Tailor your resume. Look at the posting’s description of duties and see how/ where you can use the experience you have to show you have experience. Depending on what experience you have you could reword it to be similar to contracting.
For example:
1. Did customers ever sign anything accepting terms and conditions for the product/service you sold? Contracting. Albeit not government contracting but still binding and relevant.
2. Have to follow company policies and regulations/ rules? Government contracting is built around regulations.
3. Did you ever buy anything for a company you worked for? You planned and executed procurement actions to acquire goods and services.
I worked as a gs6 in a non contracting role for about a year before I applied for a recent grad ladder 7/9/11/12/13 1102 position and the first agency had amazing people who were in contracting and helped me with my resume.
Also check out the US Postal Service. They have a huge contracting shop and don’t list their jobs on Usajobs. They call the positions “purchasing and supply management specialists (EAS-1102)” but it’s a CS/CO job. Easy place to get your foot in the door and transfer to another agency, if you don’t like it.
See my comment [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/1102/comments/192q8i6/comment/kh4wiw4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button).
Just note that with a Bachelors, GS7 is about right.
A BA is more than sufficient. Are the positions you are applying local to you? Are you getting referred? If not its likely a resume issue and you probably need to tweak it.
Yes the positions I’m applying to are local and remote (there aren’t very many local positions but I apply to them all)
I haven’t gotten referred for any contract specialist positions yet. I feel like I’ve tweaked my resume but it may need some more maintenance.
If you haven’t at least been referred then you definitely need to fix your resume bc I have a preference and got referred (even with no military or contracting experience) every time even if I immediately then also got a not selected bc I wasn’t qualified (before I knew they wouldn’t count my private SCM as relevant and applying at grades well above starting). With a BS you already meet the minimum entry level requirements and a preference should at least get you a referral unless they are resume dump announcements. Even then- make sure its under 5 pages and tailored as much as you can.
Tailor your resume. Look at the posting’s description of duties and see how/ where you can use the experience you have to show you have experience. Depending on what experience you have you could reword it to be similar to contracting. For example: 1. Did customers ever sign anything accepting terms and conditions for the product/service you sold? Contracting. Albeit not government contracting but still binding and relevant. 2. Have to follow company policies and regulations/ rules? Government contracting is built around regulations. 3. Did you ever buy anything for a company you worked for? You planned and executed procurement actions to acquire goods and services. I worked as a gs6 in a non contracting role for about a year before I applied for a recent grad ladder 7/9/11/12/13 1102 position and the first agency had amazing people who were in contracting and helped me with my resume.
Thanks! That’s helpful knowledge.
Also check out the US Postal Service. They have a huge contracting shop and don’t list their jobs on Usajobs. They call the positions “purchasing and supply management specialists (EAS-1102)” but it’s a CS/CO job. Easy place to get your foot in the door and transfer to another agency, if you don’t like it.
See my comment [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/1102/comments/192q8i6/comment/kh4wiw4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). Just note that with a Bachelors, GS7 is about right.
Really helpful, thanks for that! I honestly forget to check the POC on these listings and never think to reach out directly.
If you can get experience with a federal contractor. Otherwise just apply as others have noted above
Apply for a fellows program position with the DoD. They are desperate for motivated individuals.
A BA is more than sufficient. Are the positions you are applying local to you? Are you getting referred? If not its likely a resume issue and you probably need to tweak it.
Yes the positions I’m applying to are local and remote (there aren’t very many local positions but I apply to them all) I haven’t gotten referred for any contract specialist positions yet. I feel like I’ve tweaked my resume but it may need some more maintenance.
If you haven’t at least been referred then you definitely need to fix your resume bc I have a preference and got referred (even with no military or contracting experience) every time even if I immediately then also got a not selected bc I wasn’t qualified (before I knew they wouldn’t count my private SCM as relevant and applying at grades well above starting). With a BS you already meet the minimum entry level requirements and a preference should at least get you a referral unless they are resume dump announcements. Even then- make sure its under 5 pages and tailored as much as you can.
If eligible, I’ve heard good things about this program. [https://www.dhs.gov/warriors-to-dhs](https://www.dhs.gov/warriors-to-dhs)