Your steps to apply

Operations Research Analyst
Missile Defense Agency · Fort Belvoir, Virginia 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, Veterans, Military spouses.

You must be a U.S. citizen, national, or someone who owes allegiance to the U.S. Military spouses and veterans can apply under special hiring authorities, and veterans' preference applies if you claim it on your resume.

Experience: You need one year of specialized experience at the NH-03 or GS-13 level. This means past work like writing cost estimates, building cost tools, collecting data, doing cost research with regression, or presenting cost results. You must show at least 3 of the 5 listed areas.

Education: A degree in operations research, or at least 24 semester hours in operations research, math, probability, statistics, logic, science, or other courses that need college-level math or statistics. At least 3 of the 24 hours must be calculus. Education cannot replace experience at this grade.

Licenses and certifications:

DAWIA Back to Basics certification in Business, Cost Estimating, Advanced, within 48 months of starting

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 2 pages or less, in PDF, showing hours per week, dates, and duties Transcripts showing your name, school, degree date, and classes with credits Most recent SF-50 if you are or were a federal employee Proof of eligibility for any veterans' preference or military spouse claim, per the linked guide

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: Your application is first checked for the minimum qualifications, then your work experience is reviewed. Traditional rating and ranking does not apply, and you may be interviewed. A missing transcript or an incomplete application can make you ineligible.

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 (Secret), then the final offer with your start date.

Tips for this job:

Your resume must be 2 pages or less, in PDF, with at least 0.5 inch margins and 10-point font.
Include transcripts with your application, because missing transcripts means you are rated ineligible.
Show at least 3 of the 5 specialized experience areas in your resume, with dates and hours per week.

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