Tips for Selecting Your ECQ Stories

The following post explores Tips for Selecting Your ECQ Stories.

Are you applying to Senior Executive Service (SES) roles within the U.S. federal government? If so, you’ll need Executive Core Qualification (ECQ) stories that demonstrate your leadership acumen.

Read: How to Write ECQs Using CCAR

Related: Best Federal Resume Writing Services

First things first – you need to reflect on your experience and identify specific examples from your work history that illustrate the ECQ competencies being assessed.

Here’s what you need to know.

Overview

In 2025, the ECQs process changed drastically under the federal government’s Merit Hiring Plan. Most notably, applicants are no longer required to submit the traditional 10-page ECQs.

Once a hallmark of the old system, applicants were expected to craft five separate essays, each running nearly two pages, with carefully structured examples aligned to the CCAR format.

While this approach did allow for deep storytelling, it also created a barrier for otherwise qualified candidates who struggled to translate executive leadership into dense narrative form.

ECQs Are Still Used

While the traditional long-form ECQ submission is no longer required, ECQs are still used in the SES application process. However, it’s how ECQs are being administered that’s changing.

Under the new Merit Hiring Plan, agencies may evaluate your ECQs in one of three ways:

• Structured Interview – Verbally articulate your ECQ stories in response to targeted leadership questions during a formal interview setting.
• One-Page Narrative Statements – Submit one-page narrative statements for each of the five ECQs (totaling five pages).
• Integrated Federal Resume – Submit a two-page Federal Resume that weaves the five ECQs directly into your work history.

New ECQs in 2025

Under the ‘Merit Hiring Plan’, the ECQs have been updated for the first time since 2006. The number of ECQs remains five, but the definitions and behavioral indicators have been refreshed.

Here are the old and new ECQs.

Old ECQs (Pre-2025):

• ECQ 1: Leading Change
• ECQ 2: Leading People
• ECQ 3: Results Driven
• ECQ 4: Business Acumen
• ECQ 5: Building Coalitions

New ECQs (2025 and beyond):

• ECQ 1: Commitment to the Rule of Law and the Principles of the American Founding
• ECQ 2: Driving Efficiency
• ECQ 3: Merit and Competence
• ECQ 4: Leading People
• ECQ 5: Achieving Results

Below is a screenshot of the five new ECQs announced in May 2025.

Study Each ECQ

Before you can bring your ECQ examples to life, you need to understand what each one is asking for.

Each ECQ is a high-level leadership domain made up of multiple subcomponents — specific competencies that define what effective executive leadership looks like in practice.

For example, ‘Driving Efficiency’, one of the five new ECQs, isn’t just about strategically and efficiently managing resources; it includes elements like fiscal responsibility, managing resources, and leveraging technology. Those are the official subcomponents of the ‘Driving Efficiency’ ECQ.

To build a strong ECQ response, your example must touch on several (ideally all) of the sub-elements. That’s why studying the ECQs is so important before selecting your examples.

Reflect On Your Experience

Now that you understand what the ECQs are looking for, it’s time to step back and reflect on your career.

Start by jotting down a list of your top 10 leadership stories. Think about moments where you made a lasting impact, led through complexity, or drove meaningful change.

Too often, SES applicants dive into the process without first doing the hard work of introspection.

By stepping back to consider the full arc of your professional growth, you’ll be better positioned to choose stories that are both compelling and strategically aligned with what SES evaluators are looking for.

Select Your Stories

Now that you understand the ECQs and reflected on your experience, it’s time to select one strong, distinct example for each ECQ.

Think in terms of CCAR: does the story include a meaningful challenge, a clear context, decisive actions you took, and measurable results? Your examples should be varied enough to show the full range of your leadership capabilities across different settings and responsibilities.

This step is where strategy meets storytelling. Avoid reusing the same scenario across multiple ECQs, and avoid examples that lean too heavily on technical expertise without demonstrating executive leadership.

Outline Your Stories

If a story doesn’t address enough of the leadership behaviors required, it’s better to find that out before you start writing. That’s why I recommend outlining your ECQs.

Start by selecting one story per ECQ – ideally, one that showcases breadth and depth of executive leadership. Then, map each story using the CCAR model (Challenge, Context, Action, Result).

As you outline the story, be intentional. Your outline should explicitly connect parts of your story to the ECQ’s subcomponents so nothing critical gets overlooked.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope this article helps you with selecting your ECQ stories. I know developing ECQs is a difficult task. That’s why it’s so important to select appropriate subject matter before crafting your ECQs.

If you need help navigating this process or professional assistance building your ECQs, my team and I are here to support you.