[nabs] USAjobs.gov

[Samuel Herbert]

Olivia,

I've been working for the Feds over the last couple years. It has been my experience that they are fairly slow in their recruitment process as a rule of thumb (note: this is simply from my experiences). I would suggest that you begin looking for jobs at the start of your last semester. i was grateful that I did this. It took several months for me to land the job I wanted anyway. I had a job within 2 months after graduating from my undergrad. It is also a good thing that you are getting acquainted with the USA JOBS site now. 

Based on my experience with the site, I know that the password has to contain a variety of special characters. I believe it has to have two numeric symbols, two uppercase, and two special symbols like the "At," "pound," or "underscore" keys. I'm not certain if this is the problem you are experiencing. I know that I am applying for a promotion right now and am having to update my password to meet their standards. Hope this helps. 

Spike Herbert

--- On Sat, 12/26/09, Olivia Norman <olivianorman at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Olivia Norman <olivianorman at gmail.com>
> Subject: [nabs] USAjobs.gov
> To: "National Alliance of Blind Students. Discussion list for NABS" <nabs at acb.org>
> Date: Saturday, December 26, 2009, 1:12 PM
> Hey Everyone:
> I know I am jumping the gun because I have a while in
> graduate school before I need to worry about this, but I was
> talking to a friend of ours who suggested that I might want
> to look into the federal government for employment when I
> graduate.  I am curious to know how accessible the
> usajobs site is? I just tried creating an account, and while
> there weren't any captchas it kept getting stuck on my
> password, telling me something was wrong.  I'll try
> again, but I am curious to know if the site has gotten
> anymore accessible over the past couple of years.
> When I first looked for jobs out of undergrad, I considered
> the government, but decided against it largely because
> usajobs appeared to be the only way to apply for jobs and I
> was completely confused/frustrated by the system.  The
> resume builder was inaccessible, the site was difficult to
> search with a screen reader, but the major issue was the
> resume builder which it appeared you had to use in order to
> get anywhere.  I've heard sighted friends say they're
> completely frustrated with the site, too, so it's not purely
> accessibility issues, but I know those don't help.  Is
> there a better way to apply for things than USA jobs? 
> I seem to remember that ACB had an employment fair with some
> federal agencies there a few years ago, but I don't remember
> whether the USA jobs issue was raised.  
> I know I don't really have to worrry about this at the
> moment, but I'm curious to hear about others experiences
> with this site and whether anyone has actually used it
> successfully!
> Thanks, Olivia
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