USAJOBS 3.0 is Coming = Interruption in Service

USAJOBS 3.0 is Coming = Interruption in Service USAJOBS 3.0 is Coming = Interruption in Service USAJOBS 3.0 is Coming = Interruption in Service During the transition to USAJOBS 3.0, please be aware that: No new announcements will be posted Oct. 1, 2011 to Oct. 12, 2011. No access to USAJOBS will be allowed Oct. 6 to Oct. 12, 2011. Five billion documents are being reviewed and re-uploaded into a new USAJOBS system in Macon, Georgia by USAStaffing IT specialists. The USAJOBS IT specialists will be downloading, analyzing, and re-uploading over 5 billion documents from jobseekers who have their resumes and documents loaded into USAJOBS 2.0; eliminating your Social Security Numbers; doing something with passwords (you will probably have to reset your password with your same email account after the Oct. 12 reset); and set up parameters for Resume Mining by HR specialists. There won’t be a totally new look and feel, but there will be some new features that are better for you and for the HR customers who post the positions. Before the site is down on Oct. 6, you may want to consider downloading and backing up the latest versions of your resumes posted in USAJOBS. If you are an active federal jobseeker, what can you be doing while USAJOBS is down for six days, and there are no new announcements for almost two weeks? Below is a list of suggested activities that will keep your federal job search moving forward and prepare you for when USAJOBS becomes available again: Activity #1: Review and edit your federal resume versions. Copy out your resumes from the builders and then update and improve the content. Work on new accomplishments that should be featured on pages 1 or 2 of your resume (since KSAs are now in the resume). Review your keywords for each of your occupational series targets. You can look at the OPM Classification Standards for keywords since USAJOBS will be down. Activity #2: Prepare for a Federal Job Interview. Work on your Top Ten List of Accomplishments so that you can be more prepared for the Behavior-Based Interview in October to December of this year. Use the KSA CCAR Builder designed by the author of this article. Tell your story in a compelling way with the Context, Challenge, Action and Result principles. Practice your stories and get ready to land a federal job. Activity #3: Read the American Jobs Act. Check over the information to see whether there is something that could affect your job, your payroll taxes, or other jobs-related info. I like the Short Fact Sheet. Some of the ideas are highly useful. Activity #4: Read new reports on Merit Systems Protection Board website. Browse excellent Federal Employment-Related Studies that could help the federal jobseeker to gain insight into federal jobs and federal employment “language” include Job Simulations: Trying out for a Federal Job and A Call To Action: Improving First-Level Supervision of Federal Employees. Activity #5: Read the latest reports from Partnership for Public Service. The latest publication posted on 9/8/11 is a white paper on Best Places to Launch a Career in the Federal Government Snapshot. Activity #6: Set up an account and look for jobs on www.avuecentral.com. This is a separate website for federal jobs for certain agencies. Avuecentral.com will have some federal jobs posted for their client agencies: Peace Corps, Forest Service, US Marshals, Millennium Challenge, Library of Congress, USAID, and a few others. These agencies are “clients” of Avue and post on avuecentral.com. You can apply for Avue positions without touching USAJOBS.gov. You can set up an account here, and search for job titles that could be of interest to you. You will find that at avuecentral.com the position descriptions are listed for the posted job. This is an interesting source for keywords and language for your federal resume. Activity #7: Say Good-Bye to DONHRs CHART website. On Oct. 12, 2011, the Department of the Navys Civilian Hiring and Recruitment Tool will no longer be accessible to the general public. The CHART site has been posted since around 2000 and is one of the last Resumix automated recruitment sites. CHART recruited for US Navy and USMC Civilian positions. All of the CHART job posting will be moved to USAJOBS and applicationmanager.gov after Oct. 12, 2011. According to the website, Applicants are strongly encouraged to save a printed and electronic copy of their CHART resume and transfer this information to an USAJOBS account by 30 September 2011. See the fact sheet on how to move your resume from CHART to USAJOBS. Activity #8: Read GovExec for articles on federal hiring topics. Excellent Government Executive writers will write about federal jobs, federal employment, USAJOBS 3.0, Resuming Mining, Veteran’s Hiring, and many other topics about federal hiring for 2011 and 2012. Activity #9: Read and join GovLoop. This is a new government website where federal employees and managers write about federal job topics. You can write about your own background with the popular INTRODUCTION membership feature. Activity #10: Read FedManager. This resource contains informative articles on federal employment, security clearances, employment case law, and Tips of the Week by Kathryn Troutman. Activity #11: Check out your federal retirement benefits. You can find more information about federal retirement benefits on Scott Thompson’s popular website, www.myfederalretirement.com. You can even calculate your retirement with his handy-dandy retirement calculator.