Contract Officer Resume Sample

Contract Officer Resume with Writing Guide

Job seekers often find themselves struggling to write the perfect resume. Cover letters are challenging to construct and often frustrate an applicant’s attempts at seeking employment. Successfully crafting these documents is essential for a job seeker. Many hiring managers are going to take one quick glance at your written materials, so it is important that they display some creativity and professionalism.

With a guide to customizing your resume and tips from industry professionals, you can showcase your skills and experience in a way that will get you noticed. Follow this step-by-step guide for help with resumes and cover letters tailored just for you! If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your own efforts, consult our suggestions to help improve your resume.

Contract Officer Resume Writing Guide:

• Your resume for a contract is different than other resumes. Among other things, it is necessary to include the following:
• The events that led up to your current position.
  (You must outline what you did before you took this job — e.g., internships, jobs, volunteers, etc.) Your resume should list all the work history that pertains to your current position and be thorough.
• The skills, characteristics and qualifications that make you the ideal candidate for the position.
• If there are other job openings or positions that interest you within the contract agency, then list them as well — in the same section as your current position.
• Your resume can include a personal statement about your goals and aspirations, but it should be brief and just an introduction to who you are and why you want this specific job.
• Be sure to include any specialized licenses that apply to this particular contract — e.g. Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC), Certified Government Contracting Officer (CGCO) certification, etc.
• You can also state that you are a member of the following professional organizations:
• Review your resume for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Make certain that it is easy to understand and that the reader gets the idea you want to convey with each heading or point on your resume. Your resume should be clear, concise and detailed about the accomplishments in your work experience history.

List of Typical Responsibilities For a Contract Officer Resume:

1. Negotiate with contractors to determine fair and reasonable prices for professional services.
2. Make recommendations regarding the acceptance and rejection of bids and proposals, or approval of change orders within the applicable guidelines set forth by relevant Federal laws, regulations, policies, and procedures.
3. Review contracts and payments to ensure that they are consistent with contract requirements or agency-established exemptions from contract requirements.
4. Determine whether payment is due to the contractor or to the Government in accordance with agency policy.
5. Prepare requisitions for management approval for the use of administrative, clerical, technical and other resources from Federal agencies as contemplated by the approved and executed contract.
6. Monitor and oversee the performance of contractors that are performing under contracts with your agency. Ensure that contractors are meeting deadlines established in a contract or a memorandum of understanding, and provide timely feedback on any unresolved issues to ensure satisfactory performance of work.
7. Conduct negotiations with contractors.
8. Review contract modifications to ensure that the provisions of an agreement are consistent with agency policies and procedures.
9. Provide advice on regulatory issues to your agency and other agencies within the Federal Government, as well as State and Local Government functions.
10. Monitor developments in laws, regulations, policies, and procedures for applicability to contracts or contemplated contracts for your agency.

Top 10 Must-have Contract Officer Skills:

1. Attention to detail. No one wants to work with sloppy and unorganized people but they must have attention to detail. Smart people take pride in doing their job well because it shows that they are organized and strive to do their best work.
2. Communicates easily. As a Contract Officer, you know how important it is to communicate well with all your coworkers, supervisors and clients. A good understanding of different spoken languages will help you not only in your daily interactions but also when meeting new people from other nations.
3. Ability to inspire and motivate people. You’ll be in charge of managing the entire team and leading them to success. No one wants to be surrounded by negative, unmotivated people, feeling alone like a turtle in the desert. People will naturally follow your example because it’s natural for humans to want to work with people who are positive and spread happiness around them.
4. Responsibility and Accountability: You will be responsible for every single thing that happens while working with a client or doing your job as a government contractor. If something goes wrong, the responsibility of fixing it will be on you. Being accountable for your actions is a plus because it makes you more responsible and reliable.
5. Leadership: Being the leader in your team, you will be responsible for leading them to success. People want to follow a leader who knows how to inspire people while making good decisions all the time. They want someone they can trust and rely on when they need help or have questions regarding their work.
6. Using your initiative: You don’t have to ask for permission when you are workers need to get things done. You can make decisions that will help the team and be held accountable for your actions. If you don’t have the right information in your hands, ask for it on your own instead of waiting for someone else to give it to you.
7. Initiate teamwork: As a Contract Officer, you know how important teamwork is that will help you achieve success in the position.
8. Good at communicating with people. Communication is a vital skill that will help you succeed in this position. You’ll not only be communicating with your team but also with your supervisor and the client you are working for. You’ll need to know how to communicate effectively, know how to listen and speak clearly in different situations, like giving presentations or making a business call for example.
9. Speaking extempore. You don’t have to know the answer to a question ahead of time, but you must be able to speak clearly and concisely about it while being prepared for any questions.
10. No fear of public speaking. Contract Officer will need to make presentations or speeches before clients and clients’ clients, as well as other government agencies and Congress . It is necessary that you’re comfortable speaking in front other people in different situations, like making a presentation or giving a speech in front of a large number of people.

Tips to write a Contract Officer Resume Summary:

• How to write a Contract Officer Resume: Writing a resume summary is an art in itself. While the first sentence may be just one or two sentences, it can make all the difference between getting an interview call and getting ignored!
• How to write a Contract Officer Resume: Including keywords in your resume summary does not necessarily mean that you need to have those buzz words in your job description. The aim of including these keywords is to have them reflect the experience, skills and qualifications of the candidate without sounding like they are keyword stuffing.
• How to write a Contract Officer Resume: Never use the same list of keywords in your resume summary as are in the job description.
• How to write a Contract Officer Resume: It is important that you keep your resume summary concise and on the topic of the job that you have applied for, whether that be “Customer Service” or “Customer Service Representative”.
• How to write a Contract Officer Resume: Make sure that your resume summary sounds like it was written by yourself, not hired help.

How to write a Contract Officer Resume with No experience:

1. Whatever your career objective, your resume should be tailored to meet that goal. Be sure to convey on your resume the skills and experience that are going to help you get hired.
2. Know what keywords recruiters use or would use to find the kind of candidates they are looking for. To get started check out our Resume Writing Guide or move quick through our free resume builder:
3. Create a target resume by selecting the best content from a variety of resumes you’ve written in the past.
4. Tailor your resume to the job advertisement – look for keywords from the ad and highlight them on your resume.
5. Determine what kind of recruiter you’re going to be dealing with. Once you know, find out everything you can about that person or team of people and tailor your resume accordingly (i.e., do they prefer an e-mail submission or a hard copy)
6. To get your resume noticed, you’ll need to work with keywords that the recruiter or hiring manager is looking for. If you don’t know what those are, research a job description for similar jobs to the one you want and see what skills they list as essential.
7. Prioritize your content so that the most important information appears first in a bulleted format on your resume. For example, if you had a side job in college, put it under “Volunteer Work” and make sure it has bullet points underneath.

How to write a Contract Officer Cover Letter:

1. All federal agencies require resumes when applying for a position. Resumes are used to assist the agency in determining if you meet the minimum qualifications of their announcements. You should tailor your resume to each individual announcement that you apply for. If you are applying for more than one announcement, then it is recommended that you tailor your resume each time as the qualifications or duties may change even though it’s from the same agency that you’re applying to.
2. Federal agencies use the USAJobs.gov website where you can upload your resume, cover letter and any other documentation required by the agency (e.g. OPM Form SF-50). Make sure that all information is accurate and spelled correctly.
3. Submit your application online with a subject line of “Contract Officer Application” or “Application for Contract Officer” depending on the announcement number as indicated in the table below and include the appropriate agency number in your e-mail subject line (e.g.

Key Takeaways:

• Carefully select your target job.
• Write neatly and concisely.
• No formal education? Try to translate key skills into different terms…
• No work references? Get some from the Internet or on-the-job experience!
• How to tailor your resume according to industry requirements?…