Alaska Labor & Workforce: USAJobs Applications

My name is Cheryl Sweet, I am the local Veteran Employment Representative and I want to welcome you to the USAjobs two page resume training presentation. The purpose of this session is to share best practices that will help you create a strong resume that is two pages or less and is compliant with the new federal rule on resume length.

Our learning objectives today are first, we want to gain knowledge of how to create an effective resume within the two page limits. Secondly, we want to be aware of essential resume elements for the federal application and thirdly, we want to create a resume that communicates your qualifications and gets you notice. Finally, we want to upload or build your resume in USAjobs and make it search searchable by federal recruiters. But first, let's start with some background information on the new resume process. The Merit Hiring Plan went into effect September 27, 2025.

It builds on the Chance to Compete act of 2024 which emphasizes the skill based and competency based assessments and greater involvement of subject matter experts in the hiring process. It further prioritize getting talented candidates who demonstrate merit and competency through the door.

The Merit Hiring Plan requires federal agencies to now only accept resumes that are two pages or fewer. It helps to create the shift from traditional federal long resumes to to a more concise skill focused resume. This also helps to align with skill based hiring and competency based assessments. It further helps to streamline the hiring process and creates a smoother transition for job seekers moving between the private and the federal sector of employment.

Create an Effective Federal Resume first we should know USAJOBS is known as the Gateway to Federal Jobs. Over 500 organizations across the government post job opportunities on USA jobs. Recently, USAjobs implemented and updated the limits that all Resumes must be 2 pages or fewer. Any resume uploaded or created in USAjobs after this date must meet the 2 page requirement. Hiring agency HR specialists must be able to read your resume to determine whether you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements.

You should also read the how to. Apply. Required Documents section in the job announcement to see if the hiring agency has additional resume requirements. Often the hiring agency may ask for additional paperwork beyond your resume. Lastly, applicants who submit a resume longer than two pages may be found inedigible for further consideration and will be informed of their ineligibility in status notifications.

Our second learning objective covers the essential elements of a resume for your federal application. Firstly, your contact information. Make sure it is current, accurate and professional. Often unprofessional emails will turn off the hiring official. Secondly, our work experience focus on work experience that is most relevant to the qualifications and duties listed on the job announcement.

Remove outdated and non relevant experience. If you are well into your career, we do not need to know that you were a box boy when you were 16. Things to include on your resume Things Job titles, series and grade if federal work experience the start and end date, the month and the year hours worked per week Align with the job announcement and address all required qualifications. Demonstrate your ability to perform the task at the required level stated on the job announcement. So if they're looking for a manager, you want to show that you have experience experience as a manager, not just a part of the team.

Sa.

Now here are some optional resume elements. Your current security clearance Job related trainings, Language skills Organizations and affiliations Professional publications and references I encourage you to read the job announcement carefully as some of the optional elements can be required in. Some job announcements depending on the hiring agency.

Now let's cover some best practices for two page resumes. First, you want to prioritize relevant and recent work experience. Focus on work experience that is most relevant to the qualifications and duties listed in the job announcement. Remove outdated or non relevant experience. You want to always use plain language.

Use concise result focused language the HR specialist can easily understand. Do not use acronyms Jargon Often acronyms and jargon can be associated with a field such as IT or medical. So make sure you spell out words and don't use jargon that your HR specialist will not pick up on immediately. Thirdly, tailor your resume to the job announcement. Ensure work experience descriptions are aligned with the job announcement and addresses all the required qual in the announcement.

Brief descriptions should demonstrate your ability to perform the task at the required level per the job announcement.

Here are some additional best practices for creating your two page or less resume. Demonstrate your skills and competencies. Include your level of experience ie Manager, supervisor Team lead Some agencies may ask what your level of experience is. They not only want to know what you did, but they want to know. At what capacity you function in.

Were you the manager? Were you the team lead or a senior analyst? Always use numbers, matrix or quality of work to highlight your accomplishments. If you saved the company money or. If you saved them time, you want.

To include that so that you can best highlight yourself. Final Quality Check your resume before applying. Can a hiring manager see your experience within the first 10 to 15 seconds? Did I sell myself effectively? Are there any spelling or grammatical errors?

Have I addressed all qualifications listed on the job announcement? A second set of eyes is always. Beneficial.

Now that you know all the. Essential elements of a resume it's time to upload your resume on USAjobs. Here are some best practices for your resume Upload a resume that is 2 pages or less. USAjobs suggests using at least a 0.5 inch margin, a 10 point font size for the main text, and 14 point size for headings. Accepted file formats include PDF, Word, JPEG, or PNG and others.

Uploading a PDF resume is recommended to preserve formatting and page count. You can save up to at least five resumes in your profile.

Learning existing resumes stored in your profile. USAjobs will validate the page length of. All resumes stored in the job seeker's profile prior to September 27, 2025. If they are over limit, they will be suspended. The job seeker will need to take action on resumes that are stored in their profile based on the resume length and status.

Job seekers will need to make new two page resumes or fewer in order. To be eligible for applications.

Making your Resume searchable on USAjobs is simple. Simply sign into your USAjobs account and go to Documents. Select the searchable box for the resume you want recruiters to see. We will look at this a little closer in the USAjobs accounts. Making your resume searchable could be greatly beneficial to you.

Federal recruiters may contact you directly about jobs or career events, and recruiters can also match your skills with jobs they're trying to fill without you ever applying. They may reach out and contact you.

All right, let's delve a little bit. Into USA Jobs again. I want to remind you that more. Than 500 government agencies use USAjobs to. Post job opportunities, making it available to job seekers so they can search and.

Apply for positions, find hiring events, and. Learn about federal hiring process all in one place. We're going to look at what it. Looks like when you go to www.usajobs.gov.

Upon logging into USAjobs.gov this is the first screen you will see. Recently USAjobs.gov received an upgrade. It is very intuitive now, so at the top you will see you can log in if you already have an account. If you do not have account, you can go to Create a Profile. Each icon will describe the next steps you need to take.

Whether you're creating a profile or logging in before the next steps, you must agree to USA Jobs Terms and Conditions and Privacy Act.

After agreeing to the Terms and conditions. And the privacy information, your next screen will either allow you to sign in if you already have an account or click Create an Account to begin creating your profile, I created an account for this presentation so I'm logged in. As you can see, there are some. New features on on USA.gov There's a benefit to creating a profile. Once you create a profile, you can save jobs and save searches.

As you can see, I have saved two jobs and I have saved one search. My one search that I saved searches the local area of Anchorage, Alaska and I saved two jobs just to show that they're saved in my profile. Whenever I log in, the jobs that are saved are the searches that I've saved can be run automatically.

Once I've logged in, there are dropdowns. From my name such as my job profile, resumes and documents, search preferences, notifications, and sign out. My jobs will show any jobs that I have saved. If I click it, it will show the jobs that I have saved. If I go to my profile, I can update or edit my profile.

Resumes and documents is where you will upload or create your resume. We'll look at that further. You can also create search preferences. Again, I can create a search preference and save it. I can save more than one.

Like if I want to search Texas and I want to search Alaska, I can save those two searches and run them Anytime that I log in. Notifications will come from USA jobs or agents, federal agencies that I've applied to and then you can log out.

Okay. Since we previously spoke about uploading and building a resume, I wanted to take the time to share this feature with you. Once you go to Resume and Documents, which is found under your name, drop down. After logging in, you can upload a resume or build a resume. When uploading a resume, please remember the best practices that we've previously covered, such as font and format when saving that document.

Building a resume is one of the better choices because it will allow you to create a resume and tailor it to the job you want to apply for. You can also easily edit the resume to customize it for other jobs you may want to apply for. After that, you're ready to make your resume searchable.

If you chose upload a resume, this will be your next screen. And if you did not remember the best practices USAjobs reminds you of the best practices for documents that you're going to upload. Just drag, drop and give it a name. It allows you also to preview the document before saving it because if it's not in the right format, it may not show up as two pages or less.

You decided to build your resume on USAjobs? USAjobs will pull information from your profile and walk you through building your resume step by step, noting all required and optional fields. The beauty about building Your resume on USAjobs is you can duplicate and edit your resume to tailor it to specific jobs. Once you've entered the resume information, select Complete Resume and Preview to ensure that you are within the two page limit.

As you move along through the USAjobs application process, please notice tips, partners and best practices built into each page. It is to make the process seamless and to help prevent errors. If you run into trouble along the. Process, you can go to the Help Center. There's a How to section and a Familiar Questions section that answers every question you might have by simply clicking.

You can find step by step instructions to almost any transaction you need to complete.

How to section is vast. This is only a small portion of available links. Every link opens step by step instructions on how to perform a task. For instance, if I were to click Create a login. Gov account, it would open up step by step instructions.

Let's look at that on the next slide.

Here you have it. How to create a login.gov account step by step Instructions Every task has instructions step by step. It is fail proof I also wanted to share with you some filters for job searching. As you can see, there are many choices to filter out the jobs you're searching. I only have one search filter in which is Anchorage, Alaska.

In the location, however, you can search any state or any radius. Also there's appointment type, department or agency you're looking to work for. If you have a hiring path such as veteran or spouse or student, there are hiring paths. It's just very detailed so you can narrow the search to fit your needs.

Sa.

Here are a few resources to help you in the process.