The foremost purpose of writing great KSAs is to distinguish YOU as the candidate who fulfills most or all of the desired qualifications; stating your experience using descriptive words that characterize who you are thusly enticing the reader to continue reading. Below is a list of descriptive words you can use to succinctly characterize who you are and set yourself apart from other qualified candidates. Remember, how you market yourself in your KSAs is fundamental to being selected as a best qualified candidate and being referred to the selecting official.

These are just a few examples of some of the great verbiage you can incorporate into your KSAs transforming something ordinary into something extraordinary. For more ideas, consider adding a thesaurus to your personal library. Not only will you be developing and writing great KSAs, you’ll also expand upon your own verbal communicative vernacular, another highly desirable skill.

Through your writing you share your experience and understanding; your acquired knowledge; you also persuade people in the selling of your ideas; you influence and sway people to follow your lead. That is, if your desire is to be a leader rather than a follower. You will accomplish these things through a variety of different media-letters, faxes, email, reports, newsletters, meeting minutes, memoranda, sticky notes and the list goes on.

Persuasive, powerful, writing is a craft and as with any craft, there is a process that enables you to learn it, develop it, and lastly, master it.

There are six steps in the development of persuasive writing and developing your writing style. They are:

Preparation
Planning
Drafting
Reviewing
Rewriting
Polishing

Preparation and planning sound similar but there are subtle differences between the two. Preparation is about how we prepare our minds and organize our thoughts and approach in the engagement of our reader in the presentation of our topic. Planning effectively deals with how we prepare the actual material and organize our information for presentation.

If you are like most people, you are likely short of time. Which means you will need to write quickly as well as clearly, concisely, accurately, and in a manner that engages and holds the very short attention span of your reader(s). Think about it, how many times have you been bombarded with information or reading that required your attention, how did you read it? Word for word? Almost certainly not, most likely you skimmed the writing gleaning the most critical and important information. Often, depending on what we are reading, all we do is look at a title to determine if something is worthy of our time. Therefore the time we spend in preparation is crucial to capturing our readers’ undivided attention.

This is true no matter what we are writing. Blog writing, creative writing, persuasive writing, resume writing, KSA Writing, Business writing, etc., all require us to prepare and organize our thoughts on conveying our message in the most meaningful and captivating way.

The amount of time you spend on a project will depend on three things, the importance of the communication, the complexity and extent of the material, and the time you have available to complete the writing. Once you have determined the amount of time you have available the entire six step process should look like this:

Preparation – 10%
Planning – 30%
Drafting – 20%
Reviewing – 10%
Rewriting – 20%
Polishing – 10%

The same process in terms of an hour writing project would look like this:

Preparation – 6 minutes
Planning – 18 minutes
Drafting – 12 minutes
Reviewing – 6 minutes
Rewriting – 12 minutes
Polishing – 6 minutes

Notice, you spend 40% of your time in planning and preparation, and 60% of your time getting your words on the page the way you want your reader to see them. Notice you only spend 20% of your time actually working with a blank page. The drafting phase is short because we have spent the correct amount of time in the preparation and planning stages to accommodate a quick draft getting your thoughts onto the page with the maximum amount of fluidity and minimizing the interruption in the process because of optimal planning and preparation.

As stated previously, persuasive, powerful writing is a craft and as you write and develop your craft, this process becomes second nature enabling you to become a more productive, successful and competent writer.

If you are considering a career in the Federal Government keep in mind, one of, if not the most critical component to getting your foot in the door, is writing your Knowledge, Skills, and Ability statements. Have no doubt; writing great KSAs is an exercise in writing, one that can be dauntingly laborious and arduous if you go at it with the wrong mindset. I like to think of writing great KSAs as an opportunity to sell you better than anyone else could ever do! Who knows more about you than YOU!

When it comes right down to it, KSAs are really just essays about you, nothing more. Your particular KSAs will be a collection of half-page to full-page, focused narratives, or essays, you include in your application package that highlight your particular knowledge, skills, and abilities on the selection criterion or factors desired within the vacancy announcement.

Great KSAs give specific examples of your paid and non-paid work experience, education, training, awards, and other honors you may have had. One area I see many people fail to focus on is their volunteerism. I have seen clients who haven’t worked for several years turn experience and training with their local PTAs into valuable, highly desirable experience. I’ve known women who while staying at home with their families, develop highly desirable skills through their devotion to their children’s education by volunteering at their schools PTA, participating in local and county level PTA activities, and by volunteering in their community churches and hospitals helping people who are sick, dying or incapacitated.

So be creative and resourceful as you ponder your own non-paid experience. My own son volunteers on a regular basis as part of his high school graduation requirements. He will be able to use those valuable and diverse experiences he is gaining throughout High School on his first resume as compelling relevant experience.

Remember, as you write your KSAs they are specifically written to support each area of knowledge, skills, and abilities listed in the vacancy announcement. Generally there are four to six KSAs required for each application. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the vacancy and unlike your resume, they are written in the first person. (I.E. I did this or that…)

Another point to remember is that first-level Human Resource professionals grade or “rate” your KSAs. They use a ranking system for each KSA statement. Your statements can range from superior to not acceptable, or may even be assigned a numerical score. There is no real rule of thumb as the rating systems vary from one job to the next. You will not know which of the KSAs you submit will be the ones the hiring managers consider to be the most important, that’s why you want to ensure that your have put your best foot forward in every KSA you write.

So, now you are ready to write your KSAs for the job you’ve just found in which you know YOU are the perfect candidate. You start thinking about your background and suddenly you say to yourself, what they heck is the delineation between my knowledge, skills, and abilities?

To help you understand, here is how the government defines each of these terms:

• Knowledge: An organized body of information, usually of a factual or procedural nature, which, if applied, makes adequate performance on the job possible.
• Skills: The proficient manual, verbal, or mental manipulation of data, people, or things. Observable, quantifiable and measurable.
• Abilities: The power to perform an activity at the present time. Implied is a lack of discernable barriers, either physical or mental, to performing the activity.

By these definitions, grammar and spelling are areas of knowledge. Bodies of information the applicant needs to perform a job, such as writing, editing, or proofreading. Typing is a skill. Measurable and quantifiable in terms of words typed per minute. On the other side in qualified terms, being able to maintain your composure in tense or stressful situations is ability. Here you are talking about a person’s ability to manage stress and do his/her job well while under pressure.

Now you know what KSAs are and how the government defines each of the terms. Here are seven rules you should always follow, every time you write a KSA.

1. Give at least one or two good examples per KSA and remember don’t speak in generalities. Present very specific details about what you did and the results you achieved.
2. Use different examples in each of your KSAs. Try not to repeat examples unless you can use the same example to highlight a different aspect of your experience.
3. Fill each KSA with solid information. Do not pad your KSAs with superfluous words and phrases
4. Write in the first person. Remember, you are talking about yourself and write in complete, well-structured sentences. Draw material for your KSAs from all aspects of your life and remember to consider volunteerism and other unpaid experiences.
5. Don’t use Acronyms. Spell everything out. The government loves to use Acronyms but doesn’t necessarily understand your particular acronym acumen.
6. Quantify your results. Again, you don’t want to speak in general terms, if you saved your company money by implementing a policy, procedure, a new way of doing something, state how much. Be specific. Don’t say I type fast when you can type 85 words per minute. Say so!
7. Proofread, proofread, and proofread some more. No matter how many times spell checker tells you your document is free of spelling errors, proofread your KSAs. I have found typos and incorrect word usage in so many of the KSAs I have proofread. Be careful and ensure you have no errors by having someone else take a look at your finished product.

Remember, anything worth doing is worth doing well. If you are seeking federal employment and desire a job that is both rewarding and worthwhile, spend the time writing your KSAs, they are going to be the determining factor in whether you make it to the all important “best qualified” list that gets sent to the hiring official..

It seems like now-a-days, even in school; kids aren’t as proficient as they should be on the subject of writing and grammar. I know from personal experience with my son. We too, often don’t remember many of the basic rules we were taught in school. In this age of technology, it is easy to rely on the spelling and grammar checking functions of our favorite word processing program to correct our spelling and punctuation errors. I am keen on the use of technology and all the exciting possibilities that exist since its emergence. However, I think we owe it to ourselves to understand the fundamentals and keep our minds engaged in the process rather than relying on technology to remember the rules for us.

One of the best ways to preserve your fundamental writing skills and to develop essential new expertise is by writing everyday. You will be hard pressed to find a professional writer who doesn’t write everyday. That’s not just because they do it for enjoyment or profit, but because they know the only way to continually improve is to practice. They sharpen their skills practicing and perfecting their craft. The old saying “practice makes perfect” is apropos, but I like to say “practice makes permanent” since nothing is really ever perfect.

Another way to sharpen your writing skills is to read. Read a lot. Absorb how great writers compose their words and dramatically construct their sentences and paragraphs, tying everything together with vivid descriptions and details. Reading will not only help you with your writing, it will also build upon your proverbial lingua franca. I derive great pleasure in learning new words and reading enables me to do just that. If I don’t know what something means, I look it up. The broader your knowledge of language becomes the more vibrant and alive your writing will be. And, as a complementary benefit, you will also develop a more expressive and verbally persuasive communicative style.

Lastly, embracing the process is fundamental to good writing. A step that is frequently skipped is the time you take to plan, outline, and organize your thoughts. Writing is rewriting. It is understood that seldom, if ever, will there be a time when you create a masterpiece on your first attempt. It is a work in progress and will require modification and fine-tuning. It is rare that a first draft is a finished high-quality product. Even great inspiration will likely require revision and refinement.

Here are just a few simple, easy to follow rules you can begin applying to your writing today. There are many, many more. These are a just a few of the common rules I frequently see broken.

• Use concrete, rather than vague language:
  Vague: The weather was of a merciless nature on the east coast.
  Concrete: New Jersey was bitterly cold last week.
• Use active voice whenever possible:
  Passive: A home run was hit.
  Active: John hit a home run.
• Avoid overusing common words like it, is, there is, there are, it was, that:
  Example: There is a case of tuberculosis that was reported in the newspaper.
  Good: A case of tuberculosis was reported in the newspaper.
  Better: The newspaper reported a case of tuberculosis.

  Example: It is important to signal before making a left turn.
  Good: Signaling before making a left turn is important.
  Good: Signaling before a left turn is important.
  Active: You should signal before making a left turn.
  (Again, use active voice whenever possible)

• Don’t use two negatives to make a positive unless you want to confuse your reader:
  Example: He is not unwilling to help.
  Correct: He is willing to help.
• Avoid the dangling modifier (A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept):
  Example: While jogging in a rainstorm, the lightening stuck her.
  Correct: While jogging in a rainstorm, she was stuck by lightening.
  Or: She was stuck by lightening while jogging in a rainstorm.

Once you master the basics, you can begin changing the rules and developing a style all your own. Who knows, you may discover you have a hidden talent comparable to the likes of Mark Twain, Stephen King, Jonathan Swift, Robert Frost, Spinoza, Thomas Paine, Jane Austen or any one of your personal favorites.