How to Write an Effective Executive Qualification Statement

The Office of Personnel Management’s guide to writing

executive qualification statements says that the key is

to be specific — about professional and volunteer

experience, education, training and awards, anything

demonstrating skills in particular ECQs and to leave no

doubts in the minds of the rating and selecting officials,

and ECQ review board members who’ll be reading it.

Relevance is more important than quantity when matching

experience with ECQ criteria, so it’s a good idea to follow

OPM’s Key Characteristics as guidelines when relating

experiences. Here is some advice from that document:

• Start off qualification statements with a brief summary

  of executive experience then use the challenge-

  context-action-result model to write the rest.

• For “challenge,” describe a specific problem or goal. For “context,” talk about the individuals and groups you

  worked with and the environment you worked in while

  responding to waning morale or an anemic budget for example.

  Then talk about the actions you took and the results you

  got. Part of the secret is to pitch results.

• Give about a page for each ECQ and write in the first

  person, spelling out acronyms. Include recent education

  and training relating to that ECQ as well as private

  sector and volunteer experience, any awards, and relevant

  special assignments such as details, task forces and

  committees. Avoid fluffing it up with personal beliefs of

  philosophies and let the examples and results do the talking.