Don't forget: there's always public employment!

After reading Chelsea's recent post on job hunting tips, I thought I'd weigh in with some advice myself. I think I can almost safely call myself an "expert" in my current field--which is kind of scary--but of potential help to any of you (or your friends) affected by the crappy job market of today!

For all of you but Chris, who I happened to very strangely 'run into' on the streets of Capital Hill a few weeks ago, I'll catch you up on what I'm doing and where I am briefly. But if you're more interested in the tips, skip down to the bulleted list...

You might remember I'd lined up an internship at NASA for the summer immediately following graduation. At the time I didn't have many details about what I'd be doing specifically and debated if I should even do it at all--but I'm glad I did! I spent 2 months at Goddard Space Flight Center in southern Maryland (near Baltimore) doing a lot of fairly basic document design projects. After the internship, I was offered a job in the Equal Opportunity Office at Goddard to continue projects I was unable to finish during the internship. I found a place to live in nearby Washington DC to take advantage of good public transit. The work was great but the pay and benefits (or lack thereof) sucked--so I kept my eyes open hunting for new jobs on the side! It just so happened that a very good job sort of fell into my lap; or at least that's what I thought for a while anyway, figuring that I couldn't have gotten a great job on my own merit... (clearly a lack of confidence at the time).

Since I started my present job (November '08) at the US Patent & Trademark Office, I've come to acquire a TREMENDOUS amount of knowledge in the area of human resources. I am working as an HR Specialist in this 10,000-employee agency; I am doing a lot of things a technical communicator would do, but with a more specialized focus. I write crediting plans (a guide for the person who is selecting an applicant for their job vacancy), conduct job analyses, post vacancies for new jobs (www.usajobs.com), and a variety of other recruitment and selection tasks. I have been to government-paid training equivalent to that of a semester of graduate study; cutting the time required for a degree by half! Plus, the pay and benefits are superb!

On to the advice, however... Although not everyone is quite as adventurous and whimsical with their life plan as I am (or as Bruce once said, 'impetuous'); I would urge you to consider moving to locations with high government employment, both state and federal, especially if you're finding the job outlook bleak. The federal government is one of the only large entities that is actually hiring in increased numbers (thanks to the stimulus plan)! Despite popular myth, federal jobs pay quite well; I make $42k now, and will make over $50 in November, not even 2 years from graduation day! If you're good at what you do, promotions are frequent and allow nearly unlimited career potential. Granted, a lot of federal jobs are located in this area (Maryland-DC-Virginia) but there are thousands in states all across the country. The government hires people in occupation codes covering just about everything on the map--including technical communication! You can always go to www.studentjobs.gov or www.usajobs.gov to do a quick search!

Should you ever decide to seek federal employment; here are a few tips to keep in mind. Unlike private-sector jobs, the government has completely different standards for resumes and applications--so basically almost none of what you would *normally do* applies to federal hiring! So here it is, some tips for federal applications:

• Please elaborate on your experience. We really want to know about you and everything you've done; spare no details! We can credit you for volunteer service, significant hobbies, part-time work, full-time work, internships, education, training, publishing, public speaking, etc. Often times applicants ask me why they did not meet the minimum qualifications and more often then not, it's because they did not have enough work experience because they only listed jobs, and didn't include how many hours per week they worked! So always list where you worked, what you did (bulleted list of action verb-oriented task statements), who you did it for, the pay (used to determine your federal pay potential), the dates you worked, and how many hours per week (on average).
• You paid $100,000 for that degree--make sure it counts! For education, tell us all schools you attended, how many credits you earned, what the subject area was, your cumulative GPA and what degrees or certifications you were awarded. If you're using education as the primary example of your qualifications, you may want to list out all the courses you took that relate to the job you're applying for along with a summary of the course (copying from your school's course guide is quite fine). Doing this saves us the trouble of having to extrapolate whether or not a degree in 'technical communication' has anything to do with writing--I would know this, but few other HR Specialist would--and if we don't know, we can't assume, we just don't count it!
• Submit your demographic data! Yes it's kind of scary giving us all of your information, but I can tell you we have it already anyway, so don't sweat it too much. We cannot even consider your application if we do not have the following: your date of birth, social security number, citizen status, highest degree earned, and work experience. This information must be included on your resume or in the OF-312 form (whichever the agency asks you to submit). We do this to verify that we are not hiring illegal immigrants and hardened felons. Upon employment you may optionally provide your race, disability, gender, etc for statistical purposes. However, if you have a disability, you should list it--there are direct hiring authorities for people with disabilities (referred to as "Schedule A") which may afford you a less-competitive entry!
• Be prepared to write an essay! Most agencies (mine being one of them) will post a series of statements you MUST respond to in your application. You are essentially responding to the knowledge, skills and abilities that we have determined are essential for the given position. Failure to address the KSAs will always result in your application being removed from consideration.
• Patience is a virtue, grasshopper. Unfortunately we're not (yet) as efficient at hiring as the corporate world; this is due to the intense amount of 'red tape' and standardized legal practices which we are bound to... Most agencies try to stick to a 45-day window from the time a vacancy opens to the time a selection is made. Since most vacancy announcements are open for 30 days, that only leaves 15 days for the actual evaluation, interviewing, ranking, and certification of the highest qualified candidates. I can tell you now, that's highly optimistic and it can often take about 30 days to do all of the post-vacancy actions. So, when you apply, have patience with us. You may not be contacted very often by a person, but are always welcome to contact the HR Specialist listed on the announcement to inquire about the process.
• Don't forget anything! Always look over the vacancy announcement thoroughly--you won't be notified if you failed to submit a required document--and failing to submit a required document means you will not be considered. The announcements can be lengthy but it's imperative you read it all the way through before you apply.
• Drop the formalities at the door. Contrary to what is considered 'standard practice' in the private industry, we here in government don't really need all the pleasantries like thank you letters, frilly resumes, etc. Usually the HR Specialist receiving your application is not the one who will hire you. Chances are you will never even know who the hiring official really was (unless that person will end up being your direct supervisor). Thus, there is no need to send 'thank you' letters or worry about who to address a cover letter to (in fact, generally speaking we don't even need a cover letter). We especially don't need your resume on fancy paper, and given the amount of information we want, your resume will explode from 1 or 2 pages to about 10-15; so spare yourself the expense! Give us the meat and potatoes of your qualifications, leave the frosted cake for the private sector ;-)

So there you have it, just a few ways you can help ensure your federal application is air-tight and highly informative! I'd be willing to guess that most state government hiring managers would probably want a resume packet of comparable length and detail.

If you'd like to know more about federal employment - feel free to contact me anytime!

s w a n s o n . m a t t @ g m a i l . c o m

Some job searching tips

Hi All, I figured we all need more help finding jobs or internships, etc. I've learned some things over the past year or so that have helped me get interviews, and I want to share them with you, my darling tech commers.

When searching online:

• Craigslist is a great free resource, but be careful because this means there is a lot of spam/false posts. Don't click on links sent to you via email, especially if the message seems generic and/or there are a lot of types and spaces i n b e t w e e n words. This means it's a bot.

• ALWAYS title your inquiry emails appropriately. Usually this means the position for which you're applying. Don't title it RE: XXXXXX because it's unprofessional. This is your first contact with the company, and you should make yourself sound as professional as possible. The specific email title alerts the person that you're applying for the job and it allows them to categorize and find your emails easier.

• Be aware that, if you're applying for a job you find through job boards, that probably 100 or more people have already applied before you - especially since a lot of people are out of a job right now. Because of this, it's important to stand out in your inquiry email as much as possible without looking over-the-top, unprofessional, or that you're trying too hard.

Some good tips for "standing out" in your inquiry email (aka the cover letter):

• Use eye catchers like bold lettering, bullet points/short lists
• DON'T start every sentence, and DEFINITELY not every paragraph, with "I." This is hard to do when you're trying to convey everything you can do for the company, but the extra effort makes you stand out and sound more eloquent.
• KEEP IT SHORT. Because so many people have probably emailed the same person for the same job, it's not a good idea to send him/her two pages of how awesome you are. This is why lists come in handy - you can highlight your skills/experience.
  
• Use verbage found in the ad. If the ad asks for someone who is a multi-tasker who can work well in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment, and can work well in groups, mention those exact phrases in your letter.
  
• If you're relying heavily on online job boards, make sure to surf them regularly. Like I said, if the post is more than a week old, don't bother. Try to catch new posts every day and apply IMMEDIATELY to reduce the risk that your email is #213 applying for the same job. Most places will only look at the first thirty inquiries.
  

I have honestly had more luck getting interviews using these methods. I've gotten many job offers but also have had interviews that are dead-ends. This is normal, especially for us younginz' fresh out of college.

With the rise in use of the internet for job searching, it's becoming less common to see people walk in to apply for places. I encourage you to get out and physically go to these places you really want a job at, and meet people face to face. This puts you in their memory more solidly than a faceless email.

I also encourage you to apply to places that "aren't hiring." Just because a job isn't posted, doesn't mean they will not consider you for employment. I got my current job doing this, as a matter of fact. If they're gracious enough to mention that there are no positions to fill, kindly ask them to keep your resume on file and call back every month. Sometimes you can weasle your way into an impromtu interivew if you can talk them into it - even if it's not for a job, just for a meet-n-greet.

Print your resume on really nice paper, not copy paper from Wal-Mart. The texture of good resume paper has some sort of psychological effect on the people who are handling your resume and it puts you above others who are just printing them out on said crappy Wal-Mart paper.


Have different versions of your resume.

Make one that is traditional and easy to edit. If you're sending Word documents via email, make sure to use proper layout options instead of your spacebar and tab key because it never looks the same on their end as it does on your computer.

If you can, send PDFs for your resume to prevent this problem.

Use your technical communication/document design skills to create interesting layouts that stand out from the rest. Use color (sparingly). Too much looks unprofessional.

I have three different resumes, one that is easy to copy-n-paste into text fields, one made in Word that looks professional with a couple of colored headings (this one I use for most of my serious inquiries), and one full-blown designed-to-the-teeth resume that I have in PDF form that's strictly for artsy-fartsy jobs.

ALSO: Business cards are awesome. I'm going to design my own and print it out for cheap at Kinkos or someplace. They're a good tool for networking and, of course, it looks professional.

If anyone needs business cards designed, I would be glad to help out (I need more portfolio builders).

(Oh yeah, also, physical and digital portfolios are a must-have. Look into it!)

Job Search - the preperation

I'm in my final semester and with it, I begin ramping up my job search. I constantly search for postings, but now I have started logging them. I have a db set-up where I keep track of the posting itself, along with the company's info including website and date of posting.

This should put me on the edge when I start my broadcast letters (which will be soon) to get them out quickly.