Welcome to this month's Learning
professional question and answer . My
name is Dana Horn and I will be your
moderator for this session . Thank you
for joining us today . We hope you find
today's session very informative and
useful and as a reminder , the intent
of this effort is to bring together
learning professionals from across the
Air Force , Sister services industry
and academia to learn from one another
and share information . Today our guest
speaker is Mrs Hope Barbara supervisory
career field administrator in the
talent management division of the Air
Force Personnel Center and she will be
presenting writing resumes with impact .
This event is hosted live so we do ask
that you please keep your camera off
and your microphone muted . A member of
our team is monitoring the chat so
please submit any questions you have
over in the chat and we will try to get
them answered for you during this
session . If you require any technical
assistance , we do have somebody
monitoring the chat . Please check
directly with the technical support in
their screen name , has it in their
screen name for assistance . At this
point I'd go I'd like to go ahead and
introduce our LP Q . And a presenter
this month , Mrs Barber currently
serves as the air because the force
renewal team lead where she works
closely with senior managers to ensure
the timely on boarding and outplacement
of all financial management interns .
She previously previously led the force
sustainment team where she oversaw
administrative efforts in support of
over 7000 civilians , supervisors and
leaders in the FM career field . Prior
to her current position , she served as
a management analyst in the plans
analysis and integration office U . S .
Army garrison installation management
command There . She played a critical
role during the COVID-19 operations and
successful successfully developed the
matrix which informs soldiers ,
families and civilians of service
impacts during that COVID mitigation .
So mrs Barber , welcome to our session
and thank you so much for participating
in our event . I'll turn the floor over
to you . Thank you so much for that .
Warm welcome . Thank you everyone for
joining us again . My name is Hope
Barber and I'm really excited to be
here with you today to just share with
you how to write resumes with impact to
help you be successful at work and
beyond . And so before I get started I
have to shout out some folks okay MS
Chantelle Tao and MS Crystal more .
These two women have been just critical
and kind of helping me discover my
passion for resume writing and helping
others to learn how to do it , how to
do it well so that they find success in
their careers . So thank you both for
your support and your encouragement and
I do believe I have some fort Riley
friends on the line today and so I just
really appreciate you all being here
and thank you for thank you for your
support and so I'm gonna throw a lot of
information at you all today so I'm
gonna go pretty fast and furious . I'm
gonna ask that if I could go through
the presentation and I'm gonna try to
do it to where we have some time at the
end for Q . And A . I just didn't want
to get like tripped up or help spend
too much time on the slide and then not
get you all the information that I have
for you today . And so why am I here ?
So learning and understanding how to
build a strong resume is important no
matter who you are , whether you're
active duty civilian um military styles ,
family member , if you know how to do
it and you know how to do it . Well
that is a very special thing that I
hope you will share with other people ,
you can navigate , help navigate a
successful transition upon retirement
or separation either your own or people
that you work with . Um you help
increase your ability to help others um
and expose them to maybe concepts and
ideas that they might not have been
aware of as far as resumes go new
opportunities A lot of times if there
is a promotion , maybe you want to
relocate , you may need to apply for
that job and a resume may be required .
And then finally if there's a training
formal training , professional military
education , competitive programs that
you want to apply for A lot of times
they want to resume within the
application package . And so again
knowing how to do this and do this .
well is a fantastic skill and I'm so
excited to be here sharing that with
you today . And so this is our agenda .
This is everything we're gonna fly
through , hold on tight . Here we go .
Alright , we're gonna start off with
myth or fact , so we're gonna talk
through um just quietly or in the chat ,
whatever . I'm going to read the for
the line and then you , in your mind
say , you know , is that a myth or a
fact ? So you must use the resume
builder in usa jobs . That is a myth .
You don't have to do that . Um There is
it is there for you if you'd like to
use it , but there is a capability to
upload a resume which is what we
recommend . Um There is an electronic
word , search for resumes , myth or
fact . This one for Air Force I can
speak to is a myth . We do have
human resource specialists that look at
your resumes and they come through and
they look at the words and they look at
the content to make sure um you qualify
to determine whether you qualify or not .
Now , other agencies , you know , I'm
not sure if they if they have that
capability and no in the private sector ,
they have like artificial intelligence
that might be scanning the resumes ,
but speaking from an Air force
perspective perspective , you will have
a person looking at your resume skill
codes are no longer used . That's
a fact . I had to ask questions on this
one because I didn't even know what
this was . I think previously there was
a skill code on our federal civilian
position descriptions that folks felt .
If I put that on my resume , that will
you know , put me one step ahead . But
that's not something that's really used
or looked at . And so that's not
something that you need to include .
And then finally your resume is your
application to a federal job . In
fact it is part of the application . So
there is a you know the usa jobs online
application piece and then the resume
is attached to the application .
All right . And so the different types
of resumes . The one we're going to
focus on today is our reverse
chronological where you list your
current job and then work backwards
maybe max of 10 years . And so there
are different resume types out there
depending on what you know , how you
want to shape your experience . But for
this workshop we're going to focus in
on the reverse chronological . So
your resume really is your very first
impression and your best marketing tool .
The people that are looking at it ,
They may know who you are , but they
might not . And so this really is their
introduction to who you are as a person .
It is part of your application . It's
used to verify your qualifications ,
demonstrate your performance , taylor
rubble to each job announcement . That
is key and communicate your
qualifications to do the job . The goal
on the resume is to make it very simple
for anyone looking at it to see , oh
this person is qualified . So that's
our goal is how do we do that ? How do
we use the words , how do we use the
real real estate that we have in the
resume in order to send that message
loud and clear to the HR staffer to the
hiring official to the interview panel
member that I'm the one for this job .
And so in that yellow box it says you
may have multiple resumes in different
formats based on what you're applying
for maybe different positions ,
different agencies , formal training
etcetera . And so that's okay . You
know you can have , you know maybe for
FM specifically if you're applying for
a civilian developmental education ,
there's a format that would like to see
and so you might have that or if you're
maybe exploring uh positions in the
federal in the private sector , you may
have a different format and explore
that . Um Or you know depending on what
types of jobs you're applying for . You
know when I was looking for a job , you
know I had my budget analyst resume .
Here we go . And you know if I was
applying for something in the private
sector , I might have a separate folder
there . So it's totally fine . You
probably likely won't have one resume
um format that you would go to the
resume often decides who gets an
interview . And so it really is
important that you make it strong and
you may help make it show impact
so this or that . So we have our 12
pages 3.5 page or 3 to 5 pages like
which one would I rather look at as a
hiring official . Probably the 3 to 5
pages . And so in this position that
I'm in now I've had the honor of seeing
you know all types of different resumes
whether they're you know a separate
upload to an application or maybe the
usa jobs format . I think the highest
page count I've gotten too I think is
in the thirties which is a lot and so
we recommend you know let's cut it down
let's make it readable to a hiring
official . 3 to 5 pages Is good if
you're a brand new high school student
or college grad you may only have one
or two pages which is fine because that
makes sense with kind of where you are
in your career um Always keep in mind
who is looking at your resume right ?
It's not just one person , it's
different people who are looking at it
for different reasons . Okay so the HR
specialists have a very dear friend
Margaret brand and it works the army HR
and she doesn't care about bells and
whistles . No kind of you know snazzy
formatting . She's looking at the
content . She's looking at the words ,
does this person qualify for this job ?
Yes or no , The hiring officials . Now ,
they may , you know , like a snazzy
format or they're like no , I like the
traditional format , let's stick over
here , let's stay over here . And then
you might have interview panel members
looking at it too . And so the goal of
this workshop is just to help you , you
know , get the content to be so strong
that it doesn't matter what format you
choose to put it in the content and the
words are just gonna set you aside from
everyone else that's applying . And so
now we're gonna get into kind of
examples on how you can kind of spruce
up your current resume . And so that
gray box on the upper left , that's
maybe an example , you might see on usa
jobs where it's just everything you
could possibly want to know about ,
someone , all it at the top of the
resume . And so , you know , it's it's
tiny font , it takes up a lot of space
and then on the right hand side and
underneath we see some different
options to do the exact same thing ,
you're communicating who you are and
how to contact you , everything else
you don't need to put on there . If you
get to the interview , you can talk
through , you know , um your
availability , when do you want to
start ? You don't need to put that up
front on the resume . And so there's
different ways that you , you know ,
you can tweak the font , the size just
to make it a little bit more visually
appealing versus that gray box in the
corner And
so our training . So training when you
list your training on a resume , please
please please do not list it as it's
shown on the left hand side , that is
like someone's complete training report .
Um and we don't need all that . Uh my
body said , I don't need to know that
you did cyber awareness training 10
years ago . So that's not something we
want to be very deliberate in what
training we want to highlight on our
resume . So on the right hand side in
that blue box , so that's one example
of how you can identify your training .
So specialized training , developmental
education , it's very direct , very
clean with the completion dates at the
end and now the one in the middle with
the little gray header , that one's
from my personal resume because I
started out as an Air Force civilian at
Ramstein , my husband got orders to
Fort Riley Kansas , if y'all are out
there , I hope you're cheering . And so
I I learned so much there had a lot of
opportunity to do some great training
and then I came back here to the Air
Force and so when applying for this job ,
I thought well how do I show that ? How
do I show that on my resume ? I want to
show that I did this great training
with Fort Riley and the army , but I
wanted the hiring official to say , oh
well she's prior Air Force civilian and
she's done some Air force training too .
And so what I decided to do is how you
see there on the screen where I just
kind of did a little hitter for my army
training , listed it there and then the
Air force and listed it below . And so
what this does is it allows someone
just to even just glance at it and say ,
oh she has army and Air force training
like quick versus if I didn't have
those headers and it was all bullets ,
it might be a little more difficult or
it would take some more time to like
read through and then determine which
was army , which was Air force . And so
it's all about what I mentioned earlier ,
how to make it as easy as possible for
someone to see what you bring to the
table and that you qualify for the job .
And then on that little key experience ,
that one I highlighted because that was
the defense civilian emerging
leadership program that I was selected
to attend and completed . And so that
if it's anything that you had to
compete for , you had to go to a board
for your victory for that's awesome ,
you want to highlight that . And so I
included that under the training , but
I also highlighted it on the front so
to say , hey , this is an amazing
training that I was selected for . Make
sure it's short , concise , no acronyms
and then key elements that hiring
managers want to see . Okay , again ,
no acronyms header in your contact info
please double triple check it . Make
sure your email is correct . Your
contact information is right . Your
career summary , college education , if
applicable , your experience , Highly
competitive or desired training , which
we just talked about in certifications ,
your references and again , the length
recommended 3-5 pages . But again , if
you're just starting your career , it
might be um less than that . Mhm . So
look , make sure this is our tip in the
yellow box . Look at the job duties in
the job announcement . And then if
you're applying for a federal job ,
look at the knowledge skills and
assessment , it tells you exactly what
they're looking for . Okay . And so the
key is , you know , we talked a little
earlier about tailoring the resume to
each position or application and that
really is key . Um if you have a really
strong resume and you use that to apply
for 50 different jobs , like you , you
may get an interview and you may get
selected and I hope you do , but if you
take the time to craft your resume to
the specific job announcement , it will
do wonders and it's going to
communicate to that HR and hiring
officials like , oh yeah , this
person's got exactly what we're looking
for . We do not ever want to copy from
the PD or the job announcement because
that's a big red flag . If this person
is you know , not willing to spend some
time on the resume , their just copy
pasting from the announcement , that's
probably you know , not someone you
want on your team , right ? So you want
to read through it , find the key words ,
what are the like experiences , what
are the things that they're looking for
and then start to craft that and weave
that into your resume again , not using
um not copy pasting it , but just you
know , so that whoever is looking at it
can clearly see , oh yeah they have
that experience . We wanted to use
bullet format and ultimately we just
want it to be eye pleasing . We don't
want it to be overwhelming or you know ,
too much on the page . We just want
someone to want to read your resume .
And so here we're just talking through
the header contact info in the summary
section . And so the contact
information again , we don't want to
use like that big USA jobs block at the
top , just you know , two or three
lines to save space and just make sure
they can contact you . Um you can
include veterans preference but not you
don't have to because that's gonna be
asked of you in the federal application
during the on the USA staffing process .
Um so you don't and you don't need to
include locations that you're
interested in because if you're
applying for a job at scott Air Force
Base , it's assumed that you want to ,
you know work at scott Air Force Base
now tell the work remote work , all of
that is kind of a new um new territory
that everyone is kind of exploring . Um
And so I would just you know , if
you're interested in that , I think usa
jobs now has a filter where you can
look to see if if that Burbage is in
the announcement to see if maybe that's
a possibility or not . And then we just
want to be careful with that . A
summary is fantastic to be able to show ,
hey in a nutshell this is what I can do .
We just want to make sure it doesn't
take up too much of that front page to
where it becomes half a page of a
summary . Um Instead of just like I
never quick overview , so maybe keep it
at the top quarter of the page um to
keep it nice and neat and so
others are special circumstances and so
you know life happens . Um you may
choose to stop working to you know
raise a family or there might be some
medical issues happening or you were
overseas and there weren't a lot of job
opportunities and so depending on how
comfortable you are sharing that
information on your resume or with a
hiring official you can address those
things in the resume if you feel like
it would um kind of help them to
understand maybe a gap in your um in
the resume and so you can kind of
explain what the situation was . Um
maybe you're not in the local area ,
may be about to retire and go settle
down somewhere else . And so that way
the hiring official kind of has an
understanding of what your situation is
versus well this person has a Rammstein
address that is applying that hill so
but we're not paying pcs , do they know
that ? You know what I mean ? And so it
can help kind of clarify your situation
um if needed and if you're comfortable
with it and then a cover letter is
always optional if you'd like to um
convey any more information to the
hiring official
And so your college education , so if
you have this please highlight it
upfront . I was just working with
someone and they are pursuing a
cybersecurity under graduate degree
with a like 3.8 G . P . A . Put that in
the front and put that in top like big
bold letters , you know what I mean ?
Like that's amazing that something the
super excited and proud of like we want
to , we want to highlight that right
not at the top and bold but you know
what I mean ? So that way it's easy to
see if you're just starting your
education journey , you can move , you
can move that to maybe um not right at
the beginning of the resume , but you
always want to put the expected
graduation date if you're currently
enrolled and then you want to include
the degree in major , the college city
and state the year you graduated or the
expected graduation date and then your
G . P . A . If it's I'd take you know
three point or above um to show or if
you graduated with honors , you can
throw that on there just to show hey
I'm doing great things here and then at
the bottom it shows the education and
how one of the options of how you can
show it on your resume . Again , a
resume is very personal and so
everything I'm showing you are just
kind of examples of . Um But you can
list your education you know in
whatever way you feel is best , as long
as it's easy to read and understand
from the HR hiring official perspective .
And so now we're going to talk what's
valued . So this slide is specific to
the FM . Career field because this is
that's what I do and but the same
concept can be applied you no matter
what organization applying to either
federal or private sector . So in this
case FM . Career field , this is what
we value . So this circle here talks
about all the different areas you know
and on the right side shows what an
engaged airmen looks like and what our
values and what should will show growth .
And so if I'm applying for a job in the
F . M . Career field I can use this as
my guide to say okay you know these are
the things that they value . Maybe I
serve as a mentor to you know three or
four different people and I've helped
them to be successful in their career .
I'll put that on my resume or it's
asking to take or it talks about taking
on leadership roles . Maybe I'm not a
supervisor but I have led these efforts
in maybe these volunteer efforts in
some way maybe I should put that on my
resume . Do you know what I mean ? And
so then you start to kind of craft your
resume to make it so easy for someone
to say wow there . They see what we
value and we want them to be part of
our team . And so the same applies for
the private sector , so my um yellow
box at the bottom research the
organization or company you're applying
to . And so I helped a friend's son .
Um He was recently um graduated from
high school three years out of high
school looking to see what the next
step was and ended up wanting to apply
at a local hospital . And so I was
helping him the resume . Didn't have a
lot of content . And so I was kind of
you know where do I go from here . So I
went to the hospital website and there
there was like so much information
about what they value , what's
important to them . You know customer
service quality care um you know taking
care of people right ? And so then it
was like okay this is what they value .
So let me kind of start to weave that
into you know the information that he
does have in his resume and and show in
the jobs that he's had , how he
provided outstanding care quality care ,
customer service . You know what I mean ?
And so that I think taking those extra
steps which is will help you to make
your resume stand out so much more .
And so we're talking about training and
certifications and awards . So for
these you want to be very selective .
Okay . Always include the year . Um and
you know what type of certification it
is , Whether it was test based if it
was um military education courses ,
training courses that we're competitive
that you were selected to attend Lean
six Greenbelt Training competitive
awards . Don't include your performance
awards or your wig ease . I have seen
people include there Wiggins that for
um non civilians . It's like a within
grade increase . And those are
automatic every year . And so we don't
want to put those on our resume . Do
not be afraid to highlight your
accomplishments . I've talked to people
who are like I don't like bragging
about myself . I don't it doesn't feel
good , like I don't want to brag , no ,
this is the time to do it . Like this
is it . This is you are trying to get
this job and you're trying to convince
the hiring official that you are the
right person for the job . And so how
you do that is not by listing , you
know , putting on your resume , your to
do list what you do every day I pulled
the status of funds . I , you know ,
answer the phones . I do this . It's
like really showing them what you do
and the impact that you've had , you
know , at all levels of your
organization . And so how you can do
that for them . Do not be afraid to
highlight your accomplishment .
Something to be proud of . It's not
bragging , I promise . And so your
references and so your references , you
should include , I would include 2-3 .
You know , you don't want to overwhelm
the hiring official or the page with ,
you know , several references . Please
make sure they know that you're listing
them . That's important . We don't want
them to be surprised or not be not not
be prepared for the phone call . Uh you
can include if their professional ,
personal or educational reference . So
that way the hiring official kind of
knows the context in which you know
them and then please ensure their
current contact information is there
and you're not giving them like an old
number and email . And so my tip in
yellow at the bottom is usa jobs tip
you can set up a saved search which
helped me a lot . When I was looking
for jobs you can go in there . You have
to sign in . Set up a safe search with
all the criteria that you're looking
for and then anytime a new job pops in
that meets that criteria you'll get an
email and so I know when you're looking
for a job you're probably going to be
on USA jobs a lot anyway . But this
kind of helps you in case you get busy
or something . If something pops in
then you know that you're going to get
that notification . And I also
recommend please please please apply
early . This is so important because
you know if I see a job and I'm like
okay closes at midnight tonight I can
apply after work so I get all my stuff
done and I go to USA jobs to apply and
it's down for unscheduled maintenance
and it doesn't come back up and that
has happened to me I think on two
occasions . And so if you're looking
you know be proactive And look if it's
open you know for five days try to get
the application in on day three so you
apply and you see that it flowed
through it . All the attachments are
uploaded . You get the confirmation
email and then you can go back into the
USA jobs USA staffing and um
confirm everything that was there and
if you need to make an adjustment you
can until the job actually closes and
then you can't go in and change it and
so just please please if you're able to
get it in early so that way you're not
finding yourself in that situation and
then other resources for jobs . So usa
jobs is one of them . You can also
check out linkedin because Air Force
civilian services does have a page
there and we do post jobs there and
then um ah Air Force civilian
services . I have the website I
got tripped up for a second . But yeah
so the different places you can look
for positions . So usa jobs linkedin
and Air force civilian careers dot com .
I think . That's right I have the link
later in the slide and so your duties
and responsibilities and so this is the
real core of the of the presentation
because this is what's really going to
help your resume to stand apart . So
you need to ensure the header of each
job includes all the items listed there
below . If you're a civilian the duty
title , the pay plan job series and
grade . That's pretty straightforward .
You would think everyone would include
that . But not everyone does the
organization , location two from month
and year served in each position and
full time or part time with a number of
hours worked . Now before I came into
this job and you know and started
working for a F . P . C . I never
understood why they needed that . That
is so dumb . Of course I'm working full
time . Like why do I need to put that
on there ? But that is not the case for
everyone . Right ? And and so when the
hr staffers are looking at your resume
they need to see did was this a full
time position or not because that could
determine or effect whether you're
eligible for a position or not . And so
again we're going back to let's make it
as easy as possible for them to qualify
you for this job . So let's give them
all the information they need now
private sector you may or may not have
to include that . But I would you know
leave that on there . And I don't think
it's going to hurt anything . Your
supervisor name . Current contact info .
Is it okay to contact your current
supervisor ? Now ? A lot of us may look
for jobs . Miss tao close your ears .
I'm just kidding . I'm not going
anywhere . Um May look for jobs in
their current job . Maybe don't want to
tell their supervisor . Right so how do
you do that ? So you can put your
supervisor on your resume ? Your
current supervisor contact . You can
put no but just know that if you do get
interviewed and are there considering
selecting you they may want to place a
call to that supervisor before they
make their final selection . So you can
put no there . But just know that a
phone call may need to happen at some
point . If prior military you can
include your rank , your position . Um
Please don't use an equivalent civilian
grade . So speaking from the federal
side it's confusing because then we're
looking to see where was that active
duty service or was that civilian ? And
so we just want to make it very clear
um like that was active duty . And so
we want to like show it that way um Are
dude and your duties . So we will I
will have more slides on this but we
want them to show impact . You know
results oriented bullet format that
show context the challenge actions and
results . See car . So that's what
we're going to talk about in a few
slides . We don't want your resume to
be your P . D . Please don't copy taste
the pd into your resume . Um If a
hiring official wants to know what you
do they can pull that themselves . What
the resume allows you to do is say ,
hey this is what I do and this is the
result . Then this is the impact of
what I do day to day . Make sure you
spell out your acronyms include
volunteer experience . Uh do not copy
again from the position description or
job announcement . And we try not to go
back past 10 years . But if you have a
position that's passed that time frame
that's like perfect and applies and is
relevant to whatever job you're
applying for then of course you want to
include it . But we just don't want to
resonate going back 30 years if that
information is not relevant to the job
that you're applying for . And so my
note at the bottom if you have civilian
and military experience , thank you for
your military service number one . But
just make it really clear and easy to
read and ensure the flow . Makes sense
on the resume . So just stick with the ,
you know , reverse chronological your
current duties up front . If you're um
guard or reservist you would have , you
know that position and then maybe a
civilian job right underneath it . And
then it's like oh okay they're doing
both right now . Cool versus I think
when I saw was all civilian experience
and then the military experience at the
end . But then the dates were
overlapping and so that one was very
confusing to read . And so we just
again we want to make it very very easy
for the people looking at your resume
to understand what you've done in your
career and what you bring to the table .
Another tip on applying for federal
jobs like on usa jobs , your SF 50 . So
a lot of times one of the required
documents is to provide your latest sF
50 Which is a personal document , right ?
And so if you need to do that to show
52 weeks time and grade you're applying
for a promotion . Let's say If you
upload your latest SM 50 that's showing
your latest S . F . 15 has one date on
there . What I do is I pulled my sF 50
from when I was placed in the position
And the latest SF 50 and upload that in
one file . So they see oh she was
placed in the position a year and a
half ago and she just got a wiggy or
something . So it shows hey I'm still
in this position . And so that's a tip
that I started doing like as I was
learning the application process and
so into when you're crafting your
bullets for you know showing your
duties and responsibilities like be
really aware and think about your tone .
Okay . Active voice . Right ? Lead $4M
Program vs I was responsible for .
You know what I mean ? It's a different
sense like when you you tweak the words
that you're using action verbs you know
leadership verbs like lead , developed ,
analyzed . And then there's an example
there of how you can use those words ,
your accomplishments , show the results
like you know you you have a bullet on
your resume . So what what does that
mean ? How what impact did that have ?
And so the ones they're you know if you
are able to incorporate numbers ,
percentages you know increases
decreases like that's amazing and that
helps a lot to show impact in your
resume . Use present tense for current
position and past tense for previous .
So that way you know the flow of the
resume um Looks and sounds good
and so now we're getting into R . C .
Cars . So this is challenge , context
action result . And so this is how
you're gonna craft the bullet on your
resume . Okay . And so before I get
into this I'm going to tell you and
warn you right now . My disclaimer .
Okay this is a lot of work . This is a
lot of work . If you want to do this
you're gonna invest the time to do this
and make your resume shine and just
really strong . It will be an initial
like investment of time to do this
through your resume . But then once
that's done you should only be tweaking
and adjusting based on you know new
experiences , new um accomplishments
that you're doing in your current job
or if you're applying you might tweak
the resume for that that specific job .
But doing this it was a big time
investment up front . But I'm telling
you it was worth it was worth it worth
it worth it worth it . And so with sick
are the first challenge we described
the challenge that you faced . Then we
provide context . What was the
environment like who what when where
how what happened ? Okay the action ,
what did you do to fix it ? What did
you do to overcome that challenge And
then the results . What were the
results of what you did ? Was their
savings or cost avoidance ? And again
the percentage numbers , people like
that is what helps to show impact
across your organization , Maybe the
Air Force , the Army D . O . D .
Partners . And so if you write these
bullets with impact , that is what's
going to help make your resume stand um
stand out from the crowd . Like what
did you do ? How did you do it ? What
was the impact ? And I'll tell you this
came out from , I was a you know ,
budget analyst at 86 comptroller
squadron at Ramstein Air Base in
Germany and I needed to uh submit my
employee for an awards package . And so
they gave me an Air Force 12 06 , which
is an award form and said , you know
you need to fill this out . And my
active duty husband Daniel Barber , I
think you're on the line . I love you .
He sat me down and said , okay , this
is how you write these bullets . And it
was it was terrible not because of my
sweet husband , but it because it was
very new to me and very different and
very uncomfortable and so it was tough .
Um , but let me tell you , it has been
one of the most important skills I have
used in my entire career . And so if
you really put the time and effort into
learning how to do this and do this
right there are so many different uses
for it , which we'll get into in just a
second . And so an example of this
bullet or how to approach things or how
to craft your bullets in this way using
the C car method . So I had and I would
do this , I would have my paper and I
write down the letters along the side
or you know here and so what what what
what was the challenge at Ramstein ?
There's a contingency response group .
The C . R . G . Had a funding shortfall .
And then what was the context ? Well ,
we're at Ramstein and you save the FM
and you say the A three were involved .
Okay , what was the action ? Well , I
collaborated with those folks to see if
I could get some more money right ? And
then the result was I got more money .
It's a win win . And so you just write
those things down and then you craft
the words okay ? You don't just put
that on your resume , you start to
craft the words , right ? So then what
goes on my resume is Resolved for 35th
contingency response group shortfall
collaborated with you safety FM and you
safety a three to successfully
negotiate additional funding ? 1.3
Baseline Increase . one million in
contingency dollars secured . That
sounds pretty good . Right ? And so
this one bullet shows all of these
things that you're a problem solver ,
you can work with people and you can
get results in that one bullet versus
you know , trying to list those out
like separately and so it's very , very
effective way to communicate what
you've done and what you can bring to
the table . And so the next slide I
won't go through each one , but these
are examples of c car bullets . If we
had time we could talk through them and
see kind of like what's missing , what
could we work better , but we're a
little short on time and so we won't do
that . Um but I want to share with you
the different ways you can use strong
bullet writing skills and the these are
things that I have done in my career ,
so when you know how to write strong
bullets , you have a fantastic resume ,
which I'm sharing with you right now ,
your DP map civilians out there . You
know , every year we have to write our
appraisal or provide our input or in
our progress reviews . This is a
fantastic way to like really show what
you've done and like your impact to the
organization and make those um those
appraisals really strong your
evaluations , like if you're in the
private sector , you're active duty
awards packages , extend my example ,
this helps me be able to submit and
write those award packages with
confidence , I know how to do that now
and so when I have folks or you are
supervising people , you're like ,
they're doing great things that really
want them to be recognized . this is uh
something that will really help you do
that and get them selected and the
winners and then endorsements . So
sometimes as supervisors or leaders ,
we need to write endorsements for folks ,
right , if they're applying for a
course or um you know , some type of
training and so this bullet writing or
this ability to do that really helped
me to be able to write well what do I
write ? And so I sat down and thought
about it and then it made the
endorsement really strong which can
make or break someone's , you know ,
being considered for a course . And so
again , this skill set has been so , so ,
so useful to me and I am forever
grateful to my husband , Daniel Barber
for sharing that with me . Thank you
sir . Mhm . And so more examples here ,
another tip for uh just for reference ,
you can google Air Force cpr bullets um
and your career field so that you can
see examples . And so for me , I do ,
you know , Air Force CpR FM career
field and uh so I'm able to like look
and see not to copy paste , right ? We
don't want to do that , but it gives
you a really great idea of the bullets
and how they're crafted the sentence
structure . And so that way you can say ,
okay , yeah , this is what this can
look like or this is like why , what
can make it sound better ? So that's a
really good tip there and so again we
talked about what are the other ways of
resume appraisals and then as you're
doing your appraisal because you know
your resume you might not update all
the time but we're coming around on DP
map season right now . Get your
accomplishments from your DP map your
evaluation and look and pick which ones
you know sound the best , throw that in
your resume for your current job
because then that way you have like
current information and you're not
sitting there trying to think and
rethink and you're doing you know
you're doing your appraisal and you're
having to think about your
accomplishments there and then you're
doing your resume and you're trying to
know that what they can like feed into
each other and so that's a really great
that way that you can use them in both
um situations and then oh even um
senior executive application missed out ,
pointed this out . This is really
really helpful . So if you have you
know senior leader aspirations to be a
member either in the private sector and
federal sector like this is kind of an
important way thing to know how to
write and how you know when you're
applying for those positions and you're
writing your executive executive core
qualifications , you have to be able to
communicate what you did and your
accomplishments in a very direct and
concise way and learning how to do this
like that will enable you to do that .
So super exciting and so our
interview tips . So prepare , prepare ,
prepare So comment interview questions
you can google them just to like
prepare yourself for them . What's your
biggest strength ? What's your biggest
weakness ? Uh why are you the best
candidate ? That was one I didn't think
about it . I was like that is a good
question . So that way you're ready for
it right ? Um described some challenges
you've overcome you know share your
leadership philosophy . I think a lot
of us have been to leadership training
where we've had to you know have a
worksheet and we pick the things that
we um want that are important to us .
Right Well don't just toss that out .
You put the thought and work and effort
into it like that can build on your
leadership philosophy and you know I
include that on my resume . I have a
little section so that way hey my
hiring manager knows I put some thought
into this . That was an exercise I did
um at Fort Riley thank you Fort Riley
And so again we talked about research
the company organization you're
applying for ? You know have a couple
of questions to ask them at the end .
Right . You know the standard questions
are well when do you think you'll make
a decision or you know what are you
looking for in a candidate ? Those you
know we kind of expect But you could
ask you know what does success look
like in 90 days , you know into the
position and then that can , oh you put
some thought into it and then they'll
give you some information and then you
could take that opportunity to kind of
reiterate why you're the best candidate
like , oh funny , you should say that .
I'm really , I'm a quick learner and
here's an example of how quick I
learned what I like to do . I use a
voice memo app on my phone to record
myself answering different questions .
So like how do I sound confident am I
saying um or like too much which I do ?
I'm very , very guilty of that . And so
I like to practice over and over until
I become comfortable with the words and
some folks I've talked to said , well I
don't like to do that because then I'll
sound fake and so for me the goal , I
don't want to sound fake and I hope I
don't come across that way . It's just
the goal is to sound confident so that
I'm not thinking or doubting myself
about my words that it hopefully comes
out a little bit smoother and I'm a
visual person . So I like to write down ,
you know , the questions or how I would
answer and so that way , you know , I
have a visual memory of that as well .
And then even if the questions they ask
may not align exactly with um what
you've practiced , you can still weave
in the answers into um would they
actually ask you and then always power
pose before going to the interview . I
love me a wonder woman superman . I did
it in the bathroom one time install
because I didn't want anyone to see me .
But yeah , whatever it takes to get you
in that zone and that mindset to just
feel like you know I got this and let's
go . And so bottom line your
resume , you know , showcases your
capabilities and the impact that you've
had on the mission . Okay It is prime
real estate . Okay . Use your pages
wisely . What do you want them to know
and if it's not relevant and let's take
that out , make it results oriented
using that seek our method . We talked
about , what did you do ? How did you
do it ? What was the impact ? Right
what do you bring to the table ? That's
what that helps to show word usage .
You know the tone of the , of the
resume like take a leadership , more
active tone versus like more
administrative , more passive results
oriented resume example like that's
what's going to show the real impact on
your resume instead it apart . And so
one last thing . Alright so if you are
interested in exploring a different
resume format , you totally can but you
have to be careful and thoughtful as to
who is looking at it . Okay so here I
want to be very cautious because I do
work for the Air Force personnel center
right ? And I want to ensure that no
one runs back and says that HPC says I
should be doing my resume with all
these colors and things like no , no
that's not it . This is just hope
Barber presenting another option for
you if you'd like . Okay . And so you
see some examples on the left hand side
of a different approach to you know ,
arranging your resume , right ? Anyone
who knows hope Barber knows I am a
little bit extra and a lot to deal with .
Okay my husband can tell you , you know
from personal experience so my resume
there in the upper left is me that
represents me to A T and I'm happy and
I'm proud of that . Okay , some folks
are like no this is too much . I like
my more traditional format that is okay .
There is not one right way to do a
resume at the end of the day , you need
to be comfortable with it being a
representation of you , who you are and
what you bring to the table . And so
again these are just options if you'd
like to present it in a little bit of a
different way . Um so that way to help
make it stand out a little bit from the
crowd . Okay , now my secret , my
secret in in building these resumes as
I build them in power point . Okay
anyone who knows like ok , I know this
is virtual , but show hands there at
your computer if you have spent many ,
many hours building your resume word
and you got it to look so beautiful and
perfect and good . And then all of a
sudden the margins flip out . All of a
sudden the bullets aren't aligned ,
something looks weird and it's not
working . If I could raise my arms , my
feet , I would it is so frustrating
because this is something you spend so
much time on for it to like flip out
and so building it . And power point
gives you a little bit away more design
capability flexibility . You can , you
know , switch up the font not too much .
We don't want to , you know , make it
unbearable . I'm not , I'm a fan of
aerial maybe times new roman and
calibri . I stay away from the like
curvy things because I just can't read
them . Um but just , you know , a way
to make your your resume a little more
visually appealing but clean . And so
that way people can still find the
information . Okay . Uh pay attention
to the spacing alignment , no matter
what resume format you're using , it
should be like clean and it should be
tight . You can use the different
features and power point to enter in
like any headers or anything if you
choose to . You can totally do that and
then once you're done , you save it as
a pdf and then no one knows it looks
different than a word document but they
don't really know how you did it . And
so that is really cool . And then you
upload , if you're applying via usa
jobs you just upload your pdf to the
announcement of the application and
you're done okay . The best time to
work on your resume is when you are not
looking for a job , okay ? Why ?
Because let's just say for example your
dream job appears , you just happen to
look on usa jobs and you see your dream
job and it closes tomorrow at midnight
and you have to work today and tomorrow .
So if I need to and I haven't touched
my resume in two years I need to apply
for this . So what's happening now ?
There's a time crunch now you're gonna
be rushing , you're going to be
stressed out and you're probably gonna
miss something or make a mistake ,
right ? So the best time to work your
resume and to just like really start to ,
to craft it and make it shine is when
you're not looking because you're not
rushed you have time to work the
bullets to you know look at the layout ,
how do I want to arrange the data and
so then when the time comes then you're
ready and all you're doing is just
tweaking it for whatever that job
announcement is okay . And so these see
the seed card statements and you know
the impact statements , we talked about
that is what's going to help your
resume shine regardless of the format .
Whether you use , you know , something
more modern , whether you use more more
traditional one , the content and the
words and how you use that real estate
like that is really what's going to set
you apart . And so my final thoughts
here is so everyone here in the room ,
I think we're civilians or active duty
and are kind of familiar with like kind
of the different career opportunities
that are out here in the Air force and
the army , like in the D . O . D . O .
K . There's a lot of folks out there
who don't know that there's a lot of
people out there who think working for
the army , working for the Air Force or
navy marine means you have to put that
uniform on and go to work every day and
deploy and , and and do that . And yes
that is , you know , one career option .
But a lot of folks don't know that
they're , you know , there are civilian
career opportunities with each branch
as well . And so you know , we found
that if you don't grow up around it ,
you may not be aware . And so I just
challenge everyone out here , not only
you know , hey , let's apply what we
learn and make your resume really shine ,
but then pay it forward and share it
with people too . So that way they have
career success as well . Then also
spread the news and share these uh
information with folks who may not be
aware our Air force civilian services
side is there , I got it right . Air
force civilian careers dot com . We
offer full time paid internships for
college students and recent grads . And
so that could be um fantastic
opportunity for our male spouses and
family members to like establish and
grow their air force or army careers as
a PCS with their active duty member .
If we could grab onto that military
spouse at the beginning of that , the
active duty members , 20 year career ,
We can have a 20 year employee like
that would be fantastic . But I think
we need to do a better job of educating
them and letting them know that these
opportunities are out there . If you
are interested in non intern like full
time positions , we need to go check
out usa jobs we also mentioned um
there's a job board on Air force
civilian careers there and on linkedin
Air Force ROTC , that's something I've
been learning a lot about lately and uh
and so that's one option that folks can ,
can pursue and there's so much
scholarship money out there for that .
And so there's information out there
and are enlisted scholarship , just
like educating ourselves to better
educate others and share those
opportunities with them . And then we
also have like a stem related
scholarship , the smart scholarship
listed there and just know that
education and outreach about what we do
and you know , kind of spreading the
good news . It can happen anywhere . It
can be going to your kid's school on
career day or if you don't have kids
just to local school or university at
work . We realized , uh , there were
some active duty members that didn't
realize that we offer full time paid
internships . Yes , absolutely . Yes .
We do . Now tell everyone please , you
can share the news with your neighbors
and the community . Um , and so yeah ,
there's just so much opportunity out
there to just let people know and then
by doing that we're able to kind of
create that , you know , more diverse
candidate pools and get the word out
there and not just demographically
diverse , but that diversity of thought
diversity and experience diversity and
background because when you bring all
those , you know , different folks
together . I think we're just stronger
overall as an Air Force Army D . O . D .
So that is all I have . I
have a few minutes for questions and so
if the team can help me , um , kind of
maybe pick some questions in the chat .
I don't know if there's any or if
there's a lot or how you'd like to
proceed . Thank you .
Can I ask a question ? Absolutely .
Hello . My name is Sherry to smith
from wright patterson Air force base
and you have mentioned about the
bullets and how important they are .
Do you have a bullet riding course
coming up .
I
don't specifically , ma'am , but I we
can look and see I know that those
courses are sometimes held like maybe
locally or I can chat with the um my
chief and see if that's something that
might be beneficial . But I do know
that they hold those um a lot at the
local level and so we can definitely
look into that and get you a question
or get you an answer . I'm so sorry .
And what was your name ? One more time ,
ma'am ? Carina
Smyth . Mhm .
Great presentation . Thank you .
Hope while you're writing , I'll go
ahead and we have a lot of questions
that have come up . So somebody
asked where they should list clearances .
So should they list that in the header
information or somewhere else ? Um And
I'll answer . And this is , you know me
my preference . I think I'm pretty good
at this . So please um I list mine
under , right under my contact info .
So I have my , you know , uh name ,
address , phone , number , email . And
then I just put clearance two dots and
then secret . And so that way it's like
right there and they can see that right
away . Okay , great . Thank you . The
next question it says our reference is
always required in addition to
supervisor information for each job .
So , me personally , I like to include
the supervised information for every
job with 2 to 3 references because it's
kind of like , you know , you can call
any of these people and they're gonna
tell you how great I am . Right . But
if you're not comfortable doing that .
Um That's okay . Um If you maybe have
your supervisor name listed . Um
and if you don't want to list like a
contact information or if you do and
you put no and then list your reference .
I have seen you know where people will
say references upon request or just
don't include them in the resume . Um I
think it's kind of a personal choice
Just me . I like to include as much as
I can . So that way they have that
there and they're not coming back later .
If they want references then they're
going to have to come back and ask you
for them . And so if you include 2-3 on
the resume , then they have that
information already over . Great .
Thank you . All right . Your next
question . Where on the resume would
you recommend that a candidate put the
gap in work history explanation ?
So for me , for example , I had a gap
in work history when we were at
Ramstein and I stayed home for a few
years to take care of my Children And I
didn't work but I did volunteer as a
key spouse that my husband's squadron .
And so what I did on my resume is I
entered that as a like job and put you
know key spouse , volunteer 20 hours
whatever . And then listed my
information there . Um if that
doesn't work for your situation , I
would maybe consider like if you're
doing a summary at the top where you
have a career summary and then maybe
like a note or like at the bottom like
kind of like the explanation or
whatever additional information that
you'd want to provide . Okay . Okay .
Thanks teddy . Aon I see your hand up .
Do you want to come off microphone and
ask your question ?
I'm sorry ma'am . There was no question .
I was just trying to raise my hand at
that time in the in the class . It was
in response to one of her questions .
Okay . Alright . Alright . So we have
another question that's asking about
what if your supervisors have moved on
or retired or no longer reachable or
if the company you were employed by no
longer exists .
So if they are not reachable . So I
have one like that on my resume where I
listed the supervisor names and phone
numbers of all the ones I had and then
I had one that I just wasn't in contact
with . And so I put his name there but
I didn't put a phone number anything
and then just left it that way and if
they had questions I could address it
during the interview . And then um what
was the second part of the question I'm
sorry ma'am or if the company no longer
exists due to Covid you know the covid
with companies closing , what if you've
lost contact the company's closed and
you've lost contact with anybody that
works there and so I would just put the
company name and then uh you know like
a normal um experience entry there and
then um I would maybe like if you can
put a little sentence like under the
top like um
no longer in operation or or no , you
know , I'm trying to think , hold on ,
let me think through this . So I would
list the job and experience like a
normal entry . Okay . And then the
supervisor's name and then just no
phone number anything . And then um you
can put again if you if you'd like to
just leave it that way and then during
the interview can address that they're
no longer in business or um put a
little note like in within that header ,
just no longer in operations or
something . So that way they kind of
know what's going on there . Thank you
over . Okay . Great . Alright , so
there was some discussion over in the
chat about , do you put the year of
graduation , no matter how many years
ago it was , some people were
saying yes , some were saying not if
it's really old and so um
for the degree and that's what I'm
thinking is like your your college
degree um typically you know would put
that on there so that way they kind of
know that you know when you have your
gotten your degree um if you're not
comfortable putting that information on
there because I understand if it was ,
you know maybe further away that can
maybe provide an indicator as to your
age and then maybe that's not something
that you want to do or you're
comfortable with . Um I think at the
end of the day , you know , as long as
you identify that hey I went to the
school and I , you know , achieve my
Bachelor's degree and if you're
comfortable entering the graduation
date , please do so if you're not to
leave it off again , you know the
resume should be a reflection of you
and you need to be comfortable with it .
And if that's not something , I mean
they may request your transcripts and
so that would indicate the graduation
date . But um I would say just you know
feel do what you feel is comfortable
for you over . Okay great . Thank you .
So I'm not sure if you're able to
answer this question but I'll go ahead
and ask it , is there a recourse for
when usa jobs doesn't work properly or
gives you the blue spinning wheel
and you can't upload your documents .
Um Well and I think that might
be helped if you're able to apply ,
you know earlier on in the window . Um
And if you're having the difficulty
system issues then you can kind of
leave it and then come back if it's
like the day that you're that the job
is closing and you're having technical
issues . Um , I don't know if
like , hey , they'll allow you to um
submit your documents or anything after
the timeline , like that's out of my
lane . Um , but I think there's a , you
know , help desk or something that you
might be able to call to show that you
are having difficulty . Um , if any
mistakes or anyone is on the line that
could speak a little bit better to that ,
I'm just , that's not anywhere that I
have experienced and unfortunately over .
Okay , thank you . I see , uh audience
member with her hand up , I'm not sure
how to pronounce your name . Is it a
mean mom , nanna Montana ?
Yeah . Hey , good afternoon . Um , hope
thank you so much for the presentation .
It's amazing . Um , I do have a
question . So you talked a lot about
bullets , but a lot of federal resumes
that I've seen are in a narrative
format . So when you use narrative and
when do you use bullets ? And so that
is a fantastic question . Thank you for
asking . And so , um , I , I think me
personally , I like , I am a bullet fan
and then again , like we talked about ,
I don't think there's any one right way
to prepare a resume . A lot of it is
kind of personal preference . And so I
like the bullet format . Now there
could be certain career fields or
agencies that may require or prefer to
see a resume in the narrative format
and so I would just encourage you like
to kind of , I don't know if you're
able to scope out or get a feel for ,
you know , that particular organization
and connect with someone there to say ,
hey , how do you ? Because one thing
I've noticed is like the logistics
career field , how their , how their
resumes are built are different than
what I would normally do . Um but if
that's specific to them , I don't want
to steer folks wrong . Um , but again ,
it's very uh , it's very much a
personal preference . I remember
sitting in a meeting and someone asked
that question and one said , oh yeah ,
I hate reading those , you know , go
stick with the bullets . And then there
was another senior leaders , like I
love the narrative because it tells me
if they can write or not and I was like ,
what's the answer ? So if you're able
to kind of get a feel for and reach out
to that organization to , you know ,
understand what the , maybe the
standard is there , I think that can
help and having resumes in different
formats , you know , bullet and
narrative can help you be prepared like
depending on what they might want to
see and then you're ready to go with
either over thank you . Great thanks .
And by the way , C . J from the CSS
office talks extremely highly of you ,
Oh I'm a fan of hers as well . Thank
you . All
right , well thank you so much , thank
you to the attendees for asking all
those great questions . If your
question didn't get answered , you can
reach out to hope and she'll probably
be able to help you out with some of
those answers . So Mrs Barbara , thank
you so much for agreeing to speak with
us today and for taking all these great
questions . I think your your
presentation is going to help a lot of
people . So for the audience were
posting our workflow email over in the
chat and our website link . So the this
events recorded and we will post it on
our website for your review . So give
us a little time to get it up . It will
probably be up next week and available
to you . So , thank you so much
everybody for your time and your
participation . We look forward to
seeing you at our next event in May .
See you later . Mhm