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…

Here is a sample of tips to help you write a successful application essay and a sample of tips that have helped me and hundreds of my clients land new and better federal jobs, including jobs in the Senior Executive Service: *Don’t rely exclusively on http://usajobs.gov. Many openings are never posted on the government’s central jobs site. This is particularly true of openings in excepted service agencies — which are excluded from competitive civil service procedures, and have their own hiring systems and evaluation criteria for filling vacancies. Check the career sites of these agencies — which include FBI, Federal Reserve…