Help Center

How to create a profile

To participate in Open Opportunities, you must have a profile and be a current federal employee or student. Some federal contractors can also access Open Opportunities to post opportunities, but they can’t apply to or work on an opportunity.

With a profile, you can:

  • Highlight your skills, experience and what you’re interested in.
  • Post opportunities.
  • Apply to opportunities.
  • Manage your opportunities.

You’ll also have the benefits of a USAJOBS profile, because Open Opportunities and USAJOBS now share one profile across both sites.

There are three steps to creating an Open Opportunities profile.

1. Create a login.gov account

You need a login.gov account to sign into Open Opportunities. You only need to create a login.gov account once. Once you create a login.gov account, you can use the same email address and password for both Open Opportunities and USAJOBS. If you’ve already created a login.gov account for USAJOBS, you don’t need to create another one.

  1. Create a login.gov account—you only need to do this once.
  2. Enter an email address - use the same email address you use for USAJOBS. If you don’t have a USAJOBS profile, enter a personal email address.
  3. Create a new password.
  4. Have a working phone number (mobile or landline) or an authentication application installed on a device—login.gov will send you a one-time security code.

Create your login.gov account.

What is login.gov?

Once you create a login.gov account, you’ll go to USAJOBS to link to your existing profile, or create a new one.

You need a USAJOBS profile because Open Opportunities is now a part of USAJOBS and you’ll share one profile across the two sites. If you don’t have a USAJOBS profile, we’ll help you create one.

In your USAJOBS profile, make sure you:

  1. Select Federal Employee or Student as a hiring path. If you’re a federal contractor, select the hiring path that fits you.
  2. Update the Federal Service Experience section of your profile, if you’re a federal employee or contractor.

If you’re a federal employee:

  • Select your Department & agency.
  • Add your federal government email address.
  • Confirm your federal email address—look for the confirmation email in your inbox.
  • Fill out the About me section—this helps other Open Opps users get to know you and managers use it to decide if you’re the right fit for the opportunitiy.

If you’re a federal contractor:

  • Select I am a current contractor working for the federal government in the Federal Service Experience section.
  • Select the Department & agency you’re currently working for.
  • Add your federal email address.
  • Confirm your federal email address—look for the confirmation email in your inbox.
  • Fill out the About me section—this helps other Open Opps users get to know you and managers use it to decide if you’re the right fit for the opportunitiy.

Once you’ve created your login.gov account and USAJOBS profile, we’ll link them to your existing Open Opportunities profile. If you don’t have an Open Opportunities profile, we’ll help you complete the final steps of adding skills and a photo.

Your profile highlights your skills, experience and areas of interest, such as career areas, agencies you’re interested in and other topics. Complete the skills and About me section of your profile to help users know more about you.

Why should I complete my profile?

Having a complete profile is important because this is what opportunity creators will look at first, if you apply to their opportunity.

With a complete profile you can:

  • Connect with others who share similar interests and skills.
  • House and manage your contact information, experience, education and documents, all in one place.
  • Have one place to aggregate your learning experiences.