Reddit, what's your top "Holy shit, that worked?" moment?

Did you apply through usajobs? Odds are you didn't make it through the computer screening. You have to parrot pretty much everything on the job listing. Use the same language they do and spell thighs out, even if it seems repetitive and dumb.

If it says something like, "x number of years experience at GS-8 or equivalent" your first bullet point on a previous position on your resume should be, "equivalent to x number of years experience at GS-8". I'd recommend you include a summary of qualifications section at the top. Bullet points like,

  • I have x years experience equivalent to x years of experience at GS-8
  • I have x total undergraduate-level course hours and x total graduate-level hours in (field relevant to the education requirements for the position).
  • List of relevant course titles
  • I am proficient in (list of all proficiencies that the position asks for).

Then an education section with your degree(s), etc, then your work history.

It will almost certainly be highly repetitive and break all the rules of resume writing that you've been taught; but remember that you're writing it for an outdated computer, then an HR employee that has a checklist and doesn't understand the job you're applying for, and only after that will it get to someone in the agency you're applying to who understands the job, and they know full well how shitty usajobs is and what you have to do to pass the screening.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent