Beginning Monday, September 29th, USAJOBS will only accept two-page Federal resumes, whether you upload your own resume or use USAJOB’s Resume Builder. Anything longer that two pages won’t upload or save in the builder.
Agencies will close all Job Opportunity Announcements (JOAs) by Friday, September 26. Over the weekend (September 27 and 28), USAJOBS will enforce the new limit and clear searchable resumes from the Agency Talent Portal (ATP).
You should sign in to USAJOBS, download any resumes or documents you want to keep, and plan to upload a compliant two-page resume when JOAs reopen on September 29.
For the new 2-page format, you should aim for tight, targeted, and scannable because you must prove you meet a specific job announcement’s Qualifications and Specialized Experience.
Per USAJOBS guidelines, you need to also include the Federal resume essentials:
- Contact info at the top: name, email, phone.
- For each role: employer, title, month/year dates, hours per week, and (if a Federal job) series/grade.
- Education and required licenses/certifications with school, degree, and completion date.
- Relevant volunteer work can be included if it demonstrates the required competencies.
- Remember to never include classified/sensitive info, SSN, photos, or personal demographics.
USAJOBS recommends that you write results, not duties. Use a clear formula that ties to the announcement:
Accomplished [X], measured by [Y], by doing [Z].
Tailor your resume to mirror the terms in the posting. If it lists MS Project or Microsoft Office Suite for example, use those exact words in your bullets.
Format for speed using a sans-serif font; 10-pt body, ~14-pt headings; 0.5″ margins.
Save as PDF, with a file size of less than 5 MB. (USAJOBS also accepts DOC/DOCX, RTF, TXT, ODT, GIF/JPG/PNG; no PDF portfolios).
To find out more:
https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit
For help with the new format, check out our resume writing service at:
https://defenseprofiles.com/federal-format-resume/