How to build a resume

To build a resume in USAJOBS:

1. Sign into USAJOBS.
2. Go to your Documents.
3. Make sure you're in the Resumes section and select the Upload or build resume button.
4. Click Build resume.
5. Name your new resume and click Next.
6. Click Add Work Experience, enter the required information and click Save Work Experience. To add additional work experience repeat this step or click Next to continue with your education information.
7. Click Add Education, enter the required information and click Save Education. Repeat this step to add additional education or click Next to continue with your references. You may also click Finish if you don't want to add more information.
8. Click Add Reference, enter the required information and click Save Reference. Repeat this step to add an additional reference or click Next to continue to the next step.
9. You can enter additional information on your resume such as job related training, language skills, organizations/affiliations, professional publications, and other information. Click the corresponding button under each section to add your information, enter your information and click Add or Save for each section once completed.
10. Click Finish to save your resume. Your new resume will appear in your Documents list.
11. Click View on the resume icon to preview your resume. To edit your resume click Edit on the resume icon and it will bring you to the first page of your resume in the resume builder tool.

Save your work periodically

For security reasons, your session will time out after a period of inactivity. We recommend you Save periodically so that you do not lose any work.

Updating your resume

In order to capture changes that you have made to your profile you will need to build a new resume. USAJOBS does not automatically update existing resumes. This allows you to easily keep a set of resumes to apply to different jobs and only apply changes when you desire.

Tips for formatting resumes in USAJOBS resume builder

You can copy and paste text from Word documents into the resume builder. However, some formatting in these documents may not work in the USAJOBS resume builder. To fix formatting errors inside your resume, you must first save the original file in a .txt format.

To copy and paste from Word:

1. Open up your Word document or other word processing tool.
2. Select the File tab at the top.
3. Go to the Save As option.
4. Choose to save it as a Plain Text (.txt) file.
5. Open the new file and ensure the text appears in an acceptable format.
6. Copy and paste your resume text into the resume builder.

To edit your USAJOBS resume-builder resume:

1. Click on your username at the top of the page and select Documents from the menu.
2. Find the resume you want to edit and click "Edit" (located below the resume).
3. This will bring you to the first page of your resume.

Tips for submitting resumes to agencies

Some agencies accept uploaded resumes and resumes created using the USAJOBS resume builder, while some may only accept one or the other. Even though you may have both types of resumes in the Document section of your profile, the agency determines which ones to accept when you are applying online. The Apply button displayed on the job announcement page activates the process for a job seeker to complete an application.

USAJOBS automatically provides a list of available resumes and other documents to attach to your application, and will only display resumes and documents the hiring agency is willing to accept. For example, if the hiring agency only accepts resumes created using the USAJOBS resume builder, then your uploaded resumes will not be available to add to your application. Please pay special attention to the How to Apply section of the job announcement to find out which resume format and documents are accepted and how to submit them to the hiring agency.