Government Careers

Derrick Dortch is a career counselor who was online Wednesday, May 13 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss government careers. Dortch is president of The Diversa Group, a firm that focuses on career counseling and development.

Find more career-related news and advice in our Jobs section.

The transcript follows.

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Derrick Dortch: Good Morning, Good Morning! So much is going on in the federal sector right now. Much I would say is good news in terms of federal hiring and possibly speeding up the hiring process. Now I cant say that these changes are going to happen overnight but I do see progress as it relates to agencies wanting to improve the hiring process, security clearances being completed in a timely manner and much more.

With the President's budget he is proposing a increase in the federal workforce. This is good news to all those interested in a federal job. Check out Joe Davidson article in The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051203563.html

I am going to get right to your questions. Starting this show I will take two questions that I did not get to, answer them and post my response at the beginning of the following show. I want to make sure I get to as many of your questions as I can. For those who have emailed me I will definitely be following up with you. As you can imagine my inbox is on overload but I am slowly but surely touching base with all of you. Please know I appreciate you emailing me and know that I will respond. Thanks for you patience.

Well without delay lets get right to the show. Thanks for stopping by and ENJOY!

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Raleigh, N.C.: Derrick, I am a rising sophomore at North Carolina State University and after enduring a miserable year of Biochemistry classes I have been looking at other options, I have become specifically interested in human trafficking. My research has shown me that ICE and the FBI seem to carry out most of the investigation in this area. My question is what specifically should I concentrate on now to make myself an attractive candidate to these agencies? Thank you.

Derrick Dortch: Hello Raleigh, NC, Thanks for your question. I talk to many undergraduate and graduate students each week and the one thing that I tell them about their education is that you need to target what you are doing in school to the career you want to get into. If you are interested in human trafficking you need to start taking classes that will allow you to do research and writing on the topic. These classes will probably be found more in the international affairs department. I would also suggest you begin looking at internship with ICE, FBI, State Department, and others agencies. These are not the only ones who are concerned about human trafficking. You can see a full report that State Department does on Trafficking in Persons here: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/

If you cant get an internship with a federal agency I would suggest you look at other organizations who are also doing work in this field and do an internship with them. You may want to look at Human Rights Watch or the Polaris Project.

http://www.polarisproject.org/

There are many organizations who are receiving funding from the U.S. Government to combat human trafficking and you can find many on the State Department link above.

The key is to begin doing relevant work (research, writing, presentations, publishing your works) on the topic in college, start getting involved in organizations who are focused on the topic, start networking with those who are involved in this field, pursue internships with agencies or organizations who are fighting human trafficking and then prepare a targeted package (resume, cover letter, etc) that shows all you are doing as it relates to human trafficking and then apply either special agent, intelligence analyst, or investigative support positions at agencies that focus on this problem.

Do not waste time in college doing work you do not love. If you have identified your passion then you need to begin directing what your studies in college to what you really want to do. Many college students waste a good deal of time and money in doing the opposite. Do not be one of them.

I hope this helps. Take care and I wish you much success.

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Baltimore, Md.: With the economy the way it is, money is very tight. Is it possible to get a federal job without investing several hundred dollars into a professionally written federal resume?

Derrick Dortch: Baltimore, MD Thanks for you question. Of course it is. The key to the federal process is really not much different than the key to winning in a private or non-profit sector job search. In each you are selling yourself. Just with the federal process you have much more space and room to sell yourself. Many people think of this as a burden and at times when I am developing targeted federal resumes, KSAs and ECQs for clients or guiding then in the process I can see why. The Federal process provides you more opportunity to talk about your success stories and accomplishments than other job searches. For each position in USAJOBS that you put in you can write up to 3000 characters. This is close to a page and many people are not used to providing such indepth information. I am about to give you advice I have given before but its very relevant to your question and I want you to try it in developing your own materials. Here it is:

The key to the successfully doing a government job search is applying what I call the "TP3 Method to the Federal Job Search": T -- Target the right federal position. This means you are targeting the job that you definitely have the skills, qualifications, experience and education and training being sought at least at an 80 percent margin. P -- Prepare the right package. You have to prepare a federal resume and the KSAs (if needed) that sell you. It has to tell your success stories, achievements and what results you can produce. It can not be a job description. P -- Persistence. You have to be persistent and continue to look for jobs, network with federal officials, go to jobs fairs where government agencies will be in attendance. P -- Patience.

In the federal job search it may take and employer 30 - 45 days to respond back to you. Be patient but if you follow the other steps above you will be successful. By doing this you avoid the frustration of apply to the wrong government jobs that do not fully match your skills, education, experience and qualifications. When you apply to jobs that dont match you what you end up with is a very frustrated job search.

You are probably running into KSAs as you apply for these positions. With KSAs you have to look at them as weed out questions. If you do not meet the criteria the question is asking then you are not fully qualified for the position and should not apply. You just have to look for position where you meet the qualifications. That is key. KSAs are something that many, many people find difficult and they can definitely be one of the reasons you are not getting any responses. The other problem could be that you are targeting the wrong kind of positions. You may be targeting positions that you feel are right but you do not have some of the skills, experience, education/training or qualifications that are required. These are the two biggest problems I see job seekers having on a consistent basis.

I do think that working with someone who understands the federal job search process and having someone develop your self marketing package (federal resume and KSAs) is not a bad investment. I think if you can afford it, then it can be well worth your money and wise. The key is again making sure you are targeting the right positions. Even if you have someone prepare your package and you are targeting the wrong positions then you just wasted money.

When looking at positions you are interested in make sure you analyze them in detail. Read the job announcement thoroughly, look at the KSAs critically and make sure that you can at the minimum match what is being sought after by 80% or more. When it comes to the KSAS questions make sure you can answer each one. If there is one that is too specialize or asking for something you do not have then that position is not for you and I recommend you do not waste your time, energy and resources on that position. KSAs are written to weed people out. They are used to see if you a person really does have the knowledge, skills and abilities to do the job. If you do have the knowledge, skills and abilities to do the job make sure you focus on pulling out success stories from your experience. In whatever you have done I am sure you have a good number of success stories. Make sure you begin jotting them down and then follow the steps below.

REMEMBER: Put success stories in both your resume and KSAs. Here is an answer I have posted before and I hope it helps you and others today. Here you go: KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) give many people problems in their government job search.

The key in writing a successful KSAS is to not only be concise but it is to tell your success stories that prove that you have the knowledge, skills and abilities to do the job. I have seen many KSAS responses where people put down their duties as it relates to the question but they do not tell their own story.

You have to use one of several methods when writing KSAS responses. They are the SAR, STAR, or CCAR. SAR is: Situation, Action, Results STAR is: Situation, Task, Action, Results CCAR is: Context, Challenge, Action, Results As you see each method is asking you to describe a situation or challenge you faced as it relates to the question. From there you start to talk about what action or tasks you took to handle the situation. In telling your actions you want to focus in on who you worked with, what techniques you used, what tools or technology did you use, etc. Then you tell what were the results of your actions and what success stories you have to share.

The government recommends that you think about five things when developing your KSAs to reinforce the idea of organizing your thoughts when responding. For each KSAS ask yourself these five questions regarding individual tasks you performed.

1. What action was performed?

2. Why was the action performed?

3. For whom was the action performed?

4. What were the accomplishments?

5. Did the action produce a significant impact on others or the work environment?

In the seminars I teach about KSAS writing I tell the participants to write the KSAs as if they were answering an interview question. I always suggest the following:

State Your Case! Start off with Power!

When you start out answering any KSAS question start out immediately telling the HR Representative, Recruiter, Hiring Manager/Selecting Official why you are qualified. Whether it is your extensive experience in relevant positions, your education and training or other qualifications let the reader know from the beginning that you have what it takes to do the work and this is how and where you received the required knowledge, skills and abilities.

Tell About Your Relevant Experience! Show You are Qualified!

Describe the relevant experiences that have provided you the knowledge, skills and abilities to do this work. Tell about your experience as if you are in the interview and describing what you do and why you are qualified.

Tell Your Story! Sell Yourself and Prove Your Case/Qualifications!

From your relevant experience provide success stories that demonstrate provide proof that you have the knowledge, skills and abilities required to do that work. Think of at least two to three success stories from your experiences that you can use to sell yourself in your KSAS response.

Use the CCAR, SAR, or STAR methods to tell your success stories and what actions you took in the situation or when faced with a challenge and the positive results your work produced.

You also want to make sure you are out there networking, networking and networking. There are so many people applying online you have to do what you can to make yourself more visible. This means that you are going to career fairs where government agencies of interest will be participating. This means that if you are in the DC Metro area going to events where government officials will be speaking and trying to meet them and introduce yourself. This means using any contacts that you may have through family, friends, school or a number of other places to see if there is anyone you know who works for the government in an area of interest. If so begin talking to them about your interest and see if they can help you.

I could go on and on for quite a while on this but I hope this helps to get you started. I hope this is helpful and I wish you much success. If you need additional help in this endeavor please contact me at dtd@diversagroup.com.

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Washington, D.C.: Where can I go to find the regulations for classifying positions as one GS level or another? The same position in different parts of my very large agency -- positions with the SAME duties, complexity of/cost of projects, levels of responsibility, amount of oversight by supervisors, etc. -- can range from GS-9 through GS-13.

One of my colleagues recently attended an interview at another agency, and the interviewer didn't understand why her GS-13 level work was only rewarded as a GS-11 in our workplace.

Derrick Dortch: Hello Washington, DC, Try this:

Federal Classification and Job Grading Systems http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/html/gsclass.asp

If this not what you are looking for contact me directly at dtd@diversagroup.com and let me see if I can help you get the right information you need.

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Arlington, Va.: Derrick, I was told by a friend that, there was a brief news story from about 3-4 weeks ago on the radio (I didn't hear it) which reported the government (not sure which branch or department) was buying a big amount of new personal computers and needed help setting them up, etc., from whomever will be using them all. Where do I go to find out where these jobs are? I think I can do this. I haven't seen this job posted on the government's USAJOBS.com Web site.

Derrick Dortch: Hello Arlington, VA

Thanks for your question. If the agency did buy a large number of computers they will probably be hiring government contractors to help set them up. One piece of advice that I always give people when doing their job search especially as it relates to the federal government and government contractors is that you follow the money and where the money leads you will also find jobs. In your case you will need to follow the money. Since you do not know what agency it is then it will be tougher but here are a couple of resources to help you do so:

FBO (Federal Business Opportunities): fbo.gov

At FBO you can find agencies who are putting out proposals for government contractors to bid on. You can also find out who was awarded certain contracts after they close. Interestingly enough you can also find certain jobs on there. Look for PSC positions. These are Personnel Service Contracts in which agencies are looking to bring someone aboard for a short period of time (a few months to a couple of years).

GovCon: Govcon.com

Mentions various government contracts

Defense Contracts

http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts

This shows contracts that have been awarded by DoD agencies.

Now doing this process is very much so a research project but it can be rewarding because you may find contractors who are not posting jobs on various job search engines but may have openings they need to fill that are posted on their website. Remember all jobs are not posted on Monster, CareerBuilder and the many other sites out there. Many are only posted on the companies/organization/agency website. This is true for jobs in all sectors.

Also do a search to find the news article and to see who the agency is. It may come up rather quick. Then you can find out who they are contracting with to do the work and you can target that company. You may want to look at news sources that cover the government market especially Federal Computer Week (www.fcw.com) or others like it.

Lastly you may just want to use job search engines like Indeed.com and do keyword searches and see what comes up.

I hope this helps. Take care and I wish you much success.

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Northern Virginia: Derrick, thank you for your thorough responses to all of these questions. Would you be able to clarify where in the process references are contacted? As part of the first screening? After interview? Is checking "no" for permission to contact supervisor seen as a negative? I just don't want someone contacted out of the blue, especially given the length and uncertainty of the process.

Derrick Dortch: Hello NOVA, Thanks for your question. Just so everyone knows, your question relates to the security clearance process and the background investigation. Usually after you complete your SF-86 (National Security Questionnaire) and turn it in you will have a security interview. This is usually the case. After the security interview your background investigator(s) will begin doing a couple of things depending on your level of clearance. If you are going for Top Secret Clearance what I am about to explain will usually be one. First your background investigator will begin contacting your references either by phone or email. On some occasions your reference will be sent a questionnaire but most times they will be asked to do an interview by phone or in person. During this interview they will be asked a number of questions about you and your character. Now where this happens in the process is usually after initial information has been gathered about you and checked from various agency databases (FBI, Military, Court Records, etc) but it can all happen simultaneously. As far as the time in which it happens depends on backlog of the agency but it can be anywhere from a few weeks from the time you had your security interview to a few months. It really varies from agency to agency.

Second what is done is the background investigator begins to develop references that you have not put on your forms. These are neighbors, possibly people who you worked with in the past who you did not mention, etc.

This information is then gathered up and given to and adjudicator and then they make the final decision on if you are suitable. I could explain this more in detail but time wont allow. I hope this helps. If you have more questions please contact me at dtd@diversagroup.com.

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Washington, D.C.: Any ideas for international affairs positions with the U.S. government dealing with Western Europe? I have eight years of experience in that area, mostly having to do with trade. Ideas besides Commerce as I am already looking at them? Thanks!

Derrick Dortch: Here are a couple of ideas

Department of Defense - United States European Command (EUCOM) - (Civilian Jobs)

Department of Agriculture - Foreign Agriculture Service

U.S. State Department

Department of Energy - International Affairs

International Trade Administration

International Trade Commission

U.S. Agency for International Development

Bureau of Industry and Security

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Derrick Dortch: I am so so sorry everyone, my producer is saying we have to wrap it up. Today we have to close the show at noon. We will be back with a full show in two weeks and I will take several of your questions and answer them and post them at the beginning of the next show. I am sorry. Thank you for all of your questions and stopping by. Till next time take care and I wish you much success.