Federal Resume Guide with Examples

A government job can offer you many perks, such as full healthcare coverage, pensions, job security, and more. When you look through UsaJobs, you can find countless employment opportunities within the government workforce. 

As you plan your application for a federal position, you will want to prepare a professional UsaJobs resume to land the role. This federal resume guide will help you to secure your dream government job.

These federal resume tips can transform your average federal resume into an impressive one.

🖋 Adopt an ATS-friendly resume format for a federal job.

Use a simple layout to show professionalism. Try to avoid any charts or graphs so that hiring agencies can effortlessly scan your federal resume with ATS. 

🖋 Refer to the federal resume templates and federal resume examples online.

To make a well-thought-out federal employee resume, gather some ideas with the help of some resume templates for government jobs. You never know if you’ll find some features that might benefit your federal resume. 

🖋 Tailor your federal job resume and incorporate keywords.

Usajob offers a variety of government positions in different industries, such as engineering and business. Check the job description and qualifications for the specifics of what the hiring agency wants. In your federal resume, make sure to have these keywords included to raise your chances of moving to the next stage of the hiring process. 

🖋 Include numbers in achievements mentioned on your government job resume. 

Upgrade your government job resume by illustrating your achievements with numbers to show how you have previously made a direct impact. Not only does this allow you to provide a better picture for the hiring agency, but also makes the hiring agency want to choose you over other candidates.  

🖋 A federal resume should be different from a common resume.

A federal job posting will have more specifications for you to include in the federal resume. To make sure that you have included all the relevant and required information, take a closer look at the job posting. 

A federal government resume objective answers the question what your abilities and career goals are. There are a few guidelines that can boost the quality of the objective on your federal government resume:

✅ Keep the hiring agency interested. 

While you want to have enough details for your federal resume objective, keep your objective less than 2-sentence long to refrain from rambling. The goal is to get the hiring agency hooked on reading the rest of your federal resume. 

✅ Make the career goal on your federal resume relevant.

The career goal that you state in the resume objective in your federal resume should relate to the job for it to be convincing. 

✅ Mention the specific branch in the federal government you want to work in.

Specifying the branch within the federal government you want to you are applying to in your resume can do wonders. For one, they will love seeing their name; and two, it can show them your dedication by customizing a federal resume for the position.

A federal government resume summary answers the question of what knowledge and skills you possess that can benefit the government branch. Here are a few tips that can help improve your federal government resume summary:

✅ Keep it short.  

Similar to the federal resume objective, your federal resume summary should not be more than 4 sentences.

✅ Include your most impressive accomplishments from a variety of options. 

Take accomplishments from any of the areas below to feature in the resume summary of your resume for a federal job: 

• Awards 
• Soft skills
• Hard skills
• Achievements
• Educational background

✅ Start on the right foot with a strong adjective. 

Adjectives can bring the recruiter a clear picture of who you are. When using an adjective for the opening of your federal resume summary, remember to choose one that relates to the position. 

Show the hiring agency your value with a carefully selected list of skills.

1. Simple bullets

• PROS: simple and clear.
• CONS: providing no detail or context.
  

2. Expanded bullets

• PROS: detailed and adding credibility. 
• CONS: taking up a lot of space and limiting the number of skills you can include on your federal resume to five skills at most.
  

3. Integrated with work experience bullets

• PROS: showing how you utilized your skills and suitable for experienced job seekers.
• CONS: not ideal for entry-level applicants.
  

4. Categorized skills in bullet points

• PROS: organizes broad skillsets and suitable for those with a wide range of skills. 
• CONS: not ideal for entry-level applicants. 

1. Show your strengths in knowledge as well as your personality. 

The hiring agency can gain a better sense of who you are and how well you will fit the role when you provide both technical and soft skills in your federal resume. 

2. Organize skills with the format that suits your need. 

To show yourself in the best light, make sure to select one of the skills layouts based on your experience for the skills section in your  federal resume. 

3. Skills should be related to the role of the position. 

The skills that you choose should be related to the role to be effective on your federal resume. For instance, if you are applying for a federal bank position, you will want to add skills such as cash handling and organization.

✨ Choose a suitable federal resume format.

The arrangement of the content on your resume can also change how you present yourself. For the resume layout, there are three common resume formats for a government job: 

• Chronological resume format
• Functional resume format
• Combinational resume format

✨ Include a career objective in your USA jobs resume for a federal position. 

If you are a recent graduate or have little work experience and don’t have many achievements to write about, a federal resume objective is more suitable for your entry-level federal resume. 

✨ Highlight your education in your federal job resume. 

Think of your education as a replacement for your professional experience.

✨ Include your portfolio or side projects.

These additional accomplishments provide visual and direct proof of what you have been working on in the past and demonstrate the skills you have to perform well on the job. While your side projects are usually not part of your work experience, they on your federal resume are valuable examples that show your skills and traits. 

✨ Write a sincere cover letter for the federal job. 

Putting in the extra time to draft a cover letter can help the hiring manager understand you better. A cover letter also leaves a lasting impression on the recruiter. Your cover letter for a federal position should have a polite introduction, your motivation for applying for the job, specific examples of your experience and skills, and a thank you note.