Your steps to apply

Protocol Specialist
San Antonio, Texas · Closes tomorrow

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.

The job is open to the public, but you must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or someone who owes allegiance to the United States. The position is also subject to the DoD Priority Placement Program, which means current eligible employees may get priority.

Experience: Your experience must match the GG-12 level, which the announcement says is equivalent to GS-12, and show the quality it describes. Examples include expert knowledge of protocol and military ceremonies, broad knowledge of the U.S. military services and the Department of Defense, and experience handling high-ranking visitors. Your resume must show hours worked per week and dates of employment for each job.

Education: If you use education to qualify, the school must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The announcement does not list a specific required degree.

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 no more than two pages, in font no smaller than 10 points Hours worked per week and month/year dates on your resume Your full name on your resume and all other documents Online Application Questionnaire SF-50 showing your most recent federal appointment, if you are or were a federal employee Transcripts if you qualify through education Documents proving veterans' preference eligibility, if you claim it Optional: recent performance appraisals and list of awards, if you are a current federal employee

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes tomorrow (November 4, 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 rated into Best Qualified, Fully Qualified, or Basically Qualified groups based on your resume, documents and questionnaire answers. Your questionnaire answers are compared with your documents, and if they do not match, you may be rated not qualified or insufficient information and removed from consideration.

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 (Sensitive Compartmented Information), then the final offer with your start date.

Tips for this job:

Your resume must show hours per week and month/year dates for each job, or it may be marked insufficient
Keep your resume to two pages or less, because longer resumes will be removed from consideration
Make sure your questionnaire answers match what your resume and documents say

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