Things You'll Need:
- A computer with Internet connection
- A professional resume
-
Step 1
Create a professional resume. Since you are likely a student without a lot of relevant experience, your best bet is to create a functional resume. This is a resume that focuses on your educational background and your skills rather than your past job experience. You would lead your resume with your skills, then with your educational background, then follow it with any experience you may have.
-
Step 2
Create a profile and upload your resume to the student and internship hub of the U.S. government job website (USA Jobs), Student Jobs.
-
Step 3
Once you have posted your resume, you can search through job postings by clicking on "Search Jobs" on the home page of the website. You can use the various search functions to narrow or broaden your search based on organization, location, and job title and type (also called "Occupational Series"). Many of these positions are also called cooperative education positions and student career experience program (SCEP) positions
-
Step 4
Once you find a job you would like to apply for, follow the job application instructions exactly. Just as with the government jobs website, you will want to plug keywords and phrases from the job description into your resume. Because many of the resumes are first screened by special software to narrow candidates, appropriate keywords and phrases will help your resume to be forwarded onto a human resources specialist.
-
Step 5
Another great way to get a paid government position is to network. Find an agency you want to work for and go in and introduce yourself or call and ask for an informational interview with a human resources professional. They can give you information on how to successfully apply for and secure a government internship or government student position.
