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| STAR Format KSA Writing By Richard P. Weiss |
POSTALeCareer.COM
| More Information: eCareer Writing Services |
| Serving the writing needs of Postal Professionals since 2005 |
KSA stands for Knowledge, Skills and Abilities; applicants need to address these qualities when answering requirements listed on job vacancy announcements currently posted at the eCareer section of Liteblue.usps.gov. Since eCareer submissions require narratives that describe actions taken to resolve actual situations, the "STAR" format is still recommended. STAR stands for Situation and/or Task, Action, and Result. Unlike 991 submissions, however, eCareer instructions indicate that more than one requirement may be addressed in each situational essay. As the Summary of Accomplishments section of the eCareer program limits the entire section to 6000 characters, addressing multiple requirements within each of several essays becomes a necessity, and excessive wordiness becomes a liability. Applicants need to recall a situation or problem that they encountered, usually in a work situation, that they had to act upon to produce a remedy and/or positive result. These experiences do not necessarily need to have taken place while working for the Postal Service. Situations may have occurred while working for other companies, civic groups, etc. However, common sense would dictate that if you have worked for the Postal Service for 20 years, you shouldn't use a situation that occurred before your employment some 25 years ago. Try to stick with Postal examples whenever possible, and stay fairly current (within the past five years, if possible). The important aspect of these essays is to show that you possess the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to fill your desired position. This example demonstrates a STAR format essay that uses one situation to demonstrate knowledge, skills and abilities regarding the following three requirements (requirements 1, 2 and 5 of a job posting): 1. KNOWLEDGE OF MAILING STANDARDS 2. KNOWLEDGE OF REVENUE PROTECTION 5. ABILITY TO MONITOR CUSTOMER COMPLIANCE: During an inspection of a mailing presented by the U.S. Treasury, while working at their facility as a Bulk Mail Technician, I discovered that their mailings were not prepared in a manner needed to lower handling costs by Postal Service personnel. Because the Treasury claimed a discounted rate, Presorted First Class, on these mailings, the Postal Service would incur more in handling costs than they would make in postage. I also discovered that the mailer had no provisions in place for onsite presort verifications. The Treasury did not include a scale for obtaining a piece weight nor did they store PS 2866 forms needed to complete presort verifications. With outbound mailings exceeding 10 million pieces per week, I needed to determine the amount of revenue loss and assure the Postal Service would not continue to lose revenue. I obtained a faxed copy of PS Form 2866 and initiated a presort verification. Although I could not include a piece weight without the use of a scale, I was able to record percentages of error based on the ratio of errors to the total number of pieces included in my sample. I gathered a target wedge of three trays and performed a presort verification. I discovered that about 70% of the mailing contained presort errors; I assessed the postage due by using this percentage at full rate First Class rates and subtracted the Presorted First Class rate on this portion claimed by the mailer. The amount of my assessed postage due on this mailing was astounding, especially due to the large volume of this particular shipment. I presented my findings to my supervisor, clearly illustrating that the Postal Service was losing over $400,000 per week from the 10-million-piece mailings the Treasury mailed on a regular basis. Within a week, Business Mail Entry implemented a presort verification requirement at the Treasury. My initiative assured that Treasury officials more closely monitor those responsible for preparing their mailings, thereby saving the Postal Service millions of dollars per month in potentially lost revenue. This essay clearly showcases knowledge, skills and abilities with regards to three requirements in only 2183 characters. Because eCareer limits total space for the Summary of Accomplishment section to 6000 characters, addressing each requirement with a separate essay, as had been previously done on PS Form 991, is no longer possible or practical. If essays the length of the above example were written for each requirement, a job posting with nine requirements would take up 19,647 characters; two-thirds of the essays would be truncated by eCareer! |
