Qualifications

Describes the experience and education that a job seeker needs for the job. When hiring for multiple grade levels, you must explain the qualifications for each grade level.

This section helps the job seeker determine whether to apply for the job, so being clear and concise is essential. Read the qualifications from the job seeker perspective and ask these questions:

• Are the qualifications specific?
• Are they described appropriately at each grade level?
• Are you using plain and simple language?

This section will automatically use a bulleted list format for each qualification.

Do

• Only include content that the job seeker needs.
  • Only include qualifications—don’t include background checks, job locations, etc.
  • Use the language from the Office of Personnel Management Qualifications Standards Handbook, supplemented by the specific education and experience requirements identified for the position.
• Organize the content logically
  • Use clear subheadings to separate qualifications that everyone needs vs. qualifications that are specific to each grade level.
  • Keep sentences short—break qualifications into separate sentences to make it easier to read.
• Write like you’re speaking to the job seeker.
  • Use language the job seeker knows—simpler is better! Refer to the Plainlanguage.gov list of simple words and phrases.
  • Use the active voice—the active voice is concise, direct and makes the content easy to understand. An active voice sentence follows this order: subject + verb + object.
  • Use pronouns (i.e. address the audience as “you”, “your”)—this helps personalize the experience.
  • Avoid internal jargon and acronyms—if an acronym is necessary, spell it out the first time you use it.
  • Use “must” instead of “shall” when qualifications are required. For example, “You must have at least one year of experience.”.

Do not

• Use dehumanizing terms like “incumbent”, “selectee”, or “candidate”.

Examples

Specialized experience

List specific experience required of applicants.

Selective factor

This describes knowledge, skills, abilities or special qualifications essential to perform the duties and responsibilities of a job.

Time in grade

Tells the job seeker if they need to have experience equal to a specific grade level, or the amount of time they need to have spent at a specific grade if they are a former or current federal employee. Time in grade may not be applicable for all positions.

Education

Tells the job seeker if there are education requirements or if education can replace experience.

Education will always appear. If you do not enter any text in this field, the header will still display. If the job does not have education requirements, enter “None” or “There are no education requirements.”

Additional information

This is an optional field of 2,500 characters where you can place any additional information you wish to include specific to the position.