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What these tools are, and what they cost
ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Perplexity, LinkedIn's AI features.
These are examples, not endorsements. Features and pricing change without notice, and some
of what you read about requires a paid subscription. VA, DOL and DoD do not endorse any AI product,
and neither do I. I am naming what people are already using.
Money note. LinkedIn's AI writing and resume-tailoring features sit behind LinkedIn Premium,
a paid subscription. On a free account you will not see them. Confirm the current price yourself
before you sign up for anything, and never pay for a tool on the promise of a job.
An AI tool is a writing assistant. It drafts, it
rephrases, it asks you questions. It does not know you, it does not check facts, and it does not
decide who gets hired. A human being still does that.
★ A tool, not a hiring authority.
The correction
A federal resume is not a one-page resume
This is the part that costs veterans federal jobs.
For a federal job on
USAJOBS, length is a
cap, not a
target. Agencies accept a resume up to two pages, and USAJOBS will not let you upload or build
one longer.
One page is fine. Being short is not what screens you out. Missing content is.
What every work entry has to show, per
help.usajobs.gov:
- Employer name
- Job title
- Start and end dates — including the month and the year, not just the year
- Hours worked per week
- Series and grade, for any prior federal service
That page says agencies use your resume to confirm you
meet the qualifications in the announcement. Leave those items out and the rating official has
nothing to credit you for. Ask the AI for a federal-format resume, then check it line by line
against that page before you upload.
Where the two-page cap comes from: the Merit Hiring Plan, as stated on help.usajobs.gov when
I checked it in September 2026. That is hiring policy, not law, and policy gets rewritten. Re-check
it before you rely on it.
★ Two pages is a ceiling. Detail is the job.
Before you paste
What never goes into a chatbot
Strip all of this out first: Social Security number, date of birth, home address, VA file
number, VA claim or rating details, medical information, dependents' names — and any
classified or Controlled Unclassified Information, unit-identifying operational detail, or
non-public government information. Assume anything you type into a free consumer tool is stored and
may be used to train the model.
help.usajobs.gov says outright that a federal resume must
not contain classified information, Social Security numbers, photos, or personal details such as age
or religion. So the resume itself should not carry them either.
AI invents things. It will produce employers, dates, certifications, degrees and awards you
never had, and it will sound certain doing it. Read every line and delete anything you cannot
document.
And you sign it, not the machine. A federal application is certified by you. A knowingly
false or inflated statement can cost you the job after you are already hired. In a private company
it is grounds to pull the offer.
★ Your name is on it. Read it.
My own method
Seven steps, and they are mine
No agency published this. It is how I would work it. Take it or leave it.
- Decide what job you actually want. Be specific.
- Pull up the job announcement — with nothing sensitive in it.
- Ask the tool to compare the announcement against your resume and name the gaps.
- Rewrite using words that accurately describe what you really did. No inflation.
- Have it ask you interview questions. Answer them out loud.
- Research the employer, then verify what it told you on the employer's own site.
- Apply — in the right format for that employer, federal or private.
Four rules I hold to, also mine: AI assists you, it does not replace what you know and what
you did. Always review and personalize what it writes. Verify the company and the job requirements
before you apply. Never submit anything inaccurate or exaggerated.
★ The experience is yours. The wording is the tool's.
Money and rights
Veterans' preference in federal hiring
Not mentioned on the flyer at all. It is the biggest thing on this page.
- 5-point preference (TP) for qualifying service periods
- 10-point preference for a compensable service-connected disability rated 10 to 29
percent (CP), for 30 percent or more (CPS), for a Purple Heart, and for certain other
service-connected disability (XP)
- Derived preference for certain spouses, widows, widowers and mothers
Points are added to a passing examination score. Ten-point preference needs a completed
SF-15 plus supporting documentation. Any preference needs your DD-214. You claim it on
the application — nobody claims it for you, and an unclaimed preference is a forfeited one.
Told straight: preference is powerful, but it is not a veto. Under category rating, which
most agencies now use, preference eligibles are listed ahead of non-preference eligibles
within each quality category. Preference is absolute inside a category, not across them
— a stronger-rated non-veteran in a higher category can still be selected. An agency may
object to and pass over a preference eligible only for documented reasons the examining office
sustains. If you are rated 30 percent or more disabled, the agency must notify OPM and you,
and OPM makes the determination.
OPM's guide:
opm.gov Vet Guide.
★ Claim it on the application. Every time.
Money and rights
Two routes that skip the competition
Noncompetitive appointments. Ask about them by name.
Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA) — noncompetitive, but limited. Under
5 CFR 307.102–307.103
it reaches grades up to and including
GS-11 or equivalent only, requires separation under
honorable conditions, and covers four groups: disabled veterans; veterans who served on active duty
during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized; veterans who
took part in a U.S. military operation for which an Armed Forces Service Medal was awarded; and
recently separated veterans, within three years of discharge.
The 30-percent-or-more disabled veteran authority — also noncompetitive, and it carries
no GS-11 ceiling.
If neither one fits you, that door is not the only door
— go back up to preference, and go to the free counselors in the next panel, who do this every
day.
★ Say the authority out loud to the HR office.
Free, and staffed by people
Human help beats a chatbot
You already paid for these. They cost you nothing now.
- Transition Assistance Program (TAP) — DOL's employment track includes the two-day
DOL Employment Workshop covering resumes, networking, interviewing and salary negotiation, and the
one-day Employment Fundamentals of Career Transition. The Employment Navigator Program gives
one-on-one career assistance. Authorized under 10 U.S.C. 1144. DoD and SBA run their own TAP tracks
alongside it, including Career and Credential Exploration and the entrepreneurship track.
dol.gov/agencies/vets/programs/tap
- American Job Centers — nearly 2,400 nationwide, free job search, training and
career services. Find the nearest one through
careeronestop.org, sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Labor, which also carries the Veterans Job Matcher and a training finder.
- Jobs for Veterans State Grants — funds dedicated staff in the state workforce
system who provide individualized career and training-related services to eligible veterans and
others with employment barriers, and who work employers to fill openings. Ask for the veterans
staff by name when you walk in.
dol.gov JVSG
- Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E, Chapter 31) — if a service-connected
disability limits your ability to work. Five tracks: Reemployment, Rapid Access to Employment,
Self-Employment, Long-Term Services, and Independent Living. It pays a subsistence allowance during
training. Apply with VA Form 28-1900.
va.gov VR&E
- Personalized Career Planning and Guidance (PCPG) — free VA educational and career
counseling, resume support, and help finding training or a job. Human counselors doing the job this
flyer handed to a chatbot. va.gov/careers-employment
★ A counselor is already waiting. No charge.
Get paid while you train
Two paths that pay from day one
DoD SkillBridge — if you are still serving, you can do civilian industry training or an
internship with an employer while still on active duty and still drawing your pay and benefits. It
is tied to your remaining time before discharge, and once you separate the window is closed for
good. Check your eligibility and the current time limits at
skillbridge.osd.mil and through your transition office
early — not the month you get out.
Registered Apprenticeship — you earn a wage while you train, and you finish with a
credential. DOL lists
Apprenticeship.gov as a veteran
job-search resource. If the answer to your situation is not a better resume, it may be this.
★ Training with a paycheck attached.
Money and rights
You may not need a job search at all
Guard, Reserve, or anyone coming back from a period of service.
If you are returning to a civilian employer you already had, USERRA may give you the right to
your job back — the position you would have reached had you not been away, with the same
seniority, status and pay. That is a legal right, not a favor, and it is a better outcome than any
resume rewrite.
There are deadlines to apply for reemployment, and they depend on how long you served. I am
not printing day counts here, because I could not confirm the exact numbers against a Department of
Labor page, and a wrong number would cost you the right. Get the current deadlines straight from
dol.gov/agencies/vets/programs/userra
or from a DOL VETS office, and do it now rather than later.
★ Ask for your old job before you chase a new one.
Protect your wallet
Job scams hunt people who are job hunting
From the Federal Trade Commission's own guidance.
- A legitimate employer never charges you a fee. Never pay for the promise of a job.
- Watch for fake-check schemes — they send you a check, tell you to deposit it and wire part
of it back. The check bounces later and the money is yours to repay.
- Be careful with reshipping, merchandise-resale and mystery-shopper offers.
- Verify an employer before handing over personal information "for payroll."
- Search the company name together with the word "scam" or "complaint" before you engage.
consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams
★ If it asks for money, it is not a job.
Where to go
Free tools, and who runs them
- My Next Move for Vets — the military-code-to-civilian-career crosswalk. It is the
exact job people ask a chatbot to do, and it is free and federal. Named on VA's veteran employment
resources page. mynextmove.org/vets
- VA Veteran Employment Resources — also names VA for Vets, the Veteran Employment
Services Office, the Veteran and Military Transition Center, and the Interest Profiler.
va.gov/careers-employment/veteran-resources
- DOL: find a job — DOL's veteran job-search page, which also names FedsHireVets.gov,
the National Labor Exchange, and TEAMS for military spouses.
dol.gov/agencies/vets/veterans/findajob
- Hire Heroes USA — a private nonprofit, not a government agency. Free one-on-one
career coaching, resume review and interview preparation, at no cost to you.
hireheroesusa.org
- Hiring Our Heroes — a private organization, not a government agency. Hiring events,
fellowships, networking and career resources for veterans, transitioning service members and
military spouses. hiringourheroes.org
I left one commercial job board off this page on purpose. I could not confirm it against any VA,
DOL or DoD resource list, and its event listings looked years out of date. Use the federal and
nonprofit options above first. If a private board still helps you, use it — just know who is
paying for it.
★ Free first. Always.