Your steps to apply
Mechanical Engineer
Naval Sea Systems Command · Newport News, Virginia · Closes in 6 days
Sign in to save your progress. Free, with just your email. You can read all the steps without an account.
1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public.
Open to the public, but only U.S. citizens, nationals, or those who owe allegiance to the U.S. can apply. The agency clarified that applicants must be U.S. Citizens.
Experience: You need at least 1 year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service, or equivalent experience in the private or public sector. Specialized experience means expert knowledge of aircraft carrier or submarine propulsion and auxiliary systems, and reviewing contractor designs for compliance with contract specifications.
Education: A professional engineering degree from a qualifying program, such as an ABET-accredited engineering bachelor's degree, or a degree with enough advanced math and engineering science courses. Other options include current Engineer Intern (EI) or Engineer in Training (EIT) registration, a Professional Engineer (PE) license, passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, at least 60 semester hours of science and engineering courses, or a bachelor's degree in a related science field plus at least 1 year of professional engineering experience.
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.
3 Apply on USAJOBS
Closes in 6 days (November 9, 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: Human Resources reviews your resume against the minimum qualifications and rates you on the information in your resume and supporting documents. Missing, illegible, or incomplete information can lead to an ineligible rating, and claims that appear inflated can lead to a finding of not qualified. Qualified applicants are referred to the hiring manager, who may interview them.
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 (Secret), then the final offer with your start date.
Tips for this job:
- Submit your resume through the recsolu link in How to Apply, since faxed applications are not considered.
- Keep your resume under 2 pages and show dates (month/year), hours per week, and grade for each federal job.
- If you use education to qualify, include transcripts or a course list with completion dates and credit hours.
Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.