The Wall Street Journaltoday had an interesting article about the vast number of federal jobs available and how they are unfilled because the hiring process is so bad. Unfortunately this is so true. We have a couple of vacancies still not filled even though people were selected over 8 months ago. Even in our current economic environment people just can't wait that long. It's frustrating for both the prospective employee and for the organization needing the help. Hopefully OPM can somehow straighten the process out...just who is the patron saint of lost causes?
Even though the process is pretty screwed up, I still say if you read the job announcement very closely, and tailor your resume to exactly what the job description says, you stand a better chance of of being selected. I know this probably seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many resumes I've read where you can tell that the job seeker put very little effort into his/her writing.