On May 29th, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a new memo that dramatically changes the SES application process.
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The Senior Executive Service (SES) consists of the executive managers in the federal government that oversee broad programs through managerial, supervisory and policy roles. The level of responsibility these positions entail means candidates for an SES position undergo a rigorous application process with stringent requirements.
Historically, the standard private-sector resume format has been two pages detailing the past decade of your work experience, education and skills. As of summer 2025, the federal government and SES is now adopting the “less is more” mentality with two-page resumes.
Federal agencies require applicants to follow the posted guidelines on their resume format and documentation. Creative license is not rewarded and will hurt an applicant’s chances. Closely reading the description to align your resume with requirements, and closely following all other application instructions will demonstrate the attention to detail SES positions call for.
Before beginning your SES application, one essential step is to read the position announcement closely. Make a note of the resume requirements specific to that agency and job posting and write down questions if you have any. Never assume you know what to include, as requirements can differ even between jobs at the same agency.
The second step involves reviewing the duties and qualifications. Assess your own skills, experiences and education to determine if your qualifications match the position. Reflect on whether and how you can demonstrate competency in these areas through your previous work experience and achievements. If you cannot easily relate your recent experience to the requirements, the position might not be a great fit.
Once you’ve closely studied the announcement and determined your competency, your next step is to compile the information from your last ten years of employment. While you may already have an updated resume, continue to brainstorm and gather everything you can that speaks to your accomplishments and competencies.
A lack of key achievements often weakens Senior Executive Service resumes. Duties are your job functions, and they can probably apply to anyone holding the same job title. They only describe at a basic level what your role was, but not how you executed it, per se. While it is certainly appropriate to include your duties in the resume, you need to focus equally on your personal achievements for each position.
Key achievements are the most impactful things you did in each role, such as milestones you reached and specific role-related successes. Maybe you surpassed the quarterly goals or brought in new ideas that transformed the organization. Often, people shy away from highlighting their achievements because they fear coming across as conceited or too bold. For SES resumes, in particular, you must highlight these types of achievements, and connect them to the mission of the hiring agency as much as possible.
Many people find targeting their achievements to the job posting one of the most challenging parts of compiling a Senior Executive Service resume. You need to describe your position and responsibilities while also showing why this experience makes you a good fit for the role. The CCAR model offers an excellent way to present this information.
The best way to balance your functions and accomplishments is by using the Challenge-Context-Action-Result format. You may have already used this format for writing TQ narratives, and it is also very effective when writing bullets or sentences for your Senior Executive Service resume. Using CCAR helps tell hiring managers clear “professional stories” that demonstrate your top accomplishments in your various positions.
Using the CCAR format on your resume will be slightly different than how you use it in a TQ essay. Let’s break down how to translate CCARs to your SES resume:
Challenge/Context: As the first element of CCAR, this portion sets up the who, what, where, why and how of the situation, and briefly describes the challenge you faced. For example, maybe the company you worked for underwent a restructuring or a project lost funding.
Actions: This important section allows you to showcase the specific steps, plans, decisions, and coordination you undertook. Structure the actions with especially strong action verbs to demonstrate your accomplishments.
Results: The results section asks you to demonstrate the wider implications of your accomplishments. If, for example, you confronted the challenge of losing funding by applying and receiving a competitive grant, explain how long it took to receive the grant, how much the grant was for, how much of an increase this represented from the past, and what the funds allowed you or your team to accomplish, both short and long term. Think of the results section as the bigger picture in your resume, allowing you to show readers how, in that role, your actions positively impacted your organization.
Many people struggle with measuring and recording their achievements. Maybe they’re too humble and more focused on the team than on themselves. Maybe they’re just too busy and don’t want to take the time to develop an accomplishment-based resume. Whatever the case, many SES applicants simply use basic job descriptions on their resumes, not realizing this may actually hurt their chances of landing the job.
Anyone can look up a basic position description and paste it into a resume, but this is not an effective approach — you can do better. If you’re the type of employee who goes above and beyond, don’t just tell your potential employers — show them through a thorough analysis of your accomplishments. Doing so can make your resume stand out and demonstrate the unique qualifications you bring to the table. Using the CCAR format is a tried-and-true way to help you craft position descriptions that target the key skills you want to highlight.
A few more tips to enhance your resume include:
We’ve all seen those over-the-top resumes in which the applicant claims to be the “best in the universe.” Don’t be that person, but don’t be overly humble, either. An SES resume calls for bold — and true — claims about your visionary, results-driven and relevant accomplishments, but you don’t want to go too far. Like most things in life, it’s all about balance.
Sometimes an initiative is ongoing, or you may have improved the overall morale of a dysfunctional team through open communications and team building, and it’s more challenging to provide numeric proof. Still, whenever possible, use dollar amounts, figures and percentages. For example, you might write, “Planned, managed and justified a $4 million annual budget while supervising a multifunctional staff of 24 personnel.” Or, “Found inefficiencies in the acquisition process, collaborated with key stakeholders to revamp standard procedures and associated policies. As a result, streamlined a critical business process and saved the organization $600,000 annually.”
To ensure you cite current and relevant accomplishments, you may want to list every achievement from your last couple of rating cycles. Once you do that, you can pick and choose which ones to include in your resume. Hint — read the vacancy announcement closely and use the most relevant ones for the job you want.
Make it easy for your resume reviewer to see the value you bring by creating parallels between the major duties in the vacancy announcement and the things you’ve been doing in the last few years.
Too often, people overlook the challenges they’ve overcome in the workplace. Those accomplishments are great content for your SES resume. In unpredictable economic times, many of us have to perform our missions at work with limited resources, with budgetary or personnel constraints, and amid ongoing changes. When you can still thrive and create results amid the chaos, you set yourself apart as a strong leader who can overcome and adapt.
The best SES resumes perform well for a reason. They have certain key elements that help them stand out and show hiring managers your best features. Consider these five factors when reviewing and compiling your SES resume:
Need resume help for a DC-area SES job application? With more than 70,000 corporate, military and federal resumes and 5,000 SES applications under their belt, our writing team has the experience to make your resume stand out. We have a 99.6% customer satisfaction rating that speaks to our clients’ success using our services.
Our SES resume writing service starts with an assessment of your skill sets, such as your leadership strengths and talents. Then, our Master Senior Executive Writers work with you to compile narratives of your executive leadership experience using proven processes. We pay close attention to both federal and SES resume requirements so you can be sure it is in total compliance.
We know what HR is looking for, and we’re prepared to develop professional and artfully crafted SES resumes that highlight your unique leadership experience, skills and accomplishments.
If you’re looking for trustworthy and professional federal and executive resume writing services, we can help. We have almost four successful decades in the business, and our award-winning, industry-leading resume writers specialize in corporate, federal and military resumes.
Contact us for a free consultation if you want to know more about our SES resume services or if you feel ready to start on your high-quality federal job resume.
