FEMA Fact Sheet: Resume Writing Tips
September 2023 1
FEMA Resume Writing Tips
An effective federal resume is a critical part of your application package to a FEMA position.
This guide will help you to prepare your resume to highlight your talents, skills, and
examples of your past work accomplishments.
Getting Started
A federal resume typically requires more documented details than private-sector resumes. It’s a good idea to think
of your resume (application) as a “paper interview” that gives hiring managers a detailed vision of your talents, skills,
and concrete examples of your past work and accomplishments.
When applying to positions, each job opportunity announcement provides critical information regarding the position
being filled. Review the summary, duties, and qualifications section to determine if the position is a right fit for you.
As you begin to develop your resume, reflect on what experience you have and how it meets the requirements.
Resume Content
To ensure essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If
you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information:
1. Contact Information – Including your full name and up-to-date contact information.
2. Details of your work history, organized by experience, position, or FEMA deployment, including:
▪ Job title
▪ Name of employer
▪ Start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY).
▪ Hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience).
▪ Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you
held each grade level.
▪ Detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills.
Describing your Experience
▪ In your own words, use bullet points to document your relevant experience. Provide enough detail to show
how you meet the qualifications listed for the position. We can’t assume anything about your experience.
Give enough background/information to describe the complexity and scope of your work.
FEMA Fact Sheet: Resume Writing Tips
Learn more at fema.gov September 2023 2
▪ Provide organizational context to your role – did you work on your own? As a part of a team? As a supervisor?
Did you assist with functions? Did you manage supervisors?
▪ Go beyond listing your job responsibilities by using accomplishments to highlight the results of your work
experience. Use quantifiable (measurable) information whenever possible, such as numbers, percentages,
dollars, or other data points to illustrate success.
▪ Utilize the ‘STAR’ Method when writing your accomplishments.
Situation: define the problem or situation
Task: define your objective or task
Action: describe the steps you took to achieve your objective
Result: measure your effectiveness, impact, and results
▪ Relate your experience and accomplishments back to the requirements for the position you’re applying to.
Expand on your experience and accomplishments that clearly demonstrate how you have performed the
specialized experience requirements for the position.
▪ When considering how far back to go with your work history, go as far back as you need to make your
experience applicable.
Resume Writing Tips:
▪ Organize Information. Information within the summary/background section cannot be used as qualifying
experience, unless accompanied by dates of employment. Use bullet points to provide important work-
related details within your work experience for each position, so you receive the appropriate credit based on
the minimum experience requirements.
▪ Tailor your resume. Include information relevant to the specific position you are applying to. Education and
work experience that is indirectly related can be excluded if the resume begins to grow too long. Many
federal postings have resume page limits. Check the posting you’re applying to for any page-limit
restrictions.
▪ Start bullets with an action verb. Don’t use personal programs (I, my, me) to begin your descriptions. Instead
use accomplishment-oriented phrases that can set you apart from the competition.
▪ Use your own words. Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment
questionnaire from the announcement into your resume. Copied statements will not be considered a
demonstration of your qualifications for the position.
▪ Ensure correct grammar and no spelling errors. Your resume is your first impression – make it a good one!
▪ Be honest, not modest. Don’t make things up or inflate your accomplishments, level of responsibilities or
skills. Ensure that you are able to speak to all of the details on your resume, if asked during an interview.
▪ Don’t overshare. Do not include any photos, personally identifying information (PII), including birthday and
social security numbers, or personal information like marital status, age, health information, etc.
▪ Spell out Acronyms.
FEMA Fact Sheet: Resume Writing Tips
Learn more at fema.gov September 2023 3
Documenting Intermittent FEMA Experience
There are several ways of effectively communicating your intermittent experience as a FEMA Reservist. At a
minimum, you should include your deployment title, dates of deployment (from mm/dd/yy to mm/dd/yy), and the
duties you performed. Here are two examples:
Example 1:
This format is useful when your deployment duties vary based upon the deployment.
Experience
Deployment Title | FEMA | Dates of Deployment – MM/DD/YY – MM/DD/YY
▪ List Major Experience/Accomplishments. This is the information we will use to qualify you against the
requirements for the position.
Deployment Title | FEMA | Dates of Deployment – MM/DD/YY – MM/DD/YY
▪ List Major Experience/Accomplishments. This is the information we will use to qualify you against the
requirements for the position.
Example 2:
This format is useful when your deployment duties are the same/similar at every deployment.
Experience
Deployment Title | FEMA
Deployments in this title include:
DR- XXXX – Dates of Deployment - MM/DD/YY – MM/DD/YY
DR- XXXX – Dates of Deployment - MM/DD/YY – MM/DD/YY
DR- XXXX – Dates of Deployment - MM/DD/YY – MM/DD/YY
Experience at deployments include:
▪ List Major Experience/Accomplishments. This is the information we will use to qualify you against the
requirements for the position.
FEMA Fact Sheet: Resume Writing Tips
September 2023 4
Examples of action verbs that can be used in developing resumes:
Management
Skills
Communication
Skills
Research
Skills
Technical
Skills
Financial Skills
Creative
Skills
Clerical Skills
Others
Administered
Analyzed
Assigned
Attained
Consolidated
Coordinated
Developed
Directed
Evaluated
Executed
Improved
Increased
Organized
Oversaw
Planned
Produced
Recommended
Reviewed
Scheduled
Strengthened
Supervised
Addressed
Arranged
Authored
Collaborated
Corresponded
Developed
Drafted
Edited
Formulated
Influenced
Interpreted
Lectured
Moderated
Negotiated
Persuaded
Promoted
Publicized
Reconciled
Recruited
Spoke
Translated
Wrote
Clarified
Collected
Critiqued
Diagnosed
Evaluated
Examined
Identified
Inspected
Interpreted
Interviewed
Investigated
Organized
Reviewed
Summarized
Surveyed
Assembled
Built
Calculated
Computed
Designed
Devised
Engineered
Fabricated
Maintained
Operated
Overhauled
Programmed
Remodeled
Repaired
Solved
Upgraded
Administered
Allocated
Analyzed
Appraised
Audited
Balanced
Budgeted
Calculated
Computed
Developed
Forecasted
Managed
Marketed
Planned
Projected
Researched
Acted
Created
Customized
Designed
Developed
Directed
Established
Fashioned
Founded
Illustrated
Initiated
Instituted
Integrated
Introduced
Originated
Performed
Planned
Revitalized
Shaped
Approved
Arranged
Catalogued
Classified
Collected
Compiled
Executed
Generated
Implemented
Inspected
Monitored
Operated
Organized
Prepared
Processed
Purchased
Recorded
Screened
Specified
Tabulated
Validated
Achieved
Expanded
Improved
Pioneered
Reduced
Resolved
Restored
Transformed
Assessed
Assisted
Clarified
Coached
Counseled
Demonstrated
Diagnosed
Educated
Facilitated
Familiarized
Guided
Motivated
Represented