Hey,
I saw you post under DOD employment. When were you at NKX? I was there from 199-2004, 'good place to be; I miss it. You mentioned tips for getting hired, I work for the Army these days and a little "trick" is cut and paste the actual job announcement after your resume. It ends up looking a little funny but they're use to seeing it. The first "round" is machine picked, it picks key words. Your resume may have it, but if you do this cut and paste the announcement usaually has the keywords and you make the first cut.