5 Tips for Developing an Effective SES Application Package
Generally speaking, an SES application consists of a resume, the five ECQs, and several TQs. We’ve also seen positions without TQs, or with up to six or seven TQs. Further, we’ve seen the full spectrum of formatting and length restrictions that various federal agencies decide to impose on applicants’ ECQs, TQs, and resumes.
At the end of the day, you need to make sure you address the specific requirements in the job announcement. Along those lines, leveraging experience from helping more than 3,000 people do this, we give you five fundamental tips for developing an effective SES application package. If you follow these, then you are positioning yourself for success. As 2013 progresses, we will share even more specific tips, best practices, and tactics. 1. Limit your resume to five pages. Here’s the deal. A few years ago, we were still developing 8-, 10-, and yes, even 12-page comprehensive resume presentations for SES clients. After all, these are often folks with decades of experience. Throughout the past three years or so, and concurrently with federal hiring reform, we’ve seen a definite trend toward shorter SES resumes.
2. Tailor your resume for each position or type of position. People often ask if they need a different SES resume for every position for which they apply. Well, the answer is yes… and no. To a certain extent, your work history is what it is, in terms of start dates, major duties, and overall chronology. And if you are applying for very similar jobs, you might very well be able to use the same resume. But many of you have a diverse set of skills, experience, and assignments. As a result, you may qualify for SES positions with varying requirements. In those cases, we encourage you to “tweak” your resume to ensure you showcase your relevant experience. Don’t leave it up to them to assume. Make it very clear that you have the exact or very similar experiences to the ones they outline in the job announcement.
3. Use the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) format in all ECQs and TQs. For the ECQs, this is fundamental. It seems so simple, but we’ve seen lots of people write their own ECQs, ignore this guidance, and get rejected. Maybe there were more problems with the narratives, but the boards definitely expect examples to be presented in the logical CCAR format. Additionally, people tend to forget that this is a great approach to ANY type of narrative presentation—like your TQs.
4. Make sure that your resume complements the ECQs and TQs. We recommend that you complete the resume last. Not only should you tailor your five-page resume as mentioned in points 1 and 2 above, but you should include the fantastic accomplishments you described in the narratives in your resume, as well. A good way to do that is to review your ECQs and TQs, and rewrite some of the key actions and results into bullet points, again using a CCAR format, so that whenever possible, the bullets have a problem, action, and results.
5. Ask for meaningful feedback. We consider ourselves the best SES writing team in the world, and we send ALL of our work through our staff proofreaders. The point here is that whether you hire a professional to write, edit, or critique your work, or you ask a colleague (an SES maybe) to review it, or you have your awesome niece who is an English major to check it out, get a fresh set of eyes on it, and then take the constructive feedback to make the presentation more succinct and error-free. Don’t ask people who are going to tell you what you want to hear and “yes” you… ask those who will actually give you meaningful and objective feedback.
Barbara Adams is the President and CEO of CareerPro Global, Inc. (CPG). She has been on the leading edge of SES application development for decades. Committed to providing world-class service, she has also built an SES writing team that has assisted more than 2,500 clients develop their application materials. Ms. Adams has been featured on T.V. and the radio, and as a presenter at numerous career conferences. CPG recently sent a team to instruct senior officials at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia in best practices for developing their SES application materials. She is the co-author of the new book, Roadmap to the Senior Executive Service: How to Find SES Jobs, Determine Your Qualifications, and Develop Your SES Application.