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I can us my one-page private sector resume to apply to jobs within the federal government.

This is absolutely, hands-down the biggest misconception regarding the federal style resume. Typical federal resumes are between 4-6 pages in length and are extremely comprehensive in terms of work experience, education, and specialized training. The federal resume also usually contains basic “compliance” information required by government personnel. Federal resumes are strategically developed to incorporate the all important key words and core competencies that are required for the position to which you are applying. Plain and simple, a federal resume cannot be summed up in one page, or even two for that matter. It is crucial that you allow yourself enough room to expand on relevant job duties, educational information and specialized on-the-job experience.

I can create one “universal” federal resume and use it to apply to any and all government job postings.

In the private sector, creating a basic resume for yourself and doling it out a multitude of business heads may be acceptable, but in the federal world it just simply isn’t done. When applying to a specific position, it is important to analyze each and every announcement for critical key-words and cleverly integrate them into the content of your resume. 90% of all federal resumes are never looked at by human eyes, they are sent through an initial electronic scanning process that detects buzzwords that are germane to the position. If your resume is lacking these words in the content, it is kicked aside and most likely never looked at by the hiring official. It is acceptable to use the same resume to apply to jobs within the same job series that are similar in scope, but it is not a good idea to use the same resume to apply to all jobs, you will never see results.

I want my resume to really stand out, so I’ve used a fancy font, loads of formatting and included some graphic elements such as bars, tables and shadowing.

Big mistake! As mentioned above, the resumes are usually sent through an electronic scanning process. By adding these elements, you have just made your resume “electronically unfriendly”. Here are some general tips to make your sure your resume not only passes through the scanning system, but makes it into the hands of an actual human (hiring official) for further consideration.

-No italics, no underlining, no shading, or other unusual enhancements.
It’s unnecessary; the scanner does not differentiate between this and other font styles.
-Avoid two-column format or resumes that look like newspapers or newsletters.
-Left justification only. No centering or right margin justification.
-Don’t condense spacing between letters.
-Even spacing throughout the document. No tabs.
-No parentheses or brackets.
-No bullets. You may use asterisks (*) or hyphens (-).
-No vertical or horizontal lines, graphics, or boxes.
-On font size, use 10, 11, or 12. Be aware that font sizes are not created equal. A 10-point Arial is not the same as a 10-point Century Gothic.
-Don’t use serif fonts, like Times New Roman or Book Antiqua.
-One font style and size throughout the document. Use a sans serif font, like Arial or Tahoma. These are fonts that do not have the small markings on the edge of each letter (serifs).

I have some really great accomplishments from previous positions such as hiring and training a brand new sales team and initiating a safety program. I will go ahead and list them as such.

STOP! It is very important to include accomplishments in the federal resume, but it is even more effective to substantiate your accomplishments with a dollar amount or percentage. Saying it with numbers is much more eye-catching and lets the Hiring Official see exactly what a huge contribution your efforts made. For example instead of saying: “Initiated company-wide safety program”, transform it into “Initiated a safety program that reduced accidents by 12 percent in the first three months”. Don’t’ just talk about your ability to increase sales, put a value to it:

“Processed more than 25 orders per day, resulting in a daily increase of $60,000 in reported sales”.

Here are some more examples of strong key accomplishments:

-Designed and implemented new filing system, decreasing operating costs by 15%.
-Reduced workforce by 12 percent with no loss in production.
-Introduced a system that cut manufacturing costs by 15% and reduced new product development time by two months.
-Hired and trained a new sales team that increased sales by 20% and margins by 15%.

I feel like I’m too old to transition into the federal government, so I’ve excluded the years for employment and education.

Sorry, no functional-style resumes in the federal government. Not only are the years you held a position required, but the start and end months usually are to. The human resources staff uses the months of employment to calculate the “time-in-grade” to see if you have 52 weeks of experience at the next lower grade level. This will assist them in determining whether or not you meet the specific qualifications for the grade level you are applying to.

Kristin Andersen is the President of Professional Federal Resumes. She is a Certified Federal Career Coach and a Certified Federal Resume Writer. Kristin has helped countless people land interviews and secure jobs within the federal government.
For more information and help with your federal application package please visit Professional Federal Resumes

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