If you’re a fed aiming to advance, here are your main options: *Get a grade increase. If your job has promotion potential, you are eligible for a grade increase on the first anniversary of starting federal service or on the first anniversary of your most recent grade increase. When you receive a grade increase under the GS system, you should receive a pay increase equal to two steps above your current grade and step. If your job doesn’t have promotion potential, your boss may give you a grade increase through an “accretion of duties” that must be approved by your…

Some job seekers see a federal job application and fear they’ll be hit by the full force of the government’s punitive power — including armed marshals and IRS audits — if their application provides anything less than a full confession of all of their professional deficiencies and liabilities. But remember: As long as your answers to application questions are honest, you are within your rights and well advised to keep your faults to yourself and to evaluate your credentials liberally and leniently. As I wrote in my March 30 column, your application will likely first have to impress a computer.…

When you apply for your next federal job, your application will likely first have to impress a computer. Before a human resources professional or selecting official decides whether to call you in for an interview, a computer scores your responses to short-answer questions to determine whether you have, in government lingo, “made the cert.” Your answers to these questions — which will be formatted as true-false, check-the-boxes and tiered-response answers — may make or break your application. Here’s why: Each potential response has a certain point value; the more types of experience and the more advanced experience each answer represents,…

How not to respond when professional or social contacts ask you about your job: “I am a press secretary. I write news releases and develop media strategies. I am looking for a new job because my boss is a pain in the neck.” To be ready when asked about your career and your career goals, you need what I call an elevator speech — an energetic summary of your achievements, a description of your target job if you are job hunting and any relevant credentials. Most important, your speech needs to be concise — short enough to deliver during an elevator…

In recruitment, the principle “garbage in, garbage out” applies. That is, if you carelessly churn out vacancy announcements that are poorly written and do not reflect the true demands of your office’s openings, your selection process is unlikely to be efficient or produce a successful hire. By contrast, if you carefully craft a reader-friendly vacancy announcement that accurately and comprehensively conveys the demands of the opening, the selection process is likely to be easier and more successful. This principle is demonstrated by two efforts that were used to recruit a manager of a federal communications department who would supervise more than…

President Barack Obama rapidly filled many Cabinet-level political positions. Still, thousands of influential but less prominent political positions remain to be filled in the coming months and years. These positions cover many specialties and career levels, with annual salaries ranging from about $30,000 to under $200,000. Some tips if you are considering applying for a political appointment: *If you are a career civil servant, consider whether you are willing to sacrifice your unparalleled job security for the prestige, power and networking advantages — as well as the pressures and long working hours — of a political position. On average, a political…

During a recent presentation I gave on career advancement strategies, I emphasized the importance of explaining to networking contacts, mentors and advisers what you would like them to do for you. My rationale: You probably won’t get what you don’t ask for. An attendee, who described himself as shy and uncomfortable asking others for help, asked: “How can I lose my networking inhibitions?” I explained that most professionals — no matter how successful — would probably enjoy advising him because: *Mentoring invariably provides opportunities for mentors to talk about their favorite topic — themselves. *Most professionals feel virtuous helping other…

As the presidential transition and retirement wave sweep over agencies during the coming months and years, the resulting work-force turnover may create opportunities for you to move up the career ladder. Some ways to generate networking contacts who may help you seize such opportunities: *Cold-call agencies that are hiring. Likely agencies are those that are new, being reorganized, being affected by new laws or receiving big budget boosts. Regularly read Federal Times, The Washington Post’s online Fed Page and trade publications to keep up with these changes. Identify target managers to contact by checking the agency’s online organizational charts and…

Your motto should be: Network now and forever. With the help of others, you will achieve more goals in less time than you would alone. These goals may include: *Landing new jobs. The change in administrations and the ongoing retirement wave will generate unprecedented work-force churn, turnover and hiring for years to come. Position yourself to exploit resulting opportunities by meeting and impressing key contacts who may create jobs for you, tell you about openings you would not otherwise learn about, provide references or push your application to the top of the pile. *Accessing key resources and people. Many potentially pivotal people who…

On Nov. 5, I began to suspect that the planets had indeed aligned to make federal jobs hot, hot properties. After all, varied factors converged to boost the appeal of federal careers — including post-election excitement, a 14-year high in nationwide unemployment rates, an ongoing federal hiring wave generated by retiring baby boomers, and post-Sept. 11 enthusiasm for public service. When President-elect Barack Obama declared his intent to make it “cool” again to work for government, I thought I heard the planets snap into a straight line. If, during these historic days, you would like to rev up your federal…