Executive Core Qualifications

Yes, I know that writing an executive core qualification (ECQ) sets your nerves on edge. You want and should to show your best professional self in your narratives and the main key to doing this in the right way is sketching your most significant accomplishments in specific, yet concise detail.

What is it ECQ?

ECQs are requirements to enter into the Senior Executive Service. They include a level of quality or attainment necessary for the construction of corporate culture at the federal level. That consists of formes teams focused on results, customers, and coalitions in and outside of the organization. These are used by different agencies with a purpose to find out leadership and performance management.

You should think about your executive potential and expert skill or knowledge in a particular field when developing your ECQs as they were designed to measure more than technical proficiency. Your final performance hardly depends on your competencies in these ECQs, and you must show expertise in all five competencies.

ECQ 1:  consists of demonstrating creativity, external awareness, flexibility, resilience, strategic thinking.

ECQ 2: consists of demonstrating conflict management, and team building.

ECQ 3: consists of customer service, entrepreneurship, problem-solving and technical credibility.

ECQ 4: consists of demonstrating financial, human capital and technology management.

ECQ 5: consists of demonstrating partnering, and negotiating.

What you should do:

Strictly adhere to 10 page narrative limit.

Limit summaries to 2 paragraphs

Follow CCAR (Challenge-Context-Action-Results) model

Describe experience and accomplishments in a clear and organized manner

Do not use the same example for more than one ECQ

Do not use more than two examples or templates per ECQ

Do not use vague statements

Use personal “I” instead of the third person

Avoid grammatical errors and typos

Find three or more objective and knowledgeable individuals, to review your ECQs.

What you should not do:

Use sample or experiences that are older than 5 years

Refer reader to other parts of ECQ narrative

Include many pictures

Overuse bolding and underlining font

Leave readers confused or with questions regarding your responses

Make reference to well-known figures

Make disparaging commenter about former superiors

Reveal information about your political affiliation or activities

Use bad words and expressions

As ResumeGet.com says to prepare a strong ECQs, you should spend a significant amount of time: firstly identifying your examples, secondly writing, thirdly reviewing and editing.

• Finding of ECQ examples. Before you begin writing your ECQs, you must identify ten or even more examples/stories to use. Your stories should be in line with competencies (leading change, leading people, result-oriented, business acumen, and building coalitions); Be from the last 10 years (5 is better if possible), and be at the executive level. Holding meetings, organizing training, implementing someone else's plan are usually not considered executive. Your examples should demonstrate your strategic thinking and, ideally, influence the entire enterprise. When defining your examples, you may find that you have stories that can fit into more than one ECQ. Try to choose the strongest match between ECQ and the fact that ECQ is at the core of competencies (for example, basic competencies for driving change: vision, strategic thinking, external awareness, innovation/creativity, flexibility, and sustainability).
• Writing: Once you have defined your stories, you must present your stories using the required CCAR model (Challenge-Context-Action-Result). It may even help to write out parts of the CCAR model and then outline the details of each part of the CCAR.

1. Describe a specific problem.
2. Context. Describe the people and groups that you worked with (for example, clients, colleagues, members of Congress, budget cuts, low morale).
3. Act. Discuss the specific actions you have taken to solve the problem.
4. Result. Give specific examples of outcomes that have had some impact on the organization. These achievements demonstrate the effectiveness of your leadership skills.

Once you have a plan, you can start writing. Be sure to focus on your unique leadership skills and remember to include the basic competencies in your essay. Include as many as possible and make sure that you can prove your results, that everything is about you not about some hero; you need to prove that you are such type, using metrics before and after.

• The last part is Reviewing or Editing: do not forget to leave time for this. Your ECQ should take10 pages. Ask someone who does not understand your work review your ECQs. Do not forget to check spelling and gramma! And make sure that you have used “I” rather than “we”.
• Now let's speak about time. How long does all of this take? you should spend 30 to 70 hours or even more. Writing about yourself as a professional you will open their eyes to your leadership skills and experience, building your confidence. You are applying because you know you have what they need.