RESUME DO's AND DON'Ts
You may: You may not:
1. Limit your resume to the • Include any other clearance
recommended one or two pages. information.
2. Acknowledge that you are cleared TOP • In general, use NSA/CSS infrastructure
SECRET (TS)/Sensitive information revealing strength, budget
Compartmented Information (SCI) or or structure such as the number of
Special Intelligence (SI)/TALENT- people you supervise, the number of
KEYHOLE (TK) as appropriate. people working in a specific area, or
3. Say that you have had an Agency the budget for your office or project.
Special Background Investigation • Use information indicating target areas
(SBI) and/or polygraph along with or specific missions other than
dates of the polygraph. approved, unclassified element titles.
4. Say that you have studied a specific • Name a specific location as a SIGINT
foreign language (French, Russian, site, either CONUS or OCONUS
etc.). (regardless of age), with the exception
5. Say that you have used a specific of NSA/ Ft. Meade or the Global Net-
language in an operational context. centric Cryptologic Centers (NSA/CSS
6. Say that you are professionalized in a Georgia, NSA/CSS Texas, NSA/CSS
specific language. Hawaii, and NSA/CSS Colorado).
7. In an unclassified manner, describe • Associate military unit designators
projects on which you have worked with a SIGINT function other than
without citing project names. Unless military unit designators assigned to
you are targeting a specific employer the NSA HQ or Global Net-centric
who has knowledge of classified Cryptologic Centers.
projects, equipment or operations, • Use specific project names or provide
including covernames in your resume details of classified applications related
may be counterproductive. Although to the NSA/CSS mission.
most covernames are unclassified
• Use any NSA/CSS supervisors' names.
when there are no associated details or
References should be listed as
descriptions, they have no meaning to
"Available Upon Request."
people outside the cryptologic
Supervisors for jobs outside of the
community. It may be better in some
NSA/CSS may be listed.
instances to avoid the use of
• Include classification or portion
covernames and instead, when
markings.
possible, use unclassified descriptions
for projects, equipment and operations. • Use an Internal Staffing Resume (ISR)
as an external resume. An external
8. Indicate that you have had a field
resume should be a document prepared
assignment, either CONUS or
specifically for public dissemination
OCONUS, using terms such as "field
vice a copy of an ISR with the
site," "field location," "overseas site,"
classification and portion markings
or "overseas location." In most
removed. If you want to use your ISR
instances, you may not indicate the
for external use then you must request
specific location of the field site.
it under the Freedom of Information
9. List most courses you have taken at the
NCS. Please be aware that some Act (FOIA).
courses may be classified when listed
in conjunction with employment with
NSA/CSS. We do not recommend a
long list of courses but rather a few
courses related to your area of
expertise. A transcript from the NCS
may not be included with your resume
since it a government record and may
only be used for official purposes.
10. List most specific computer languages
in which you are proficient. Do not
provide details of classified
applications related to the NSA/CSS
mission.
11. List most types of computer hardware
and software for which you are
proficient. Do not provide details of
classified applications related to the
NSA/CSS mission.
.
Do not knowingly include operationally sensitive or classified information, this includes information pre
identified as For Official Use Only. Resumes must be completely unclassified. Inclusion of classified
information, inadvertent or not, may result in the forfeiture of equipment if used in the preparation of
the resume.
