Transition from Lab to Office
Question from CW: I am looking to apply to positions that are away from the standard lab technician work and more into office-based work. There is an entry-level position that I am kind of qualified for, but I know I could learn it if I was offered it. It has way more responsibilities than what I have now (and much more pay…). My main question is how do you, not fudge, but for lack of a better term, “white man” your way into a job that you know you’re capable of doing, but don’t quite have the exact skill set for now?
Copy all of the text from the job description into http://www.wordle.net/ to see which words appear the most in the description. Make sure all of those words are prominently in your resume. Yes, this means even if you have to forget words mean things and stretch the specifics. Honestly, you can just study BEFORE the interview if it’s something you have no idea about.
Is this a job directly with the AGENCY and not going through a contractor? If it is directly with AGENCY, check the job descriptions in that career path. For instance, if you are applying for Fancy Science Position 2, ask google to show you the description for Fancy Science Position 1. The AGENCY job description may may reference to having experience in the previous level. I’m not exactly familiar with AGENY job posting but in general, government jobs might be listed as a GS-10 but the job description asks if you have experience performing the functions of GS-9.
If there are things you haven’t done lately, in the cover letter, if you are using one, make reference to having experience in that area in academia or in some volunteer project.
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