Writing a federal resume sucks for veterans and spouses. Seriously. It is such a long, drawn-out, misunderstood, totally encoded process. We military folks ought to be issued lollipops, lemon drops ...

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Marisol Maloney, a résumé writer living in San Diego. Business Insider has verified her identity. This story has been edited for length and ...

Veterans and spouses often come to me when they have had no luck finding a federal job on their own. These qualified job hunters have applied and applied and applied with their federal resume -- and ...