As the Obama initiatives to shorten the federal hiring process begin to take hold, we are seeing some Senior Executive Service or SES job vacancies call for a new, shorter format. Instead of requiring a lengthy federal resume AND detailed Executive Core Qualification essays AND Technical Qualifications (TQ) – making for a very long document indeed – a new five-page format is now being requested by some agencies. Five pages to “cram” a full federal resume while addressing the ECQ requirements and often the TQ requirements. Talk about a “Reader’s Digest” version. While it may seem like a breath of fresh air compared to 15 to 20 pages (or more) in the current application, there is a new, significant challenge to effectively and efficiently capture the strengths, experience, leadership and other traits plus ECQ, plus TQ coverage into a very tight format.
What does this mean for the ECQ essay? Is it dead and gone? Not yet and not quite. While the long version may not be required in the initial application for some of the new SES vacancies, the hiring agency may still ask for additional details if the application passes the first cut. Plus the traditional ECQ is still in demand. The bigger challenge with a new format SES app is to somehow capture the spirit and intent of each ECQ within the scope of a five-page comprehensive resume. Solid references will need to be made in context illustrating each of the ECQ requirements. No easy task. There is still an art to writing the “short” ECQ references, it’s just a different art form. Compare it to writing a newspaper ad versus a billboard. You still need to convey the message but now in a much shorter, yet effective way.
Executive Core Qualifications - ECQ 