Options for Writing Your Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs)

Okay, so you’ve talked to your mentors and peers, and you’ve done some initial research. You have decided to apply for Senior Executive Service (SES) positions, and you now realize the inevitable—you need to develop your ECQs.

You may have noticed that this is not a simple process, and you may have questions. Most people benefit from having a coach and professional writer in their corner; in fact more than 3,500 SES candidates have turned to us for support over the past decade.

Below are a few options you may want to consider:

1. Write them yourself without any kind of expert support. Some people obviously choose this option, but we know from experience that by going it alone, you are much more prone to miss out on important best practices and concepts that can position you for success.
2. Write them yourself using our proven best practices. We offer an online training course called “ECQ Best Practices.” At your own pace, and in the convenience of your home or office, one of our expert trainers will teach you the proven best practices you need to know. This will help shift your mindset in regards to how to think about and approach your ECQs. You will also be provided with exclusive tools that will make it much easier and more manageable to select your best career stories and then develop them in the most effective way possible. Click here for more information.
3. Write them yourself with expert feedback. We also offer an online training course called “ECQ Mastery,” which includes all of the great training and information from Option 2 above, but takes it to another level. Once you follow the process of selecting and writing your career stories, you will submit them to a member of our ECQ coaching and writing team, who will provide up to two rounds of expert feedback and guidance to improve your ECQs. Click here for more information.
4. Partner directly with one of our ECQ coaches and writers. This option is our exclusive premium service in which one of our ECQ coaches and writers will work with you personally to select and write your top career stories. Next, your writer will revise your stories, integrate best practices, and present them to you for review. You will then work with your writer in making any desired changes until you feel that your ECQs represent you and your top accomplishments and that you can submit them with confidence. Call our career coaches today at 800-471-9201 for more information.

Lee Kelley is an Iraq war veteran, former Army captain, and author, who now serves as the Senior Writer and Executive Coach on CareerPro Global’s SES team. Leveraging the company’s vast expertise in assisting thousands of SES and federal job seekers, Lee has personally developed hundreds of resumes and more than a thousand ECQs. He is also the Director of Training and Veteran Transitions, and has provided USAJOBS resume-writing workshops to hundreds of federal employees and military personnel. In addition, Lee co-authored the book Roadmap to the Senior Executive Service: How to Find SES Jobs, Determine Your Qualifications, and Develop Your SES Application. His latest book is titled Inside Marine One: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter.

Writing an SES Resume with Integrated ECQs and TQs

Although these are still the small minority among SES applications, there is a trend among federal agencies to streamline the initial phase of the SES hiring process. In these cases, instead of requiring full ECQ narratives, you are required to integrate all five ECQs into a five-page resume. Sometimes you also have to integrate a couple of TQs.

Most recently, we’ve even seen the Internal Revenue Service place a three-page limit on resumes for their Candidate Development Program, and all five ECQs still had to be included.

In these types of applications, you have two basic options in order to integrate ECQs/TQs effectively:

Option 1: You can develop a regular five-page resume and then make sure you include at least one specific accomplishment in the work history that demonstrates each of the ECQs and TQs. Some people who use this option prefer to be subtle, and leave it up to the reader to search for the content in their resume.

We don’t recommend being so “subtle.: Instead, you can “tag” the accomplishments for the reader with things like “(Leading Change)” to denote a specific ECQ, or something like “(Knowledge of federal financial policies and regulations)”—depending on the content of the particular TQ you are demonstrating.

Option 2: You can develop a five-page resume that starts off with an “executive summary” section that clearly addresses each ECQ in one concise paragraph. Some people like to label the paragraphs, while others simply bold a few keywords and phrases to make it clear which ECQ is being addressed.

Whichever option you decide to take, be sure to include concise and action-results based accomplishments that align with the titles of the ECQs (“Leading Change,” “Leading People,” etc.) and TQs.

While you won’t have the space to address all 28 ECQ competencies as you would in a full ECQ essay, it is still best to weave in as many as you can, if not all of them. In addition, always read the job announcement very carefully, because sometimes the agency will include “target competencies” for each ECQ, which actually makes it a little easier to address them.

Finally, although both of these approaches can be effective, if done properly, we have seen people have the most success with the second option.

Lee Kelley is an Iraq war veteran, former Army Captain, and author who now serves as the senior writer on CareerPro Global’s writing team. Leveraging the company’s vast expertise in assisting thousands of SES and federal job seekers, Lee has personally developed hundreds of resumes and more than a thousand ECQs. He is also the Director of Training and Veteran Transitions, and has provided USAJOBS resume-writing workshops to hundreds of federal employees and military personnel. In addition, Lee co-authored the book, Roadmap to the Senior Executive Service: How to Find SES Jobs, Determine Your Qualifications, and Develop Your SES Application. His latest book is titled, Inside Marine One: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter.

How to Write a Great Business Acumen ECQ

Even in this unique writing style we call ECQs, Business Acumen stands out as a little bit different. Of course, each ECQ should be executive in scope, fall within the past 10 years, follow the Challenge-Context-Action-Result (CCAR) format, include impactful results, and address the specific competencies.

For example, your Leading People ECQ will ideally include two career stories that address the competencies of team building, developing others, conflict management, and leveraging diversity.

Business Acumen has three competencies (Financial Management, Human Capital Management, and Technology Management), but unlike the other ECQs, they don’t always “flow” as naturally together.

In fact, many people find it extremely difficult to think of career stories that incorporate all three of the Business Acumen competencies. And even when they do, the stories tend to be overly dense and confusing because there’s just too much information packed in there.

Here is a highly effective best practice and perspective to consider for Business Acumen: Imagine you are on the review board. You may be reading career stories from a senior military officer, a corporate executive, or a seasoned federal manager. Moreover, the setting could be anywhere in the world, from the boardroom, to the battlefield, to countless other work environments. Regardless of the applicant’s background or the setting, you, as part of the review board, need to be able to see that the applicant is comfortable and capable in managing the financial, human capital, and technological aspects of programs and organizations.

So, when writing your Business Acumen examples, think of this particular ECQ as three “mini-ECQs,” instead of trying to combine the somewhat disparate topics of financial, human capital, and technology management. The examples may have to be a bit shorter than normal, since all three still have to fit within the two-page limit. Additionally, the three CCAR examples can come from different positions or programs within the past 10 years, or they can come from the same position.

Ultimately, by taking this straightforward approach, you can more clearly present your top career stories while effectively addressing the Business Acumen competencies.

Lee Kelley is an Iraq war veteran, former Army Captain, and author who now serves as the senior writer on CareerPro Global’s writing team. Leveraging the company’s vast expertise in assisting thousands of SES and federal job seekers, Lee has personally developed hundreds of resumes and more than a thousand ECQs. He is also the Director of Training and Veteran Transitions, and has provided USAJOBS resume-writing workshops to hundreds of federal employees and military personnel. In addition, Lee co-authored the book Roadmap to the Senior Executive Service: How to Find SES Jobs, Determine Your Qualifications, and Develop Your SES Application. His latest book is titled Inside Marine One: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter.