5 Quick Tips for a 5-page Resume-Based SES Application

ONE. Use clear, simple, and direct language. Use first person implied, steer clear of jargon, and replace buzz words with real words. Get rid of useless adjectives and adverbs and use strong, interesting nouns and verbs instead. Use active (“Led $4M program…”) not passive voice (“Was responsible for…”).

TWO. Display real leadership accomplishments – especially those at the program or enterprise level – and describe them in leadership terms. In other words, no “helped,” “supported,” “was tasked to” etc. Synopsize them in CCAR (Challenge-Context-Actions-Results) summaries that reveal your actual leadership challenges and your actual leadership actions that delivered mission-focused, organizational outcomes, with at least 1 key example (but preferably 2) aligned to each of the 5 ECQs subjects.

THREE. Use metrics to describe duties and responsibilities as well as organizational outcomes. Size of budget managed? Number of employees supervised? Percentage change achieved through your efforts or what period of time?

FOUR. Focus on recent and relevant jobs and accomplishments, devoting most of the job block space to GS-14/15 jobs and accomplishments within the past 10 years, less to jobs/accomplishments at the GS-13 level, and very little to jobs and activities that took place more than 10 years ago or were at even lower levels.

FIVE. Respect the eyes and sensibilities of your readers. Which means pay attention to aesthetics, proofread your work, respect white space on the page, and use the right words (for example, it’s “tenets” not “tenants”). Achieve consistent formatting. Use Word’s tools as well as your own common sense to help you achieve and maintain a consistent style (for example, if it says “U.S.” in one place it should not say “US” elsewhere; if it says “long-term goals” in one place it should not say “long term goals” somewhere else).

*Nicole Schultheis: Her full bio may be found here:
https://resume-place.com/about/nicole-schultheis/