Location: Barnes and Noble, at Wiregrass the Shoppes
Date: May 21st
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Jenice Armstead will be having a “Book Signing” event at Barnes and Noble for their annual “Local Author Event” on May 21st, from 2pm – 4pm at the Barnes and Noble Wiregrass the Shoppes. The Complete “Pep Talks Book Series” consists of 5 practical books which display a new way of interviewing and obtaining a job in today’s competitive market. The Pep Talks Book Series is all about giving the reader an advantage over their competitors when working toward the goal of gaining more knowledge and understanding in this new job market.
This new job market is all out unconventional ways of obtaining knowledge while gaining employment. The Pep Talks Book Series explains how the new Job market knowledge and understanding how to better improve the chances of being “individually recognized” as a professional are vital.
Mark your calendars for May 21st, from 2pm – 4pm to come out and meet and ask Jenice Armstead your employment questions and get your copy of “Pep Talks” the series.
Once you have submitted your government application on www.usajob.gov there are specific ways to keep up with your application status. Many applicants don’t realize the tools they can utilize on www.usajobs.gov. There are a few ways to get the status of your government application and you should check the status at least weekly.
After you have submitted your government application wait until the job announcement closes to check the status of your application. Log into your www.usajobs.gov profile and click on the title “Application Status” on the left hand side. Then find the announcement you wish to check on. Go to the “application status” which is a blue underlined word and click this hyperlink. Some government agencies don’t link the application status to this hyperlink and some agencies do. If the agency does use this hyperlink, you will be redirected to the agency website where you submitted your original application. You will be able to view the status of your application here.
If the agency does not use this hyperlink, it will say “no application status available” this is okay. Don’t be discouraged. Click on the job announcement title and a second window will open up. Scroll down to the bottom of the job announcement and find the point of contact. You will see contact phone number or an email address. Contact this person and request the “Applicant Status.” Sometimes, you may get a HR Specialist whom doesn’t want to talk or gives you a vague answer.
If this happens, ask a more specific question like “Has the selecting official received the list of applicant’s resumes that have been referred and qualified for the position?” This will ensure you get a more detailed answer. I recommend always contacting the point of contact via email; this will ensure you have written documentation in case you have any issues with this job announcement in the future.
All the best to you, and if you have any questions – you know where to find me.
Your government application will be evaluated by a Human Resources Specialist and they will be reviewing your on-line or mailed in resume and your responses to the User Information, Core Questions, and Vacancy Questions. The Job Specific questions will relate to the following knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the work of this position. Many people don’t realize that many applications are “thrown out” because of a lack of KSAs being addressed by the applicant.
IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL federal positions are advertised on www.usajobs.gov. Many people don’t realize this, DON’T be fooled by “other” websites that promise to advertise federal jobs. Many of these “other” websites charge applicants to view federal positions and re-route their job links, but rest assure that these “other” websites are “pulling” information from www.usajobs.gov to get their information about advertised federal positions.
No matter what agency you are applying to, the advertised job will have KSAs or Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. You need to read the entire job announcement because some federal agencies require applicants to submit addition information on a separate piece of paper about how they feel they meet those exact KSAs and some agencies don’t require KSAs to be answered at all. (You can press the PRINT PREVIEW button to see the entire announcement located at the bottom of the announcement.)
Overall, KSAs are important because this is how you WILL be evaluated on the position you have applied for. If your resume or applicant doesn’t contain the listed KSAs your application will not be found “NOT qualified” and your application will be put in the NOT Qualified stack of applications. The Key to writing government KSAs in your resume is to put the EXACT KSAs which are found in the job announcement in your resume or application WORD-FOR-WORD.
So if these KSAs are in a job announcement:
Ability to evaluate and process realty applications and proposals and conduct compliance examinations on authorized actions.
Knowledge of the laws and regulations governing the realty program and the ability to use sound professional judgment to resolve conflicts with other resources.
– Ability to communicate with the public, the applicant, and other agencies regarding realty related matters.
Copy and paste, or type these exact KSAs into you online resume/application or type them into your resume/application. After you do this make sure you give examples of how you meet the KSAs. Ensure your resume and applicant look exactly alike.
Keep in mind this statement is ALWAYS in ALL Federal job announcement: ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS MUST BE SUPPORTED IN YOUR RESUME. If your answer(s) are not supported in your resume, or you fail to follow the instructions for the question(s), you will have your answer(s) adjusted to reflect what is provided, for failure to follow instructions.
This means that if your resume doesn’t match the supplemental questions or application you answered in the online application or written application, the agency can change your application score. You need to remember: SCORES are from 100 points to 70 points. The applicant résumés with the highest scores are reviewed first. Your goal is to receive as many points as possible.
You have been empowered, now go and get your federal job.
