US federal jobs · Free

Federal Resume Checker

Check your resume against the USAJOBS and OPM rules before you apply: the two-page limit, month and year dates, hours per week, series and grade, and what to leave out.

Independent tool. Not affiliated with USAJOBS, OPM or any US government agency.

1. Your resume (PDF or Word)2. How will you apply?

Free. No sign-up. Your file is read in memory and not stored.

What we check

Two pages or less

USAJOBS will not take a longer resume for most federal jobs, and OPM tells agencies an applicant whose only resume is longer is ineligible. We count the pages of your PDF. Source

Month and year on every job

Like 05/2019 - 08/2022. Years alone are not enough, because the agency counts months of experience. Source

Hours per week on every job

A number, like 40 hours per week. "Full-time" alone does not say it. Source

Series and grade on federal jobs

Like GS-0343-12, for each federal civilian job. Military and private jobs do not need one. Source

Contact details

Your email address and phone number. Source

What to leave out

Your Social Security number, a photo of yourself, and personal details such as age, sex and religion. Also encrypted or digitally signed files. Source

File type and size

5 MB or less, and not a PDF portfolio. USAJOBS recommends PDF. Source

Formatting

USAJOBS recommends a sans-serif font, 0.5 inch margins, 10 point text and a standard 8.5 x 11 inch page. These are suggestions: it does not reject resumes for them. Source

The announcement (optional)

Paste it and we count how many of its specialized-experience requirements are visible in your jobs, in its own words. Source

What this check does not do

It does not decide whether you qualify, and it does not write anything for you. It reads your file and tells you what is missing, so you can add it in your own words. Only you know your real hours, grades and dates, so we never fill them in.

For the full rules, with examples, read our federal resume and USAJOBS guide. Applying to private-sector jobs too? Our free ATS scan checks a resume for applicant tracking systems.

Questions

Is a federal resume really limited to two pages?

For most federal jobs, yes. Since 27 September 2025, OPM's two-page limit applies to all competitive and excepted service announcements under Title 5, and USAJOBS will not let you upload or build a resume longer than two pages. Some agencies outside Title 5, judicial and legislative agencies, and jobs that ask for a CV (often medical or research) can accept longer documents, but only when the announcement says how. Follow the announcement.

Does this check tell me whether I qualify?

No. Only the hiring agency decides that, from the announcement and its assessments. This check tells you whether your resume shows the details USAJOBS and OPM ask for, and, if you paste the announcement, how many of its requirements are visible in your jobs.

Why does it ask for a PDF when USAJOBS takes Word files?

A Word file has no fixed page count: it changes with the fonts on each computer. USAJOBS counts the pages of the file you upload, and it recommends PDF to keep the formatting and the page count. So for the page count we check the PDF.

Do you keep my resume?

No. Your file is read in memory to run the checks and is not stored. Nothing is sent to an AI model for this check.

Is this an official government tool?

Independent tool. Not affiliated with USAJOBS, OPM or any US government agency. The rules it checks come from OPM's published guidance and the USAJOBS Help Center, linked on this page.

Independent tool. Not affiliated with USAJOBS, OPM or any US government agency. Rules last checked against the OPM and USAJOBS sources on 3 November 2026.