Recruiters share their secrets at the G.I. Jobs Get Hired Workshop.
The VA’s booth at the monthly G.I. Jobs Virtual Job Fairs is consistently one of the most popular booths. So we invited VA recruiters to be our guests for a recent virtual G.I. Jobs Get Hired Workshop, which is offered free every month.
- Zelda Davis, Management Analyst, Veterans Employment Program Office (VEPO), US Department of Veterans Affairs. Army veteran.
- Michael Owens, National Recruiter, Veterans Health Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs. Army and Air Force veteran.
- Renetta (Rey) Bradford, Director, Administrative Operations in the Office of the Secretary VA, US Department of Veterans Affairs. Air Force veteran.
They talked in detail about the federal hiring process, federal resumes, jobs they are recruiting veterans for, and a secret tip that will give you a big advantage! You’ll have to watch the G.I. Get Hired Workshop at GIJobs.com/ghw-20230323
In the meantime, here are a couple of their tips.
How does an applicant start their search for a government job?
Zelda Davis: First, you want to make sure that you create a usajobs.gov account profile. That is USA Jobs’s official government website for finding and applying for jobs in the federal government. That means once you establish an account for yourself, you can set up parameters or alerts where you can conduct your search through occupations, job series, agencies, locations, salaries.
In what ways does a federal resume differ from one in the private sector?
Renetta Bradford: The difference is that in the federal government, more is more, in the private sector, less is more. You want to be thorough, you want to be concise, you want to be consistent in the way that you communicate. Not only that you have these skills, but give examples of how you can prove it on paper.
You said more is more, but how much is too much? Do you think a resume for the VA should be limited to two pages?
Michael Owens: I would say the perfect resume for a federal resume would be anywhere between probably four to six pages. Three to six pages, or four to six pages. Anything less, you may not be accurately articulating your experience to the hiring manager. Anything more then it becomes overkill.
What are some of the most common mistakes you see military job seekers make at virtual job fairs?
Zelda Davis: If you know this is a hiring fair, come dressed as if you’re going to be meeting employers. What I’m seeing is you are not taking this seriously. You need to dress the part, you need to dress in business attire. You need to also upload your resume. A lot of them that I talk to don’t have their resumes uploaded.
Michael Owens: Just be prepared to talk to people. Rehearse to yourself how you’re going to explain your job experience to someone.