Below we explain everything you need to include on a resume for a federal job, and provide examples you can reference. Additionally, we provide you with a free federal resume template, and writing and formatting tips to help you get your resume ready for any government position.
Our resume builder can make you a resume in as little as 5 minutes. Pick the template you want, and our software will format everything for you.
What’s the difference between a federal resume and a private sector resume?
Most private-sector jobs require you to submit a one-page resume that provides a brief overview of your qualifications.
By contrast, a federal resume ranges from two to five pages or more depending on your experience level, and requires an in-depth description of your previous jobs, skills, and achievements.
Also, apart from the basic things you should put on your resume — like your work experience, education, and contact information — your federal resume must include additional details such as your:
- citizenship status
- veterans’ status
- highest GS grade
- security clearance (if applicable)
- salary and hours worked per week at each job
Just like when applying to a private sector job, you should also pair your resume with a cover letter for a federal job to highlight your strengths and explain why you’re the right person to fill the position.
Federal resume format example
This federal resume sample was written by an administrative assistant with more than four years of experience working in the federal government:
Federal Resume Sample
Federal Resume Sample (Text Version)
RACHEL RODRIGUEZ
Address: 4397 Smithy Dr., Bremerton, WA 12101 | Email: rachel.rodriguez@gmail.com | Phone: 895-555-5555
Desired Job: Human Resources Specialist, GS 6, ST-11993479-12-LH
Citizenship: Yes
Veterans’ Preference: No
Highest GS (General Schedule) Grade: GS 5
Security Clearance: Confidential
Desired Location: US-VA-Arlington County
Availability: Permanent, Full-Time
Objective
Human resources professional with 5+ years of experience in the public and private sectors. Uniquely positioned to leverage hiring, training, and mediation expertise as a Human Resources Specialist at the US Department of Veteran Affairs. Excited to contribute to the agency’s goals and especially drawn to the opportunity for advancement mentioned in your USAJOBS posting.
Work Experience
US Department of the Navy
Bremerton, WA 98314
January 2019–Present
Salary: $41,208 per year
Hours per week: 40
Series: 0201 Pay Plan: GS Grade: 5
Human Resources Specialist
Duties and Related Skills:
Support 10 senior HR specialists in updating and organizing employee records, performing internal administrative investigations, and providing various information to employees and external agents, ensuring confidentiality procedures are followed at all times.
- Help negotiate settlement agreements and perform mediation by researching relevant federal, state, and military laws and precedents
- Update training curriculum annually, applying it to onboarding an average of 3 new HR specialists each year
- Serve as primary point of contact for external Spanish-speaking inquiries, and for general employee harassment complaints
- Conduct all first-round job interviews, determining which candidates proceed to the final steps in the hiring process
Accomplishments:
- Named Employee of the Month in July 2019 and March 2020
- Updated employee misconduct letter templates to remove unclear language, helping cut the average time to case resolution by 15%
Supervisor: Anna Peele (123-456-7890)
Okay to contact this supervisor: Yes
Tatre Technologies
Seattle, WA 12345
June 2017–January 2019
Salary: $32,000 per year
Hours per week: 40
Human Resources Associate
Duties and Related Skills:
Assisted HR managers with every aspect of the hiring process, including interviewing, performing background checks, and onboarding new employees. Took notes during various mediations and labor union negotiations, and then provided the information to employees in written and oral presentations.
- Worked with managers to implement every aspect of the company’s hiring process, including recruiting, vetting, and contracting new talent
- Led a team of 3 interns in digitizing the company’s entire backlog of hard-copy records
- Served as translator for all interactions between management and Spanish-speaking employees
- Led new-hire orientation in both Spanish and English
Accomplishments:
- Implemented new applicant tracking system that reduced the average time to fill positions from 2 months to 5 weeks
- Started a Spanish HR newsletter to inform Spanish-speaking employees of changes to company policies, directly leading to a 23% reduction in information requests
Supervisor: Jackson Jones (321-654-0987)
Okay to contact this supervisor: Yes
Mama’s Cookies
Seattle, WA 13245
October 2016–May 2017
Salary: Unpaid position
Hours per week: 16
HR Intern
Duties and Related Skills:
Worked with sole proprietor to recruit and hire part-time staff via social media, flyer distribution, and word-of-mouth. Collected and maintained employee information in physical and digital files.
- Recruited, screened, and helped hire 14 members for 2 new locations
- Responded to all HR-related queries on company’s official Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts
- Translated orientation documents into Spanish to speed up onboarding process
Accomplishments:
- Proposed a successful solution to a dispute between employees and management, avoiding a potential $50,000 lawsuit
- Reduced training materials from 20 pages to 9, enabling new employees to start contributing on their first day
Supervisor: Jenny Martek (312-645-9780)
Okay to contact this supervisor: Yes
Education
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Minor in Human Resource Management)
Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 | August 2014–May 2017
Awards
Employee of the Month
Tatre Technologies
January 2018
Associations
Society for Human Resource Management
August 2018–Present
Additional Skills
- HR software: ADP Workforce, Oracle Taleo
- Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook
- Remote collaboration: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Google Docs/Sheets
- Fluent in Spanish
Federal resume template
Here’s a resume template with everything you need to build a resume for uploading to USAJOBS:
1. Resume Heading
FIRST AND LAST NAME
Address: your street, city, state, zip code | Email: your.email@gmail.com | Phone: xxx xxx xxxx
Desired job: Title, grade (GS #), announcement number
Citizenship:
Veterans’ Preference:
Highest GS (General Schedule) Grade:
Security Clearance:
Desired Location:
Availability:
2. Resume Objective
[Industry] professional with [# of years] years of experience in the public sector. Seeking to leverage my competence in [relevant skills] to fill the [position name] position at [Agency Name]. A fast-learning worker aiming to contribute to [Agency Name]’s goals and take on more responsibility as quickly as possible.
3. Work or Relevant Experience
Company/Organization Name (Most Recent Employer)
Employer Address
Start Date–End Date
(Optional) Salary: $ per year
Hours per week: # of hours
Series: #### Pay Plan: GS Grade: #
Position and Job Title
Duties and Related Skills:
In this section, provide a comprehensive summary of your duties and responsibilities. Mention any skills associated with the work you performed, and provide descriptions of what you were responsible for. Write as if the person reading your resume has no prior knowledge of the job you performed.
- List some of your primary responsibilities.
- Include resume keywords in your descriptions to demonstrate relevant skills.
Accomplishments:
- Include a bulleted list of your key work-related accomplishments while at this job — especially any area where you exceeded expectations.
- This section should be separate from your general duties section.
- Be sure to quantify (add numbers to) your examples.
Here is where you can include contact information for your supervisor if you’d like.
Company/Organization Name (2nd Most Recent Employer)
Simply repeat the above sections for every relevant position you’ve held.
4. Education
Degree Name / Major
University, Location | Start Date–End Date
5. Additional Resume Section
- Here’s where you can add any other information relevant to your professional background.
- This section could include any of the following: publications, languages, volunteer experience, community service, professional associations you belong to, or any training or certifications.
- Put your security clearance on your resume by adding a separate section instead of listing it at the top, assuming the job you’re applying to doesn’t require standard federal resume format
How to write a federal resume
According to USAJOBS, “Some agencies accept uploaded resumes and resumes created using the USAJOBS resume builder, while some may only accept one or the other.”
So depending on the job you want, you need to know how to use a federal resume builder and how to create your own from scratch:
Using a federal resume builder
To make your resume with the USAJOBS resume builder:
- create a USAJOBS account
- find the “resume” section
- choose the “Build resume” option
- follow the on-screen instructions to build your federal resume
Creating your own federal resume
Are you applying to a government job that requires you to upload your federal resume to USAJOBS or a specific agency website? To make a resume with proper federal resume formatting, include these sections:
- Applicant information
- Resume objective
- Work experience
- Education
- Additional optional sections
Some federal jobs require a third additional document called a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) that complements a federal cover letter. Make sure to check if the job application requires an SOQ.
What information to include on your federal resume
Here’s how to write and format each section of your federal resume:
1. Applicant information
Start your resume by listing your name and contact information in the header.
Then list any of the following details that apply to you:
- desired job details
- citizenship status
- veteran preference
- disability
- general schedule (GS) grade
- security clearance
- availability
- desired locations
Here’s how to determine what you should list for each of those items:
Desired job details
Per the US Department of Labor, you need to list the title, grade, and announcement number of the job you’re applying for on your federal resume. Find the job details on the USAJOBS job posting, and list them like this:
Desired Job: Human Resources Specialist, GS 12, CARX-21-11007872-SHe-OCA
Citizenship status
Many positions in the federal government have specific requirements regarding citizenship, so include your citizenship and visa status to speed up the vetting process. List your citizenship status as either “yes” or “no,” or write your work visa status.
Veterans’ preference
The federal government gives hiring preferences to veterans under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. So if you served in the US military, include your veterans’ preference on your resume.
You should either list your veterans’ preference status as “no” (if you were never a member of the military), or your point preference eligibility (for example: 5-Point, 10-Point, etc).
If you don’t already know your veterans’ preference eligibility, find it at FedsHireVets.gov.
Disability
If you have a Schedule A disability, you may be eligible for special hiring preferences. Here’s how to list your disability on your resume:
Disability: Schedule A
General schedule (GS) grade
The US civil service’s pay scale is called the General Schedule (or GS). All jobs in the federal government are graded using a GS that identifies the salary and level of responsibility associated with the position.
If you’re currently working for the federal government (or have worked for it in the past), include your highest GS grade and salary range on your resume. For example:
Highest GS Grade: GS 5
Security clearance
Some federal government jobs require you to have one of three security clearance levels:
- Confidential
- Secret
- Top secret
If you don’t have security clearance, write “N/A.”
Availability
To list your availability, indicate whether you want to work permanently or temporarily, and if you can work full-time or part-time. Here’s an example:
Availability: Permanent, Full-Time
Desired locations
If the job you’re targeting has multiple locations available, you can list your preference, following the Country-State-County format, like this:
Desired Location: US-VA-Arlington County
If you want to be considered for any position, regardless of location, don’t list your location preferences.
2. Convincing resume objective
After you list your personal information, explain why you want the job in a short paragraph known as a resume objective. Your reason for applying should include your most relevant skills so the hiring manager sees you’re qualified as soon as they start reading your resume.
To find what skills the hiring manager is looking for, check the job ad and look at resume examples from your industry.
3. Work experience
Unlike a private-sector resume, a government resume includes a highly detailed experience section. Each position can run a full page or more depending on your responsibilities.
For every position you list on your resume, include the following information:
- Employer’s name and location
- Start and end dates
- Annual salary
- Occupational series number and GS grade (for federal jobs only)
- Job title
- Number of weekly hours worked
- Summary of your responsibilities
- Bulleted list of job duties
- Exceptional resume accomplishments
- Awards you received (if applicable)
- Supervisor’s contact information (and whether they can be contacted)
Additionally, if you’re coming from a military background make sure to name all the systems you’re familiar with. This is what Mirella Armington Cortez, a recruitment manager at Fearless, has to suggest when writing a federal resume:
It’s important to state all the technical tools/systems/non-technical tools you used during your term in the military. Today there is a lot of crossover between systems the military uses and what the private sector works with. – Mirella Armington Cortez
4. Education section
What you put in the education section of your resume depends on what level of schooling you’ve completed.
If you graduated from college, include the following information:
- College names and locations (city, state, and zip code)
- Years attended
- Degrees earned (minors included)
- Awards or special recognition received
- Membership of educational organizations or clubs
Haven’t graduated yet? List the number of college credits you’ve completed along with the degree you’re pursuing.
Additionally, if you’re a recent college graduate, you can include your GPA and relevant coursework on your resume.
If you didn’t attend college, include the following information for your high school and any technical schools you attended:
- School name and location
- Date you received your diploma, GED, certificate, or license
5. Additional sections
The following resume sections are optional, but adding them to your federal resume can help you stand out from the many applicants seeking federal employment:
- Skills section
- Extracurricular activities
- Volunteer work
- Publications
- Certifications
- Language skills
You can’t find federal job listings just anywhere. When you’re ready to start applying, use our list of the best job boards for government positions.
More federal resume help
Need more help writing your resume? Here are some additional resume-writing resources:
- Resume tips & tricks
- How to write a resume
- Resume formatting
- Best font for your resume
- Find government jobs near you
And if you’re looking for other tips on how to land a federal job, take a look at this video by job coach Armand Curet:
Conrad Benz
Content Manager & Hiring Manager
Conrad Benz is a Content Manager and Hiring Manager at Resume Genius. With 5+ years of experience as a career services professional, Conrad is passionate about helping people navigate the job search process and find fulfilling work. You can find Conrad’s career insights in publications like Typsy, Resume Library, CompTIA, and more. Conrad graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from Goucher College in Maryland and currently lives in Taipei, Taiwan, where he helps ensure every article on Resume Genius provides job seekers with the information they need to succeed. If you want to reach Conrad for a quote or media-related inquiry, you can contact him at [conrad] @ [resumegenius.com].
View Conrad's ProfileFederal Resume
-
Facebook
-
Twitter
-
Linkedin
-
Pinterest
-
Reddit
Copy link
Click to rate this article
4.8 Average rating
