JobsStat

Although the application process can be long for government jobs than for private sector work, the numerous opportunities make the Nation’s largest employer difficult to overlook. Understanding how to decrypt government job descriptions can make the process less complicated.

Government job qualifications can be the most difficult part of the position descriptions for those without any federal bureaucratic work experience. This is because of the fact that that many agencies word their job announcements in terms that many little to most civilians.

With many of these organizations stating that they require someone who has experience equivalent to a particular GS rating, it is important to have a general knowledge of this system. Government jobs can require a variety of different experience, depending on the position, and take a combination of past military experience, education, and workplace experience.

Some GS-1 positions do not require that applicants have a high school degree, where as those of a GS-2 must have either a diploma or a GED. Positions available for GS-3s to GS-7s require different levels of undergraduate to Bachelors level educational experience. Government jobs listed for higher positions other than entry level job openings require higher levels of education. In many cases education and work experience can be combined to reach a higher GS rating.

Another confusing aspect of government job descriptions can be the offered pay range. With a large discrepancy found between the two numbers listed it can be difficult to understand how much the position will pay. This is usually linked to what GS rate the job applicant qualifies for. As a rule of thumb, most individuals start out as the lower part of the pay range listed, although higher GS rated individuals will make more towards the middle.

Applying for a government job can be more complicated than necessary. Although most positions are listed on USAjobs.com, the may require resumes sent in through different formats. Some require that the applicant use the USAjobs.com program, others require that resumes are submitted through the agency main page by uploading the document.

Some even require that the applicant be tracked and fill in their information in pre-made fields. In these cases, it is best to answer the questions in a word document first and then copy and past the response in the provided fields. This will help cut down on the number of errors submitted and help to increase one’s likelihood of obtaining a government job.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.