Getting past the HR screen.
How HR decides who is qualified: specialized experience, grade levels, time in grade, questionnaires and assessments, and what to do when an application comes back “not referred”.
Getting referred
Why HR Found You Qualified but Didn't Send You Forward
Eligible but not referred means you met the minimum qualifications but ranked below the cut. Here is how ranking works and what to fix.
10 min · October 19, 2026
Getting referred
Specialized experience: the line that decides.
What specialized experience means on a USAJOBS announcement, how HR checks it at the grade below, and how to write resume bullets that prove each part of the statement.
7 min · October 19, 2026
Reading is step one. Paste a USAJOBS link and see, requirement by requirement, whether your history shows what HR will look for.
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