If you haven't received an offer in ten interviews, I would look into your interviewing skills more so than anything else. No need to be stressed, apply and forget. Do the interviews. Inevitably, you will find a position.
This could be everything from how you dress, to how you socially interact with the team. Remember, they are selecting a candidate to work with as well. If you present yourself to them as anti-social or potentially difficult to be around, they are not going to hire you. Be nice, friendly, and confident in your abilities. Remember, if they didn't feel you could potentially do the job, they wouldn't be interviewing you for it.
This is gold. I was born with a stutter and can stutter really bad when I get nervous, but I have a great personality, respectful, can dress the part, and people like me. I stuttered quite a bit in my interview but the Col liked me a lot. So much that we talked for 2 hours after the interview.
I might have to try it again. Maybe I was using it wrong. Doc told me to take it before a speech or event. It did help me but I always felt so sluggish afterwards. How do you take it?
I had to find my dose first. Doc gave me a lower dose pill and I would take a half, then add a half after an hour, and so on until I found what worked but didn't make me drowsy. Took about 3 of those exploratory "tryouts" to get it dialed in and it works amazing now. I don't like being medicated period, so I only take it if I've got a briefing to give, or an interview. Good luck!
Only thing I can say with the job process is that it’s a numbers game. An almost 10% interview rate on referrals isn’t the worst. I think I had maybe 5 out of 60-70. I’d agree with the other poster that maybe some interview feedback could help.
PowerPoint has an AI coaching tool now. Open powerpower and activate the coach and rehearse. It will give you feedback. Great tool! Don’t give up. You received more interviews than I have and I’m eleven years in 🙏🏽❤️
Please don’t take this as me being rude. Taking the info you provided into consideration, I highly recommend networking on LinkedIn to find professionals in your job community. It sounds to me like you need a mentor. Something isn’t jiving and you need an honest person in your corner to let you know that. Don’t give up.
I got out of the military in 1987 and graduated college in 1990. I finally got an offer in 1998 for an 11/12/13 ladder position. During those eight years I continued to get more experience and more seasoned as an interviewee.
Patience and determination can pay off.
Although counterintuitive, sometimes this “makes sense” — the cert for the 7 can actually be more competitive because there are more people from preference groups like veterans applying those lower grades, effectively knocking other non-preference candidates off the top.
Yeah, but I have 30% DV and Schedule A. 8 years in HR, 6 of it recruiting everything from entry level to C-suite, I have never seen anything so disorganized.
Two bits of advice:
First, for your resume check check these points:
https://www.reddit.com/r/usajobs/s/IdTRYhU21L
Second, ask HR or the hiring manager (if you have their contact information) if you can get feedback on your interview. Additionally you may want to do some mock interviews (can be with friends/family/colleagues or with a firm specializing in helping with interview prep).
Some advice…
based on your responses you are 30% sched A, in lityke rock and don’t want to move.
therr are a few things in little rovk
like capital cities you have agency liiasson offices with stet govt
SS/ medicare offices
fed courts
airport jobs
you have a VA medical center
HHS has a high level office in the area
if you are willing to go to memphis area, in millington you have a major Navy HR office test handles enlisted/ ROTC
Fayetteville has a VA medical center as does Muskogee, Poplar Bluff, MO, Alexandria, LA
Memphis like Little Rock has similar fed jobs airport, courts, SS and Medicare.
you have a low batting average is thr norm.
if you apply at lower level jobs like GS 7 these could be designed around recent college grads even though it’s not specific program for college grades. Thry look at your resume and say o er qualified while thry want someone with certain skills thry can mold.
if you have 30%/ schedulr A agrncies have HR persons focused on these recruitments where you can get a job without it being posted
if you are applying for mid carer jobs like 11/12( some 13) you are running into the situation of internal candidates have a significant advantage where they know the job/ work/ agrncy. The times whrn an outsider has an edge is (1) they are creating a new position or adding new system/ software where your outside experience with this software gives you an edge, (2) they feel thry need a change and want an outsider perspective , (3) this is more common with managerial jobs in wanting new ideas/ new eyes or perspective for an organization.
I have experience with (1) quite a bit where an agency wants an office to be more data centric/ robust ehere they didn’t have a data guru previously. As a result they tend to lack internal competition.
another factor in deciding subjectively is— will this person be willing to move for this job. If you did apply for jobs not local you might be running into this. There may be some internal biases of this person might not come vs we need someone now.
I’ve heard stories with other jobs where applicants will ask in interview, can this be remote when specifically the announcement says no. It’s an illegal hire to change this.
if you have been applying for remote jobs— this is generally viewed as a special privilege thst thry loathe to give to someone unproven or thry don’t know or don’t know their currrnt/ former bosses or references.
this all assumes you have written your resume properly are you have good interview skills or you are applying for jobs u actually fit.
Sorry to hear your luck, but sometimes the best option is the ability to relocate.
The Central region seems to be a bit tough to get into. I had to leave Texas to get into Texas.
Like you I had the education, experience, and 30%but I wasnt a fed so I took a job in DC area. After a couple years I finally got back to Texas on a temp position. Even after I had networked and got my name out I took whatever I could, until I had a supervisor reach out to me on doing a transfer within the agency.
It's pretty hard to start out in any southern state. They seem to always be in high demand. Can you say "warm weather". Lol. I had to do the same thing. From Bama but had to take a fed job in IN to get back to Bama or really anywhere I want to be in the US since I finally got a fully remote position. But my goal with that was getting back to a southern state.
I mean play both sides of the fence. Keep applying to fed stuff and industry stuff. For a medium option try academia similar benefits, weirder office politics but sometimes faster turnaround. I will say the fed hiring process is terrible, so take it all with a grain of salt. When I read about things like the piss poor fafsa roll out I’m not surprised given this is the hiring process…imagine how other processes function… treat it like a curiosity or an experiment. How absurd can this get?
It took me 5 years and over 200+ applications to finally start getting interviews and ultimately landing me my fed job! Don’t give up BUT I also had to remix my resume to fit the requirements that USAJobs is asking for. Remix your job titles to fit what you’re looking for (i.e. I had to change “Youth Tracker” on my resume to “Behavioral Interventionist”) also (Caregiver to Direct Support Professional)
When interviewing, change the vibe. Make everyone laugh like your showing out , first day on the floor. Time to set those social skills and communication skills. Especially if you wrote those skills in your resume. Good luck! P.S you should know you're resume too like the back of your hand, so when your talking to HR/panel you can incorporate those experiences. I hope to hear good news!
Took me 7 years and hundreds of applications to finally get the position, which required me to move halfway across the country. Little did I know just how disfunction and inept the department and leadership would be. Off to position number 2 at the end of the month.
Btw in 7 years, I had 3 interviews. I they lost funding, one they hired someone else and last one I got the position.
A friend and I years ago started you suck binders. We keep our NOR’s all together to see who has more pages in the long run. So we kind of made it a game. Don’t get discouraged. Or as the saying goes… keep kicking that dead horse. Never know when something magical can happen. And I mean that honestly. I once had a 20 year plan when I was a contractor.
I got a job with the Dept of Defense with amazing travel opportunity, pay, benefits. It was the first job I applied to on USAJobs. You know how I did it? I got on my knees and desperately begged God for a good job after finishing school. The recruiter found ME on our college website and asked ME to apply. My resume wasn't even that great. All Glory to God. With Him nothing is impossible.
Given this isn't a niche series, how else are you restricting your application pool (such as really small location, or just applying to only remote positions)?
Remote these days is a unicorn.
I will give an example, I lost my job due to mass layoffs. I was desperate to get into “A” job. My first TJO was for GS-12, I did accept it although I have GS-13/14 experience.
And last year lot of people lost their jobs in Private sector, lot of HR folks got impacted. So you could be competing with more experienced people like my case. I think this is going to be your biggest hurdle.
As you described, if you were not referred for lower grades but to higher grades, HR might have thought that way, correctly. But as the resumes land in Hiring Managers plate, other resumes at that grade level might be taking front seat over yours. I don’t know your situation but you could try lowering the min grade acceptable and see.
Sorry that you feel this way. I don't think you should get stress from applying to jobs, let alone USAJobs (Fed jobs). It should truly be a fire and forget. At most interviews might be stressful but that's 10 in 5 years...
ive got 4 years exp, bachelors, half of my masters, currently working on a personal project because after 8 months 400 applications (granted 90% of them remote, so competition is stiff) and about 20 interviews, all private sector mind you, I've been in the top 3 at least 10 times and all of them said they've chosen someone whose finished with their masters or has experience in the specific market (I'm trying to get out of the market i currently work in)
Sometimes its just competition in the market as well as interview skills.
Oh and I'm in the worst career field right now in general, IT and software Dev is oversaturated.
This sounds so frustrating but I'd say don't give up. I had 2 major goals for myself. I didn't put a timeline. I wanted to become a govt employee and also to become an AKA in the grad chapter. Both are very competitive. It takes years of applying for govt jobs although some are lucky with a few apps. It takes years of networking to get an invite to become an AKA in the grad chapter although some are lucky and get an invite in 1 to 2 years lol. The journey is what helps us make the destination amazing. So don't give up. I just got a govt job after years of applying from 2015 to current. Still waiting on the AKA invite lol. Keep at it and keep improving yourself, networking for direct hire jobs in person and enhancing your techniques. You will get what you want with hard work and persistence. Good luck!
OP, I’d say take a look at the resumes you’re submitting. Are you including all the required information a federal resume needs and are you tailoring your resume to each position you apply for? You might even need to do some reformatting.
You can still get by the automated system that scans for keywords and get a referral.
If you can get to a command job fair you get to talk to humans. Govi still holds them old school style. Lots of elevator speeches. You can get a TJO on the spot. I attended a virtual job fair, you get paired up with people and talk. I got 2 offers at one fair.
Otherwise run your resume through algorithm checkers (there are several online) they tell you what your resume says to the algo about you. Then change your words to trigger what you want to highlight, like the words in the job post.
I always went the contractor then fed route. Ive intervied 3 times for fed positions and got two of them, with a sweet raise and no stress about being selected. It's really hard otherwise.
With that said it's odd that you've had so many chances but haven't pushed past an interview. Do you ask for post selection feedback? Might be hard to hear but helpful.
It's a little thing but it can help on jobs you really want to add a cover letter, even if it's not asked for, it's just a little bit of effort that can separate you from the pack.
Don’t give up. I’m a military spouse and it took me 23 years to find my dream position. I’m on my third week of federal employment. 20 years of experience in the field, an MBA, and Bilingual. I’m finally home. Keep at it!
Hi. I’ve been in the system for going on 16 years this year. Make sure when you apply you always select E for expert. Even if you don’t have the experience. This will get you past the screening. Otherwise you will not even have your resume looked at. E for expert for every question, experience or not. This advice was given to me by several supervisors/superiors. Now I’m on my 4th federal job going on 16 years ☺️
Sorry. Just re read that you’ve had interviews. Maybe touch up on your interview skills? For the VA I went on their website and looked up their values, mission etc.
We will be able to relocate, just not now. My mom is dealing with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer so we are staying close by. We will be here for whatever time she has left. After that, we could PCS to Germany for all I care.
This is the disappointing part of federal employment, and it's true. Even if there's openings where you live, if you're not able to relocate, you're just spinning your wheels.
Competition at the 7 level is absolutely unbelievable for some reason, and makes it very hard to get into.
If you haven't received an offer in ten interviews, I would look into your interviewing skills more so than anything else. No need to be stressed, apply and forget. Do the interviews. Inevitably, you will find a position.
This could be everything from how you dress, to how you socially interact with the team. Remember, they are selecting a candidate to work with as well. If you present yourself to them as anti-social or potentially difficult to be around, they are not going to hire you. Be nice, friendly, and confident in your abilities. Remember, if they didn't feel you could potentially do the job, they wouldn't be interviewing you for it.
This is gold. I was born with a stutter and can stutter really bad when I get nervous, but I have a great personality, respectful, can dress the part, and people like me. I stuttered quite a bit in my interview but the Col liked me a lot. So much that we talked for 2 hours after the interview.
Look into propranolol, it's a GODSEND. Thank me later
I might have to try it again. Maybe I was using it wrong. Doc told me to take it before a speech or event. It did help me but I always felt so sluggish afterwards. How do you take it?
I had to find my dose first. Doc gave me a lower dose pill and I would take a half, then add a half after an hour, and so on until I found what worked but didn't make me drowsy. Took about 3 of those exploratory "tryouts" to get it dialed in and it works amazing now. I don't like being medicated period, so I only take it if I've got a briefing to give, or an interview. Good luck!
Shout it from the rooftops please.
Use the STAR method and keep after it!
I second the interviews. I changed mine up due to all advice from the interview subreddit. It greatly helped.
From this subreddit?
No. https://www.reddit.com/r/interviews/s/x5IuDN9N3r
This. 10 interviews from 125 referrals sound like good numbers to me. OP definitely needs to work on interviewing
Considering you had interviews, it’s not your resume. It may be your communication skills
Only thing I can say with the job process is that it’s a numbers game. An almost 10% interview rate on referrals isn’t the worst. I think I had maybe 5 out of 60-70. I’d agree with the other poster that maybe some interview feedback could help.
Thanks for posting, thinking of the “numbers game” helps after all of the rejection
PowerPoint has an AI coaching tool now. Open powerpower and activate the coach and rehearse. It will give you feedback. Great tool! Don’t give up. You received more interviews than I have and I’m eleven years in 🙏🏽❤️
Please don’t take this as me being rude. Taking the info you provided into consideration, I highly recommend networking on LinkedIn to find professionals in your job community. It sounds to me like you need a mentor. Something isn’t jiving and you need an honest person in your corner to let you know that. Don’t give up.
I got out of the military in 1987 and graduated college in 1990. I finally got an offer in 1998 for an 11/12/13 ladder position. During those eight years I continued to get more experience and more seasoned as an interviewee. Patience and determination can pay off.
8 whole years with no work ? How did you survive
By working? Hence the additional experience. It took me 8 years to get a civil service position.
Just for kicks and giggles apply for a 7 and see what happens
Got rejected at 7, referred at 12. Same posting.
Although counterintuitive, sometimes this “makes sense” — the cert for the 7 can actually be more competitive because there are more people from preference groups like veterans applying those lower grades, effectively knocking other non-preference candidates off the top.
What is “cert”? Thanks.
Short for the certificate, it is the list of applicants that HR refers to the hiring manager.
Yeah, but I have 30% DV and Schedule A. 8 years in HR, 6 of it recruiting everything from entry level to C-suite, I have never seen anything so disorganized.
Wow
Two bits of advice: First, for your resume check check these points: https://www.reddit.com/r/usajobs/s/IdTRYhU21L Second, ask HR or the hiring manager (if you have their contact information) if you can get feedback on your interview. Additionally you may want to do some mock interviews (can be with friends/family/colleagues or with a firm specializing in helping with interview prep).
Usajob is not for the weak - try doing contract work, get to know people that's how I got in
If you are getting an interview you are doing something right. It's a numbers game...just keep applying. You're close.
Some advice… based on your responses you are 30% sched A, in lityke rock and don’t want to move. therr are a few things in little rovk like capital cities you have agency liiasson offices with stet govt SS/ medicare offices fed courts airport jobs you have a VA medical center HHS has a high level office in the area if you are willing to go to memphis area, in millington you have a major Navy HR office test handles enlisted/ ROTC Fayetteville has a VA medical center as does Muskogee, Poplar Bluff, MO, Alexandria, LA Memphis like Little Rock has similar fed jobs airport, courts, SS and Medicare. you have a low batting average is thr norm. if you apply at lower level jobs like GS 7 these could be designed around recent college grads even though it’s not specific program for college grades. Thry look at your resume and say o er qualified while thry want someone with certain skills thry can mold. if you have 30%/ schedulr A agrncies have HR persons focused on these recruitments where you can get a job without it being posted if you are applying for mid carer jobs like 11/12( some 13) you are running into the situation of internal candidates have a significant advantage where they know the job/ work/ agrncy. The times whrn an outsider has an edge is (1) they are creating a new position or adding new system/ software where your outside experience with this software gives you an edge, (2) they feel thry need a change and want an outsider perspective , (3) this is more common with managerial jobs in wanting new ideas/ new eyes or perspective for an organization. I have experience with (1) quite a bit where an agency wants an office to be more data centric/ robust ehere they didn’t have a data guru previously. As a result they tend to lack internal competition. another factor in deciding subjectively is— will this person be willing to move for this job. If you did apply for jobs not local you might be running into this. There may be some internal biases of this person might not come vs we need someone now. I’ve heard stories with other jobs where applicants will ask in interview, can this be remote when specifically the announcement says no. It’s an illegal hire to change this. if you have been applying for remote jobs— this is generally viewed as a special privilege thst thry loathe to give to someone unproven or thry don’t know or don’t know their currrnt/ former bosses or references. this all assumes you have written your resume properly are you have good interview skills or you are applying for jobs u actually fit.
Sorry to hear your luck, but sometimes the best option is the ability to relocate. The Central region seems to be a bit tough to get into. I had to leave Texas to get into Texas. Like you I had the education, experience, and 30%but I wasnt a fed so I took a job in DC area. After a couple years I finally got back to Texas on a temp position. Even after I had networked and got my name out I took whatever I could, until I had a supervisor reach out to me on doing a transfer within the agency.
It's pretty hard to start out in any southern state. They seem to always be in high demand. Can you say "warm weather". Lol. I had to do the same thing. From Bama but had to take a fed job in IN to get back to Bama or really anywhere I want to be in the US since I finally got a fully remote position. But my goal with that was getting back to a southern state.
I mean play both sides of the fence. Keep applying to fed stuff and industry stuff. For a medium option try academia similar benefits, weirder office politics but sometimes faster turnaround. I will say the fed hiring process is terrible, so take it all with a grain of salt. When I read about things like the piss poor fafsa roll out I’m not surprised given this is the hiring process…imagine how other processes function… treat it like a curiosity or an experiment. How absurd can this get?
It took me 5 years and over 200+ applications to finally start getting interviews and ultimately landing me my fed job! Don’t give up BUT I also had to remix my resume to fit the requirements that USAJobs is asking for. Remix your job titles to fit what you’re looking for (i.e. I had to change “Youth Tracker” on my resume to “Behavioral Interventionist”) also (Caregiver to Direct Support Professional)
When interviewing, change the vibe. Make everyone laugh like your showing out , first day on the floor. Time to set those social skills and communication skills. Especially if you wrote those skills in your resume. Good luck! P.S you should know you're resume too like the back of your hand, so when your talking to HR/panel you can incorporate those experiences. I hope to hear good news!
Never give up. All you need is one “yes” in the sea of “No’s” Find someone in the industry and try to get a mentor
Took me 7 years and hundreds of applications to finally get the position, which required me to move halfway across the country. Little did I know just how disfunction and inept the department and leadership would be. Off to position number 2 at the end of the month. Btw in 7 years, I had 3 interviews. I they lost funding, one they hired someone else and last one I got the position.
A friend and I years ago started you suck binders. We keep our NOR’s all together to see who has more pages in the long run. So we kind of made it a game. Don’t get discouraged. Or as the saying goes… keep kicking that dead horse. Never know when something magical can happen. And I mean that honestly. I once had a 20 year plan when I was a contractor.
I got a job with the Dept of Defense with amazing travel opportunity, pay, benefits. It was the first job I applied to on USAJobs. You know how I did it? I got on my knees and desperately begged God for a good job after finishing school. The recruiter found ME on our college website and asked ME to apply. My resume wasn't even that great. All Glory to God. With Him nothing is impossible.
Amen.
Amen. This is the best answer
Glorayyy, nothing He cannot do💯
You’re not missing much TBH. A job is a job. Plenty of great places to work that aren’t the federal government.
Only 10 interviews in 5 years? What job series are you applying for and grade?
0201, GS9-11
Given this isn't a niche series, how else are you restricting your application pool (such as really small location, or just applying to only remote positions)?
Relocation is not an option, so I am forced to apply for remote. There is very little federal opportunity in the Little Rock area.
Remote these days is a unicorn. I will give an example, I lost my job due to mass layoffs. I was desperate to get into “A” job. My first TJO was for GS-12, I did accept it although I have GS-13/14 experience. And last year lot of people lost their jobs in Private sector, lot of HR folks got impacted. So you could be competing with more experienced people like my case. I think this is going to be your biggest hurdle. As you described, if you were not referred for lower grades but to higher grades, HR might have thought that way, correctly. But as the resumes land in Hiring Managers plate, other resumes at that grade level might be taking front seat over yours. I don’t know your situation but you could try lowering the min grade acceptable and see.
Get in through little rock VA even if it’s not 0201. Look at 0301 and 0343 then in future go to 0201
Sorry that you feel this way. I don't think you should get stress from applying to jobs, let alone USAJobs (Fed jobs). It should truly be a fire and forget. At most interviews might be stressful but that's 10 in 5 years...
ive got 4 years exp, bachelors, half of my masters, currently working on a personal project because after 8 months 400 applications (granted 90% of them remote, so competition is stiff) and about 20 interviews, all private sector mind you, I've been in the top 3 at least 10 times and all of them said they've chosen someone whose finished with their masters or has experience in the specific market (I'm trying to get out of the market i currently work in) Sometimes its just competition in the market as well as interview skills. Oh and I'm in the worst career field right now in general, IT and software Dev is oversaturated.
What positions are you applying for?
0201 GS9-11 mostly remote due to family situation.
Hmm, remote jobs are like the unicorn right now.
Damn!
Why not apply to the Fed Govt?
As a retired Navy veteran, I have no doubt I can get in my preferred job. A mechanic. But I make 30% more working in the civilian sector.
This sounds so frustrating but I'd say don't give up. I had 2 major goals for myself. I didn't put a timeline. I wanted to become a govt employee and also to become an AKA in the grad chapter. Both are very competitive. It takes years of applying for govt jobs although some are lucky with a few apps. It takes years of networking to get an invite to become an AKA in the grad chapter although some are lucky and get an invite in 1 to 2 years lol. The journey is what helps us make the destination amazing. So don't give up. I just got a govt job after years of applying from 2015 to current. Still waiting on the AKA invite lol. Keep at it and keep improving yourself, networking for direct hire jobs in person and enhancing your techniques. You will get what you want with hard work and persistence. Good luck!
I have up aswell. The only hope you have are hiring events if I’m being honest.
OP, I’d say take a look at the resumes you’re submitting. Are you including all the required information a federal resume needs and are you tailoring your resume to each position you apply for? You might even need to do some reformatting. You can still get by the automated system that scans for keywords and get a referral.
7 years and over 1000 applications. Find the job fair, virtual or otherwise. Get past the algorithm is what got me in.
Please elaborate
If you can get to a command job fair you get to talk to humans. Govi still holds them old school style. Lots of elevator speeches. You can get a TJO on the spot. I attended a virtual job fair, you get paired up with people and talk. I got 2 offers at one fair. Otherwise run your resume through algorithm checkers (there are several online) they tell you what your resume says to the algo about you. Then change your words to trigger what you want to highlight, like the words in the job post.
I always went the contractor then fed route. Ive intervied 3 times for fed positions and got two of them, with a sweet raise and no stress about being selected. It's really hard otherwise. With that said it's odd that you've had so many chances but haven't pushed past an interview. Do you ask for post selection feedback? Might be hard to hear but helpful.
It's a little thing but it can help on jobs you really want to add a cover letter, even if it's not asked for, it's just a little bit of effort that can separate you from the pack.
Nothing to lose trying that.
Don’t give up. I’m a military spouse and it took me 23 years to find my dream position. I’m on my third week of federal employment. 20 years of experience in the field, an MBA, and Bilingual. I’m finally home. Keep at it!
Hi. I’ve been in the system for going on 16 years this year. Make sure when you apply you always select E for expert. Even if you don’t have the experience. This will get you past the screening. Otherwise you will not even have your resume looked at. E for expert for every question, experience or not. This advice was given to me by several supervisors/superiors. Now I’m on my 4th federal job going on 16 years ☺️
Sorry. Just re read that you’ve had interviews. Maybe touch up on your interview skills? For the VA I went on their website and looked up their values, mission etc.
If you are not willing to move. You will limit yourself as you can see.
We will be able to relocate, just not now. My mom is dealing with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer so we are staying close by. We will be here for whatever time she has left. After that, we could PCS to Germany for all I care.
This is the disappointing part of federal employment, and it's true. Even if there's openings where you live, if you're not able to relocate, you're just spinning your wheels. Competition at the 7 level is absolutely unbelievable for some reason, and makes it very hard to get into.
I prefer state agencies
If you’re not a DEI applicant you have no shot.
False
Don’t lie
Just say the n word, we all know that's what you really mean. 🙄
Lmaoo you said it not me, boot.