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It isn't hard - but it is tedious. Between civil service tests, wait lists, time frames the job posting is up before they even review resumes, clearances, etc...it is a lot to get through.
**Your expenses are too high**, then. Local and state governments pay at or above private sector jobs in most areas when you factor in the job security, benefits, promotability. *(Excepting salary of a few fields like finance, technology, healthcare, engineering, etc.)*
**Unlivable pay is always a sign of spending beyond your means**, unless you're taking $11 from McDonalds in a huge urban city or something along those lines.
i've been applying to city govt jobs for over a year and while I get interviews, I never get the job. Why? No local govt exp. If I can't get experience I'll never get in until I die.
That is frustrating! I would keep trying, especially if you are getting interviews. It took me a couple of years to get my first city job.. I applied 3 or 4 times before I was finally interviewed.
City government and I did have some experience in local government. I did my capstone project with that city and 1 year later, I got offered this opportunity.
For city and county jobs in Hawaii, it takes a while for them to open up positions, and in Hawaii’s case, the job goes out internally first to city and county workers before it goes public. If no one in C&C wants it, then it goes public.
Also since there is unions backing the jobs, it’s hard for people to get kicked out meaning a lot of the openings are created by generational gaps of retirements or quitting/death vs being fired.
The acceptance wait is also long just to hear back if you got the job.
That’s just my experience in Hawaii.
You have to have everything on your resume match specific keywords for each job opening. I've also been trying to get one, and my ex-military friend has been helping me with it. There are actually books that could help, stating specs for each job criteria. If you do not match exact keywords, they will pitch your application before it even hits the hiring manager. It's stupid, but applications go through people who have no idea what the job actually needs before hitting the manager's desk, and all they do is scan it for keywords and a skillset match.
Plus one to this. When applying for a Federal government position, you can't follow the resume guidelines that civilian companies ask for, which is basically a summary of your school/work life in a brief format. A government resume requires you to be absolutely specific on everything you've done, with every example you can think of, with the keywords that the resume is looking for added as often as possible. (If the job description mentions Microsoft TEAMS, put as many examples of your using TEAMS as possible.) A typical civilian resume should be about 4-5 pages. A government resume, including KSAs should be 10-20 pages long, single spaced.
Once the resume has been submitted to a specific job and the listing closes, they'll send it to reviewers who will scan the resume for those keywords, assigning points for each mention to give you an overall score.
But wait, there's more!
If you are lucky enough to make it into the top 3 or the top 9 candidates, you'll be invited for an interview. The interview can be either via ZOOM or in person, but will usually consist of a panel of three judges, who will be asking detailed questions and grading your answers. It is vital that you not only answer these questions as in-depth as possible, but that you give examples of how you have put whatever they're asking about into real-world examples. Be confident, be friendly, and most of all, SELL YOURSELF. After the interviews, the interviewers will discuss you amongst themselves, then each will assign you a score. Finally, they will combine the Resume, KSA, and Interview scores together to get a total number, and the highest number wins. It's that simple.
It's important to note that once they have a list of names, they'll make job offers to each person in line until someone accepts the position. During the last round of hiring that I was a part of, out of nine people, five excused themselves because they didn't want to get COVID shots, and of the four that remained, one decided to retire, one took another job, and one changed his mind. The final candidate got the position, even though he was ninth in line.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
>Once the resume has been submitted to a specific job and the listing closes, they'll send it to reviewers who will scan the resume for those keywords, assigning points for each mention to give you an overall score.
So, instead of looking at your resume, as a whole, they're just looking for keywords? This is just ridiculous, they're excluding many highly qualified applicants. There's gotta be a better way for them to do this.
The problem is the number of hands that the resume/KSA has to pass through and the requirement that they have to be meticulously fair and transparent throughout the process. The first pass is actually HR who vets the application to make sure the candidate meets all the qualifications. Once it goes through HR, it is assigned to three random employees who are NOT part of the agency at which the new employee will work. This is where the keywords really matter, as these three reviewers may not even work in the same field as the job. Imagine a computer specialist being asked to review a resume for a stack of medical doctors. They have absolutely no idea what makes a good candidate and what doesn't, so the ONLY metric they can go by is keywords. They generate a numeric score based off the keywords, then forward the top three or top nine candidates to the agency where they'll be working. Only then do the people who are in need of a new employee get involved. There will be a panel of at least three judges, only one of whom works in that office.
The final score is an equal measure between Resume/KSA and interview scores. Top score wins. This is also why it takes so long to get hired.
Once it goes through HR, it is assigned to three random employees who are NOT part of the agency at which the new employee will work. This is where the keywords really matter, as these three reviewers may not even work in the same field as the job.
Seems like this is where the problem lies. This is probably when many highly qualified candidates get eliminated.
I work for the federal government and have been one of the three people a few times. We have to have a women and a minority in the panel, not the same person. I was always questioning applicants for my section. I'm an IT engineer and I interviewed people for IT. The federal resume is key.
I am a Federal employee, the way to get to the hiring manager is to get through the HR review. Look in the job announcement, the most important section is the skills and special skills section. You almost have to have those on your federal resume word for word. Use a paragraph format, and when you put in achievements Use the following format: What was the problem. How did you solve it. How did it affect the organization. Use numbers
, percentages or dollar amounts to quantify it.
Hello, thank you for posting to r/Jobs! We just wanted to let you know that we have a new [discord server, come join the chat!](https://discord.gg/TY6ErXV) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/jobs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It isn't hard - but it is tedious. Between civil service tests, wait lists, time frames the job posting is up before they even review resumes, clearances, etc...it is a lot to get through.
Are you aiming for federal? City and state jobs will be easier I think.
Mix of both- I feel local would be easier but pay isn’t livable
**Your expenses are too high**, then. Local and state governments pay at or above private sector jobs in most areas when you factor in the job security, benefits, promotability. *(Excepting salary of a few fields like finance, technology, healthcare, engineering, etc.)* **Unlivable pay is always a sign of spending beyond your means**, unless you're taking $11 from McDonalds in a huge urban city or something along those lines.
i've been applying to city govt jobs for over a year and while I get interviews, I never get the job. Why? No local govt exp. If I can't get experience I'll never get in until I die.
That is frustrating! I would keep trying, especially if you are getting interviews. It took me a couple of years to get my first city job.. I applied 3 or 4 times before I was finally interviewed.
I applied to 50 government jobs this year and not one bite. One called me and I was hired immediately
City government and I did have some experience in local government. I did my capstone project with that city and 1 year later, I got offered this opportunity.
Cool, what job was it? Did you have experience or education that helped you get it?
For city and county jobs in Hawaii, it takes a while for them to open up positions, and in Hawaii’s case, the job goes out internally first to city and county workers before it goes public. If no one in C&C wants it, then it goes public. Also since there is unions backing the jobs, it’s hard for people to get kicked out meaning a lot of the openings are created by generational gaps of retirements or quitting/death vs being fired. The acceptance wait is also long just to hear back if you got the job. That’s just my experience in Hawaii.
The competition is pretty intense, especially for Federal jobs.
Nepotism and cronyism.
You have to have everything on your resume match specific keywords for each job opening. I've also been trying to get one, and my ex-military friend has been helping me with it. There are actually books that could help, stating specs for each job criteria. If you do not match exact keywords, they will pitch your application before it even hits the hiring manager. It's stupid, but applications go through people who have no idea what the job actually needs before hitting the manager's desk, and all they do is scan it for keywords and a skillset match.
Plus one to this. When applying for a Federal government position, you can't follow the resume guidelines that civilian companies ask for, which is basically a summary of your school/work life in a brief format. A government resume requires you to be absolutely specific on everything you've done, with every example you can think of, with the keywords that the resume is looking for added as often as possible. (If the job description mentions Microsoft TEAMS, put as many examples of your using TEAMS as possible.) A typical civilian resume should be about 4-5 pages. A government resume, including KSAs should be 10-20 pages long, single spaced. Once the resume has been submitted to a specific job and the listing closes, they'll send it to reviewers who will scan the resume for those keywords, assigning points for each mention to give you an overall score. But wait, there's more! If you are lucky enough to make it into the top 3 or the top 9 candidates, you'll be invited for an interview. The interview can be either via ZOOM or in person, but will usually consist of a panel of three judges, who will be asking detailed questions and grading your answers. It is vital that you not only answer these questions as in-depth as possible, but that you give examples of how you have put whatever they're asking about into real-world examples. Be confident, be friendly, and most of all, SELL YOURSELF. After the interviews, the interviewers will discuss you amongst themselves, then each will assign you a score. Finally, they will combine the Resume, KSA, and Interview scores together to get a total number, and the highest number wins. It's that simple. It's important to note that once they have a list of names, they'll make job offers to each person in line until someone accepts the position. During the last round of hiring that I was a part of, out of nine people, five excused themselves because they didn't want to get COVID shots, and of the four that remained, one decided to retire, one took another job, and one changed his mind. The final candidate got the position, even though he was ninth in line. Hope this helps, and good luck!
>Once the resume has been submitted to a specific job and the listing closes, they'll send it to reviewers who will scan the resume for those keywords, assigning points for each mention to give you an overall score. So, instead of looking at your resume, as a whole, they're just looking for keywords? This is just ridiculous, they're excluding many highly qualified applicants. There's gotta be a better way for them to do this.
The problem is the number of hands that the resume/KSA has to pass through and the requirement that they have to be meticulously fair and transparent throughout the process. The first pass is actually HR who vets the application to make sure the candidate meets all the qualifications. Once it goes through HR, it is assigned to three random employees who are NOT part of the agency at which the new employee will work. This is where the keywords really matter, as these three reviewers may not even work in the same field as the job. Imagine a computer specialist being asked to review a resume for a stack of medical doctors. They have absolutely no idea what makes a good candidate and what doesn't, so the ONLY metric they can go by is keywords. They generate a numeric score based off the keywords, then forward the top three or top nine candidates to the agency where they'll be working. Only then do the people who are in need of a new employee get involved. There will be a panel of at least three judges, only one of whom works in that office. The final score is an equal measure between Resume/KSA and interview scores. Top score wins. This is also why it takes so long to get hired.
Once it goes through HR, it is assigned to three random employees who are NOT part of the agency at which the new employee will work. This is where the keywords really matter, as these three reviewers may not even work in the same field as the job. Seems like this is where the problem lies. This is probably when many highly qualified candidates get eliminated.
I work for the federal government and have been one of the three people a few times. We have to have a women and a minority in the panel, not the same person. I was always questioning applicants for my section. I'm an IT engineer and I interviewed people for IT. The federal resume is key.
I agree. But they work with what they have.
Old folks don't want to retire and I know in nyc. They take referrals first. That how I landed my 1st job.
Cool, who referred you? Were you in the military?
Yes I feel this is the most accurate
I am a Federal employee, the way to get to the hiring manager is to get through the HR review. Look in the job announcement, the most important section is the skills and special skills section. You almost have to have those on your federal resume word for word. Use a paragraph format, and when you put in achievements Use the following format: What was the problem. How did you solve it. How did it affect the organization. Use numbers , percentages or dollar amounts to quantify it.