Your steps to apply

IT Spec (INFOSEC)
Patent and Trademark Office · Alexandria, Virginia · Closes in 10 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.

Only U.S. citizens and nationals can apply. The job is open to the public.

Experience: You need one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience at the GS-13 level. Specialized experience means work that gave you the skills to do this job, such as leading IT system development with Agile or DevSecOps methods, leading IT system operations and security, or building web applications and APIs.

Education: Education may not be substituted for specialized experience at this grade level.

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 two pages maximum, showing month/year dates and hours worked for each job Two to three professional or academic references, one of them your current supervisor DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference Most recent non-award SF-50 if you are a current or former federal employee Proof of accredited degrees or coursework if you use education to qualify

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes in 10 days (November 13, 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: Your resume, questionnaire answers, and USA Hire assessments are rated. You must meet or exceed a cut score on 14 competencies, such as teamwork, attention to detail, and reasoning, or you will not be considered. Overstating your experience or cheating on an assessment may get you removed.

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:

Your resume must be two pages or less and list month/year dates and hours worked for each job.
Make sure your resume supports every experience claim in your cover letter and questionnaire answers.
Set aside at least 2 hours for the USA Hire assessments and complete them on time.

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