Every toolkit below is free, immediate, and takes 15–20 minutes. Score your experience. Identify your GS target band. Understand how the federal system reads your background.
These toolkits are diagnostic tools — not resume services. They tell you where you stand and what the federal system is actually measuring. The paid course is the system that makes your band defensible.
The federal system cannot read your rank, your MOS, your AFSC, or your rate. It reads scope indicators — how independent your work was, what you produced, who relied on it, what changed as a result.
This toolkit scores your military experience across five dimensions the federal system actually uses and converts your score to a likely GS target band. Covers all pay grades — enlisted (E-5 through E-9), warrant officers, and commissioned officers (O-1 through O-6). Works across all branches and all occupational specialties.
What you’ll walk away with: A defensible target GS band. A clear picture of the three undersell traps that cost veterans money at hire. A working framework for translating military responsibility into federal grade language.
Immediate download. No account required.
The federal system doesn’t read your title the way your industry does. “Director” is not a grade. “Senior Manager” is not a grade. The scope of what you actually did — how independent your work was, how far its impact reached, what you owned — is what the system evaluates.
This toolkit maps your private sector experience across five dimensions the federal system uses and identifies your likely GS target band. Includes a 12-term private-to-federal terminology crosswalk and the single most common mistake private sector applicants make when they assume seniority translates directly to grade.
What you’ll walk away with: A GS target band based on your actual scope. A clear picture of where your documentation needs to go. A working vocabulary for translating private sector experience into federal language.
Immediate download. No account required.
The federal government does not grade positions based on title, years of service, or how long you’ve been doing the job. It grades them based on the complexity, scope, and independence of the actual work performed. Most federal employees were never told this — and most are graded below the work they are actually doing.
This toolkit scores your current position across the five factors the federal system actually uses to determine grade level — independence of operation, complexity of assignments, scope and effect of your work, the nature of your contacts, and the depth of knowledge your position requires. Your score maps to a target grade band and identifies whether a documentable gap exists between your current grade and the grade your work supports.
What you’ll walk away with: A defensible target grade band based on what you actually do. A clear picture of whether your record supports a grade claim one level higher. Three specific under-placement signals to look for in your own record.
Immediate download. No account required.
Most federal job candidates accept or decline an offer based on one number: the salary line. That’s the wrong number to look at first.
A federal job offer contains at least ten structural elements that affect its real value — several of which are negotiable before you sign, and none of which are explained in the offer letter itself. Step placement alone can be worth $10,000 or more in year-one salary. Career ladder designation can be worth $30,000 to $40,000 over three years without writing a single additional application. Relocation expense authorization exists but must be requested.
This checklist covers all ten indicators — including the ones most candidates never know to ask about.
What you’ll walk away with: A complete gate check against every negotiable and verifiable element of your offer — before you accept. No gaps, no assumptions, no surprises on day one.
Immediate download. No account required.
The most expensive mistake in federal job searching is not a bad resume. It is submitting an application that was never going to clear the screen — and not knowing why.
The federal hiring system screens applications before a human reviewer reads a word of your resume. The wrong series, a misidentified grade target, a resume that doesn’t use federal format, or a package that doesn’t address the announcement’s specialized experience language doesn’t get a closer look. It gets a rating and a disposition code.
Four diagnostic areas cover the failure points that screen out qualified candidates before they reach a human reviewer: series identification, specialized experience, resume format, and announcement compliance. After the diagnostics, a gap map routes each gap to the specific resource that addresses it.
What you’ll walk away with: A clear picture of exactly what your application is missing — and what to fix — before you submit.
Immediate download. No account required.
Most federal applicants read a vacancy announcement the way they read a job posting. That approach misses most of what the announcement is actually telling them.
A federal vacancy announcement is not a job posting. It is a legal document. Every field has a specific function. The series code determines your eligibility. The specialized experience section is the exact language HR will use to evaluate your resume. The Who May Apply field determines whether you can submit at all.
Three fully annotated composite announcements — GS-0343 at GS-5 (DHS), GS-0343 at GS-11 (VA), and GS-1811 at GS-14 (DOJ) — with every significant field explained in plain language and connected to what it means for your application strategy.
What you’ll walk away with: A working method for reading any federal announcement the way HR reads it — before you invest time in an application that won’t clear the screen.