Top 3 Tips - Government Jobs Résumés

Here's a few honest truths about what some (most) Government recruiters look for when they sit down to screen résumés for the many positions that need to be filled. It is important to note that this only reflects Government and not private organizations. This is important because Government HR have specific & strict policies and guidelines to follow with their hiring procedures where as private companies do not.

Number 1

As with most busy HR offices getting a bucket full of résumés every day, the ability for us to determine if your résumé will make it past the initial screening is a huge headache if we have to search for the basic requirements needed. What I mean is that we offer you the ability, on a silver plate, to customize your résumé for the position you are applying for by providing you with the screening key words in the Job Ad and Job Description. All you have to do is include them where you see them fit (provided they do, no fibbing here). Even better, create a profile summary at the beginning of your résumé that encompass each requirements that you meet in a nicely written 2, 3 phrase paragraph maximum.

See when we write a Job Ad, we create what's called a Screening Criteria document at the same time. That document includes the key requirements noted in the ad. So when we scour through résumés, those are pretty much where our main focus is. If we have to look through 10 pages of mumble jumble to find out if you meet those requirements, it is extremely time consuming and frustrating, emotions you don't want a Recruiter to associate with your name from the get-go.

Number 2

For the love of Maurice Richard (Google it), make sure your résumé is no more than 3 or 4 pages long and written in a common, easy-to-read font. Also, ensure that it has different categories property designated ie: Education- Experience - Volunteer Work - Certification/Awards (don't matter to me how fancy your design is, all I'm looking for is those key words remember...). I've recently received a 21 pages résumé written in Comic Sans with no differencing (or bolding) of the job title, description, education etc... Needless to say the emotions mentioned earlier were felt and associated with said candidate.

Number 3

Under each job titles, include truthful, detailed descriptions of what the job entailed while making sure to customize each to the position you are applying for. For example if your background is a mix of Finance and Human Resources and the position you are applying for is in HR, make sure to highlight the responsibilities and tasks from your HR background in each jobs and limit the Finance related ones. And vice versa if applying for a Finance job. A tip is to look at the Job Description for the positions you had and include those keywords and phrases that match the targeted job.

Again remember that the hiring process for a Government job VS a private one is very different. Don't bother calling the HR Manager and introduce yourself. They cannot do anything to push your application through because of the strict guidelines and policies in place. But make sure to do your research on the actual process in place and respect the timelines and type of documents to include and their format.

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JF Ratthé specializes in helping individuals discover their purpose, passion & talents and matches them to a career where they thrive and succeed. He helps companies find that needle in a hay stack that will help them grow and prosper without having to repeat the same mistake over and over.