Sometimes we proactively make decisions about our career path, trying to do what is best for us and our families.
And other times, national politics and higher-level actions serve as a forcing function, placing us at a crossroads we might not have anticipated.
For example, here in early 2025 many federal employees are taking a step back to scan the landscape and explore their options.
You may be among them. Will you stay in your current role as long as possible, and continue to carry out your respective mission to the best of your ability during these turbulent times? Will you leave government service and change course at this point in your career?
As you come to a decision about where to best leverage your passion and talent, it is important to understand some key differences in resume best practices.
Federal resumes are usually much longer, often at 4-5 pages, and include more details such as salary, supervisor names and numbers. However, in the private sector, resumes are much shorter, often just 1-2 pages.
It can be challenging to “translate” specialized government experience into language that corporate hiring panels can understand and appreciate.
To assist you, here are five proven best practices for writing a concise and impactful private sector resume:
1. Keep it current and short. Limit the resume to two pages, unless you feel a third page is essential for showcasing some kind of relevant experience, such as lists of speaking engagements, certifications, publications, training, tools, or technological systems. Don’t spend too much real estate on experience older than 10-15 years.
2. Make it reader friendly. Keep paragraphs within 6-8 lines, and accomplishment bullets within 2-3 lines. Double and triple check spelling, grammar, consistent font style/size, and other formatting.
3. Tailor your resume for each job. Read the job advertisements closely, and then think of the position descriptions as a series of questions, asking yourself “Have I done this in my career? Have I done something similar that gives me the aptitude to learn this quickly?” Make note of any areas where you have relevant or similar experience, and then do your best to integrate it into your resume, avoiding acronyms or overly technical/specialized language that might confuse reviewers.
4. Be specific. Don’t just paste in boring position descriptions that could apply to anyone in your role. For each job, it’s best to start with a brief paragraph summarizing your primary duties and scope of responsibility, such as number of people you led, how much money/resources you managed, across how large of a region you supported customers, and other business and operational details.
5. Focus on accomplishments. Perhaps most importantly, for each job, provide a list of 3-5 bulleted accomplishments. These are some of your “greatest hits,” which set you apart and show them what you’re capable of. An accomplishment could be almost anything, such as a project you led or helped complete, an improvement you made in the workplace, evidence of doing your job effectively such as a perfect
safety record, or going above and beyond by creating new services or saving resources. Whatever accomplishments you share, be sure to clearly state your specific actions, along with quantified, before/after results and impacts whenever possible.