- contacts
- phone: 505-665-5627
- email: jobs@lanl.gov
Tips for Applying to LANL
Résumés and CVs
The Lab’s system for handling résumés and CVs is called Personic. With this system, you have three options for submitting your résumé or CV and your cover letter. In any case, be certain that you use your full name, including your middle name. If you are known by a nickname, place it in parentheses, for example, Susan Patricia (Patsy) Gomez. Insert a comma following your name AND include your Z number (if you are an internal LANL candidate). If you work for a contractor and are not a LANS employee, be certain that it is clear that you work for a specific contracting organization. Use only one of the following options to apply for a position:
- online application
- Use flush left, straight, plain text. If you opt to paste in an MS Word résumé or CV document and cover letter rather than typing in your document, you risk losing all the formatting because of the browser at the entry point on your system. However, you can create a résumé, CV, or a cover letter in MS Word, save it as a .rtf (Rich Text Format) document, and insert it into the electronic system without encountering formatting problems.
- email attachment
- You may send your résumé or CV and cover letter as attachments to a brief email to jobs@lanl.gov. In the Subject line, indicate the job number for which you are applying. In the body of the text, indicate your Z number if you are an internal LANL candidate. In addition, be certain that your Z number appears following your name on the attachments. Job bid forms are no longer necessary.
- hard copy
- You also have the option of (a) sending your résumé or CV and cover letter as hard copies to HR-Staffing through the mail to PO Box 1663, MS P286, Los Alamos, NM 87545 or (b) hand-carrying them to HR Resume Services on the second floor of the Otowi Building. Again, include the job number and your Z number.
Your résumé or CV and cover letter are considered part of your “official Laboratory record.”
People who rely on formatting or design and art for their careers (writers/ editors, compositors, graphic designers, etc.) might want to submit creatively formatted hard copies rather than electronic versions. Managers have been advised to judge a résumé or CV on its contents, not on the appearance and/or formatting.
External résumés and CVs are kept for one year. Internal résumés and CVs are never purged. If you have applied for an advertised LANL job in the past, do not resubmit a résumé or CV unless there has been a significant change in your personal contact information, education, training, skills, or work experience. If there has been essentially no change, you need only to verify the information shown on line and complete the Personal Information and Cover Letter portions of the application.
Cover Letters
Address the Required Skills and Desired Skills item by item in your cover letter. Use brief statements indicating the variety of experience you have that demonstrates each skill.
Timeframe
You apply on Day 1, and on Day 2 your materials are processed. Therefore, on Day 3, your application materials are emailed to the hiring official. You will receive an email confirmation of the receipt of your application materials.
You are strongly discouraged from submitting any additional materials other than a résumé or CV and a cover letter unless the job ad requests such additional material.
Audrey Barela of HR Resume Services will be happy to answer questions concerning Personic. Her telephone number is (505) 667-8383.
