February 2017 |
Transition-e-news Volume 4 Issue 127 |
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Preparing for a Senior Executive Service Interview
by Barbara Adams, CPRW, CEIP, MFRW, MMRW, MFCA-T and Lee Kelley If you are planning to apply for an SES position anytime soon, then it’s very likely that you have carved out an impressive career for yourself, and have gone through a number of job interviews. You’ve probably conducted your own interviews, as well. All of the common things we hear about preparing for interviews are still fundamental and very useful: be prepared; research the organization; dress appropriately; be confident but humble. So, if you are invited to an SES interview, we recommend you do all of these things. In addition, the federal government often uses behavioral-based interviews in which you are asked to describe how you would (or did) perform in certain types of situations. Along these lines, one of our clients recently completed an SES interview, and landed the job! Although the following questions have been fictionalized, they will nonetheless give you a powerful glimpse into what one federal agency asked their SES candidates in 2016 during final interviews. - This is a newly created SES position that will oversee two GS-15s who were previously running their own separate departments. As those department directors may become division directors, and division directors may become branch heads, and so on, there will likely be a great deal of unrest regarding titles, roles, and perceived stature. Please address what you see as the key challenges and how you would address them. - You have been associated with (insert your organization name) in some capacity for a significant time period. If you are selected as an SES, talk to us about the changes you foresee with integrating into our culture here. - This department has offices across the world, and many of them have developed longstanding cultures wanting to “take care” of their own issues and not reveal negative issues to their chain of command. As the current leadership continues to work to change these cultures, we are uncovering challenging issues, such as inappropriate use of government computer systems. Talk to us about any related experience with this type of situation and what you would plan to do to address these challenges. By considering these types of questions and applying them to the agency calling you for an interview, you can be even more prepared. ** Lee Kelley is a former Army captain, Iraq war veteran, 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. Barbara Adams, President and CEO of CareerPro Global (CPG), the parent company of www.careerproplus.com and www.militaryresumewriters.com, has been a member of the careers community for the past 20 years. Ms. Adams holds four prestigious industry certifications. CareerPro Global is the only ISO 9001-2008 Certified Career Service in the industry, as well as one of the fastest-growing Military, Federal, and Civilian Resume-Writing and Careers-Coaching companies. The team of Certified Professional Federal and Military Resume Writers at CPG assist thousands of clients in applying for and gaining employment each year. We can help you land your military to civilian job. |
Pentagon outlines civilian jobs exempt from Trump hiring freeze
by Corey Dickstein Reprinted with permission ©
Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will exempt 16 categories of civilian jobs with direct national security and public safety responsibilities from the federal government hiring freeze instituted by President Donald Trump, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work wrote Wednesday in a memorandum. Work broadly defined the jobs that could be filled during the 90-day hiring freeze, which does not include uniformed military personnel, instituted Jan. 23 by Trump in an executive memorandum. The Pentagon will continue filling jobs that directly support ongoing contingency operations and deployments, most of them in the cybersecurity and firefighting and law enforcement, he wrote. Work's memo also states hiring can continue for civilian jobs at Navy shipyards and military depots responsible for inventory management and equipment maintenance. Additional positions within the department can be exempted from the hiring freeze if officials can demonstrate to Work "compelling reasons that justify" that they are necessary to ensure national security or public safety, he wrote in the memorandum. Work indicated the Pentagon supported Trump's temporary hiring freeze. Last year, Work implemented a smaller-scale temporary hiring freeze on the department, which officials said led to the elimination of some then-vacant positions. He has mandated the Defense Department shrink its headquarters' staffs by 25 percent by 2020. "This is an opportunity for the department to assess its most critical missions and requirements, ensuring that the civilian component of our force is assigned and capable of executing our highest priority work, while at the same time gaining full value from every taxpayer dollar we spend on defense," Work wrote. "Every action we take as a team will be designed to ensure that we are ready to fight today and in the future." It was not immediately clear Thursday how many positions within the Department of Defense were vacant or how many vacant positions could be exempted under Work's order, said a senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about the order. The official said Work intentionally left the definitions of the jobs broad, but managers in charge of hiring for those positions must be able to justify their decisions. Additionally, the official said, managers have been instructed to use the hiring freeze exemption "sparingly," and in a manner that is "consistent with the president's objectives" of shrinking the federal workforce. "They're going to really have to look at the functions of the position to ensure they are absolutely necessary to meet the national security or the public safety responsibility," the senior defense official said. "We're going to really need to look directly at the duties associated with that position, and officials are going to have to look at alternative ways to meet the department's needs with that position to demonstrate that there's no alternative to filling that position for national security or public safety." Work defined the 16 exempted jobs as follows: • Positions directly supporting the execution of contingency missions and operations, scheduled military operations and deployments, and security cooperation exercises or training. • Positions required for cybersecurity and cyberspace operations or planning. • Positions required for space operations or planning. • Positions required for execution of the cyber and intelligence lifecycle operations, planning or support thereof. • To the extent necessary to maintain capability to ensure a medically ready force, positions directly providing inpatient care in Department of Defense medical treatment facilities and providing acute and emergency outpatient care in Department of Defense medical and dental facilities. Additionally, positions involving communicable disease prevention and similar public health activities. • First responder firefighter and law enforcement positions. • Positions necessary to carry out or enforce treaties and other international obligations. • Positions providing operational support to the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, or [the] chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. • Positions providing child care to the children of military personnel. • Positions at the installation level providing direct support to the prevention of child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence and suicide and providing direct support to those affected. • Positions required for nuclear reactor and nuclear weapon safety and security and nuclear command, control, and communications. Additionally, positions required for biological select agent safety and security. • Positions performing mortuary affairs activities and other directly related services necessary to properly care for the fallen and their families. • Positions required to be filled by a foreign national employee. • Positions in shipyards and depots in which positions' incumbents perform direct management of inventory and direct maintenance of equipment. • Positions funded by foreign military sales. • Civilian mariners in Military Sealift Command. Positions that are vacant can also be filled if a person was hired for the job prior to Jan. 22 and confirmed to start working before Feb. 22, the official said. Instituting the hiring freeze, which also forbids federal agencies from hiring contractors to work in vacant positions, was among Trump's first actions as president. It was meant to protect American taxpayers and halt runaway growth within the federal government, according to the White House. The Pentagon, which employees some 755,000 civilians, has grown its civilian workforce by some 100,000 employees in the years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The freeze will remain in place for three months while the Office of Management and Budget creates a "long-term plan to reduce the size of the federal government's workforce through attrition," Trump's memorandum states. Some members of Congress have been critical of Trump's hiring freeze, especially on its potential impact at the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., earlier this week called the hiring freeze a "boneheaded, ideological attack on the functioning of our government" and expressed concerns it could degrade military readiness. Smith is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Missouri, on Wednesday authored a letter to Trump urging him to exempt defense officials working on acquisitions. The letter was signed by 18 other House Republicans. "Their work directly impacts our military's ability to modernize its equipment and keep its technological edge against a broad range of threats," Hartzler, who is the chairwoman of the Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, wrote in the letter.
dickstein.corey@stripes.com |
Common Job Search Strategy that Kills Opportunities© Copyright, 2017, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved. One of the most common and popular job search strategies is also one of least effective today and, ultimately, can be deadly. That common strategy: Focusing most job search time and effort on applying for jobs without regard to fit for the opportunity. The process of searching through job postings and applying for jobs feels productive. When you are doing it from the comfort of your home, maybe using your smart phone as you sit on your couch, it feels very comfortable, too. But, when you aren’t careful of the jobs you apply for, you may actually do your job search much harm. Playing the Lottery to Win a JobClicking on the “Apply” button for a job can feel good — this time the effort will pay off! This time you will win. This time you will get a response inviting you to an interview. Much like buying a lottery ticket, clicking the apply button for a job usually feels good. And, since applying for a job won’t hurt you, what does it matter? Right? WRONG! Those applications can hurt you. Why the Job Application Lottery Approach Is a Waste of TimeJob seekers complain to me that they’ve submitted hundreds (sometimes thousands) of applications, but not gotten any responses. While submitting resumes and applications feels like the “right way” to find a job, it’s not actually productive. Research, including a recent study by author and recruiting guru Lou Adler, showed that fewer than 15% of jobs are filled via job postings. The vast majority of jobs are filled by networking! Unfortunately, mindlessly applying for jobs does hurt you! When you submit too often for jobs you aren’t qualified for, you are classified as a “resume spammer.” That’s a big penalty to pay. Employers Ignore and Block “Resume Spammers”The worst result of the apply-apply-apply approach is that applicants who continuously and often apply for jobs without being qualified end up in the penalty box. Think about it — how do you respond to irrelevant and junk email messages in your inbox? You tell your email software to ignore messages from those sources as “junk” or “spam.” Similarly, when you carelessly and repeatedly hit the “Apply” button on a job board or send your resume in response to every job posting you see, particularly when you are not qualified for the job, your applications are viewed as spam. As a result, the people and automated systems (like job boards and employer applicant tracking systems) will flag you as a “resume spammer.” When you are identified as a spammer, ALL of your applications go into the “junk application” folder. You will be ignored — even when you are qualified for the job. How to Recover From Your Resume Spammer ClassificationIf you have been carelessly and ceaselessly applying for all kinds of jobs, you are probably in the resume spammer penalty box. You can get out, but it takes effort. 1. Change the email address you use for your job search and applications.Since many people share the same or similar names, your email address is most likely the unique identifier used to dump your application in the spammer folder. So, use a different email address, like a Gmail address, and then pay close attention to that email account. When replying to an employer who has responded to your application, use the new email address. Don’t revert to the old one, or your response could be dumped into the spam folder again. 2. Change your attitude and approach. NO MORE RESUME SPAMMING!Before you apply for a job, review your answers to the 4 Questions to Ask Before Applying for a Job. Then, solemnly vow to apply ONLY for those jobs you are qualified for. Consistently live up to that vow to avoid a second penalty box appearance. When you do apply for a job, connect the dots for employers in your applications by clearly aligning your experience, skills, and accomplishments with the requirements of the job you are applying for. Measure your job search activities and progress by counting networking contacts during a week or interview invitations. Stop measuring your job search by counting applications. Bottom LineWhen I ask people new in their jobs how they got the job, often they tell me, “My former boss called me,” or “A guy I used to work with contacted me,” and other personal referrals. You can be that person, too! LinkedIn, Facebook, Google/Bing, and the Internet make it easy to reconnect with people you worked with and make it easier to become a “known quantity” to a wide circle of people. Take the time to expand your network, and you can beat the numbers game, too. More Information About Successful Job SearchThe 5 Best Job Search Strategies for 2017 4 Questions to Ask Before Applying for a Job Applying for a Job: 5 Tips to Avoid the Discard Pile Find a Job Without Using Job Boards New Ways to Find Jobs with Job Boards About the Author… Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 2011, NETability purchased WorkCoachCafe.com, and Susan has been editor and publisher of WorkCoach since then. Susan also edits and publishes Job-Hunt.org, is a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a columnist on HuffingtonPost. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Google+ |
US Job Openings Remain at Mostly Healthy Level in Decemberby Christopher Rugaber ©2017 The Associated Press Reprinted with Permission WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of open jobs was mostly unchanged in December from the previous month, leaving openings at a healthy level. The Labor Department said Tuesday job openings were flat at 5.5 million in December. Total hiring rose slightly to 5.25 million, while the number of people quitting fell. The figures suggest that December was a mostly stable month for the job market, with many employers possibly waiting until the new year to step up hiring. Last week's jobs report showed that employers stepped up hiring in January, adding 227,000 jobs, the most in four months. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.8 percent from 4.7 percent, but the increase was mostly for a good reason: More Americans began looking for work, but not all immediately found jobs. Last week's jobs figure is a net gain after layoffs, quits and retirements are subtracted from overall hiring. Tuesday's data comes from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTS, and are more detailed and provide a fuller view of the job market. The number of available jobs has risen 4.2 percent in the past year, while total hiring in the JOLTS report has actually fallen in the past 12 months. That suggests businesses are having trouble finding the workers they need to fill their open positions. Some companies, including many manufacturers, say that many job applicants don't have the skills they need. Many economists, however, argue that companies may have to pay more to attract better applicants. They also may have to do more training of prospective employees. The rising number of openings in the past 12 months could force employers to offer bigger paychecks. Average hourly wages rose at a healthy pace in December from the previous year, then slipped back in January. Job openings fell in construction, financial services, restaurants and hotels and in state and local government. They rose in manufacturing and retail trade. © 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. |
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