Your steps to apply

Consumer Safety Inspector
Food Safety and Inspection Service · Lake Charles, Louisiana and 1 more · Closes in 2 days

1 Check you can apply
2 Resume and documents
3 Apply on USAJOBS
4 After you apply

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1 Check you can apply You are here

Who can apply: The public, Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL).

Open to the public. You must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national, or owe allegiance to the United States.

Experience: For GS-5, you need at least 52 weeks of work with regulated food such as meat, poultry, fish, or eggs, such as food inspector or quality inspection work. Higher grades (GS-7, GS-8, GS-9) need more experience, including independent routine work and work under federal meat, poultry, and egg laws.

Education: For GS-5, a full 4-year bachelor's degree with a major in or at least 24 semester hours in agricultural, biological, or physical sciences, food technology, epidemiology, home economics, pharmacy, engineering, or nutrition. You can also combine education and experience. Graduate study directly related to the job can qualify you for GS-7 or GS-9.

Experience can be paid or unpaid, volunteer work included: if it matches the duties, it counts. The full rules are in the announcement.

2 Resume and documents

Write a federal resume for this job. For each job you held, give the month and year you started and ended, your hours per week and what you did, using the words of the experience the announcement asks for. Many announcements accept resumes of up to 2 pages: check this one.

Resume ready: dates, hours per week, duties Resume of up to 2 pages with personal information, education, and work experience Resume must show hours worked per week and dates of each job Unofficial college transcripts if you use education to qualify DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference Proof for 10-point veterans' preference, such as SF-15 with supporting papers Separation notice, SF-50, and recent performance rating if you apply under CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes in 2 days (November 5, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).

You sign in to USAJOBS with a Login.gov account, answer the questionnaire and upload your documents, then you submit. Answer the questionnaire honestly: your resume must show what you claim.

How they rate you: Applicants are rated in categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. Ratings are based on experience and competencies such as attention to detail, decision making, dependability, flexibility, interpersonal skills, resilience, and self management. Your resume must support your questionnaire answers, and inflated claims can lower your rating.

Apply on USAJOBS ↗

4 After you apply

In USAJOBS, under Applications, you can see where your application stands: received, reviewed, referred to the hiring manager or not, then selected or not. It can take a few weeks.

For the interview, prepare three examples with the STAR method: the Situation, the Task, what you did (Action) and the Result.

If they choose you: a tentative offer, then a background check, a security clearance (Other), then the final offer with your start date.

Tips for this job:

Keep your resume to 2 pages or less and include hours per week and exact dates for each job, or it may be removed.
Describe GS-5 experience clearly: sampling, field tests, written reports, and talks with plant contacts.
Upload unofficial transcripts if you use education, and upload DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference.

Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.