Huntsville Real Estate

by Tesia Williams
Public and Congressional Affairs

I was sitting in a conference two weeks ago with a co-worker discussing BRAC (which seems to be the topic of choice these days) and our careers—neither one of us wants to move to Huntsville. We’ve made it our mission to scan www.usajobs.gov each morning to view public affairs vacancies in our commuting area. Time is ticking and headquarters AMC is going to move if we like it or not.

I know searching the USAJOBS site isn’t our only option. Employees are generally eligible for the Priority Placement Program as well as many other outplacement assistance programs. And of course, optional retirement is available for qualified employees. However, networking with professionals in other agencies and searching websites for vacancies seemed to provide me the most control over my career.

Scrolling the vacancy announcements is easy. The hard part is preparing my resume so it will make it through the electronic screener and on to a hiring official. I know, the computer picks up key words, and these key words are supposed to be scattered throughout my resume describing my knowledge, skills and abilities. Been there. Done that. Applied for five positions in three months. And…. Nothing.

Now, I will say I didn’t sit down with anyone in the AMC civilian personnel office to get helpful hints, nor did I go to the brown bags offered on resume writing for government jobs. The tools and resources are being offered and I didn’t take advantage of any of them. I did, however, do a little research and came across a few sites that were helpful in preparing my resume and knowledge, skills and abilities (better known as KSAs). There are tons of sites out there, but I found the following most useful:
http://www.federaldaily.com/jobs/keywords.htm
http://www.doleta.gov/jobs/Federal_Application_Process/Knowledge_Skills_Abilities/

I’m sure I’m not stating anything new to those who have been around for years—maybe this blog is just a reminder of what it’s like to go through what seems to be a never-ending process. Nevertheless, my hope is to get a dialogue going about helpful hints, tools, resources, people—whatever is available that will assist us folks that have made a conscious decision to not relocate and be in control of our own destiny. Meeting after work to discuss our success, strategies and pain may not be a feasible option; however, this blog is quick and easy—and you can share anonymously.

Approximately, 25 percent of the headquarters AMC workforce has indicated they will relocate to Huntsville, Alabama, according to two surveys administered by AMC G-1. So, there are still a number of employees who are undecided or definitely not relocating. It would be good to hear from those people…