Please follow these simple steps to ensure that your Saved Searches are successfully created and maintained.

JOB SEARCHES

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After selecting Create A New Saved Search, you will be redirected to the “Create A New Saved Search” page.

1 Input desired criteria.

NOTE: This page is identical to the Advanced Search Page.

2 Create a name for your saved search.

NOTE: A name is a required for each new saved search.

3 Set how often you would like USAJOBS to send e-mail notifications of new job announcements.

NOTE: Any option selected other than None will send the results of job announcements that have posted since the last e-mail you received. The first e-mail you receive will include results that have posted since the search was created.

3 After entering all desired criteria, click the Save Search button to save your search. You can also click the Save and Run button to save your search and view open job announcements that meet your search criteria.

When you have finished cre-ating and saving your search, you will be redirected to the “Saved Searches” page.

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Saved Searches PageOn the the “Saved Searches” page, you can view, edit, delete and renew the expiration date of previously saved searches.

1 Click the View link to see all currently open job announcements that meet your search criteria.

2 Click the Edit link to open and make changes to your Saved Search.

3 Click the Delete link to permanently remove your Saved Search from your account.

To create additional searches, simply repeat the steps described in this tutorial. You may save up to 10 searches with differ-ent search criteria to help you find the right opportu-nity for you.

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