Employment

Government Jobs / Federal Jobs / Civil Service Jobs / Post Office Jobs

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Employment & Jobs Menu

• Improving your chances
• Getting started
• Employment options - Federal government jobs
  • Full time / Part time - All occupations
  • Health care jobs - VA and other agencies
  • Jobs for the disabled
  • Law enforcement jobs
  • Overseas jobs
• Student employment
  • Outstanding Scholars Hiring
  • Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program
• Veterans preference
• Government job vacancies - Open Job announcements
  • Federal government jobs - Listed by occupation
• Federal Government Jobs - Listed by Federal Department & Agency
• Consolidated job search  - Federal, state & private sectors
• Comparable Private Sector Jobs - Search all job options including the private sector
• SES Jobs - Senior Executive Service positions
• Federal personnel offices and job hotlines
• 141 federal agency employment links
• Career & Job Search resources
• Clearance Jobs Center - Security clearance jobs
• EHS jobs - Environmental safety & health jobs
• Post office jobs - Career center
• Private sector jobs - Jobs boards
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  • Healthcare Jobs - Career exploration and job listings

Improving Your Chances

The more contacts you make, the greater your chances. Don’t get lost in the process. Too many job seekers pin all their hopes on one effort. They find an open announcement, send in an application, then forget about the process until they receive a reply. Federal jobs are highly competitive and the more jobs you apply for the better your chances.

Content, proper spelling, and grammar counts when sending in your application forms and/or federal style résumé. Complete your application using fill-in forms available online or computer programs like Quick & Easy Federal Jobs Kit that streamlines the process for you. Quick & Easy completes the entire application and comes with spell check and other functions to help you through the process. The standard private sector résumé is not sufficient to apply for a federal job, it’s too brief and lacks the detail necessary to be properly rated. You can write your resume/application independently with the proper resources and knowledge or you can use a professional Federal Resume Writing Service.

I participated in many selection panels during my 35 years of government service and was a certified rating official for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). I also coordinated and/or conducted hundreds of job interviews for our organization. The first impression that a rating official has of a new applicant is reflected by his or her application package. I can’t tell you that many thousands of applications that I reviewed during my career were an absolute disgrace. The hand-writing was illegible, spelling poor, and grammar left much to be desired. Half the time you couldn’t read the application clearly, and unfortunately they often didn’t get a high enough rating to be considered.

Don’t make this same mistake — take the time to draft a coherent, clear, error free, and concise federal style résumé as outlined in Chapter Six of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs. With today’s word processors and spell check functions there isn’t any reason to send in an application with misspelled words, and the word processor grammar check functions are also very helpful. If you don’t have the inclination or time to do it right, hire a service to assist you with your federal style résumé. Notice that I say, assist you with your federal style résumé; it takes a lot of time and work for both the résumé service and client to complete a federal style résumé that will get you hired. So even if you hire a service to complete yours, understand that you will have to provide considerable input and devote time to reviewing drafts to get it right. Only the highest rated applicants are referred for interviews and eventually selected for a job.

Explore and apply for all job vacancies in the government and private sectors to improve you chance of employment. You can post your private sector resume online at no cost to expand your job search. (Caution) Don't post your federal style resume online without removing all sensitive information such as your Social Security Number, etc. 

FREE OFFER: Click on the following banner to post your resume.

Getting Started

Federal government job seekers can link direct to thousands of job vacancies by occupation or through our Department & agency listings and list of 141 agency recruiting sites. You can also call OPM’s USAJOBS hotline, 24 hours a day seven days a week, for updated job information at 1-703-724-1850 or visit their web site at http://www.usajobs.gov. OPM's USAJOBS web site does not list all federal job openings. To find all job listings review the over 141 individual agency recruitment site links posted on this site. We also offer a consolidated listing of federal jobs on this web site that includes related private sector jobs and jobs with companies that service the federal sector. Use the vacancies listed on this site and our agency recruiting site listings to find more job vacancies in your area.

Additional avenues are available to locate government job announcements including; OPM and agency sponsored job hot lines, internet web sites, computer generated data bases, employment services, directories, and periodicals that publish job listings. These resources are listed in Chapter Three of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs under Common Job Sources. Specific hiring programs are discussed following the job resource listings such as; the Outstanding Scholars Program, student hiring, and engineering conversion paths.

The Book of U.S. Government Jobs describes the entire federal employment process and includes easy to use checklists with sample applications and over 1,000 references. This title is on Library Journal's "Best Sellers List" and one of the most checked out books at libraries, nationwide. Recommended by Library Journal.

Individual agency personnel offices should also be contacted to obtain job announcements. A listing is included in Appendix C of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs and a partial list is included on this page. I also suggest that you contact your local Federal Executive Board, a complete listing in in Appendix B. They will often provide a comprehensive listing of all federal offices in your area. A consolidated listing of Washington, D.C. Federal Personnel Departments is provided following the Common Job Sources section in this book as well. If an agency has direct hire or case examining authority, and most do today, they advertise jobs independently from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM doesn’t maintain a consolidated list of direct hire job announcements. Occasionally OPM conducts job fairs throughout the country. Job fairs are announced on USAJOBS.

Also, search related private sector jobs on our expanded jobs board to locate ALL jobs in your area.

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Federal Agency Personnel Offices and Job Hotlines

Agencies recruit through government web sites including OPM's USAJOBS. Many eliminated their direct general employment support lines. However, the majority of job announcements provide contact information including the staffing specialist's names, phone number and email address on the announcement if you have specific questions about advertised jobs. You can contact these staffing specialists to ask general questions about employment in their agency. You can also call the main Washington DC number that is listed in the agency directory in The Book of U.S. Government Jobs and ask to speak with their recruiting office.

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