Summary

Summarizes what is unique about this job and what it does for the agency. The job summary is important to help job seekers understand what is unique about this job and why the job exists.

Current fields

This section may contain the following:

Required by USAJOBS

Yes

Required by policy

Yes

Do

  • Write a concise one- or two-sentence summary.
  • Use the position description and job analysis to help write the duties.
  • Use language the job seeker knows and be concise—simpler is better!
  • Avoid internal jargon and acronyms—if an acronym is necessary, spell it out the first time it's used.

Do Not

  • Use the job summary to discuss the mission statement of the agency. Agencies may now use the Learn more about this agency link to convey details about the agency and link to your careers page.
  • Use dehumanizing terms like "incumbent" or "candidate".
  • Repeat other sections of the job announcement in the summary section (who may apply, et. al.). Duplicating information does not emphasize that information but clutters the announcement. Duplicated information confuses and overwhelms job seekers.
  • Center paragraphs or provide HTML formatting. This negatively impacts the readability of the job announcement.

This section was removed from all job announcements for an indefinite amount of time on January 31, 2025, to give agencies time to update their website content to remove references to diversity, equity, inclusion or environmental justice in compliance with the president's executive order "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing".

Questions? Concerns?

This site is a work in progress. We will continue to work on this content until it is as complete as possible. If you have questions or concerns about anything you read here, please reach out to your human resources director who can contact the Office of Personnel Management policy.

If you have comments about the site itself or suggestions on content to add please write to recruiter-help@usajobs.gov.