Why isn't the Federal Government hiring me?

Let's take these one at a time: "We have carefully reviewed your application and determined that you are not eligible for this position...." "Eligible" is the key word. That's different from "qualified or not qualified". The eligibility criteria is stated in the announcement. You didn't meet something there so it doesn't matter what your resume says. It could be area of consideration, degree, license, etc. That's the first screening criteria.

"Ineligible for further consideration for this position and grade based on results of your referral." "Referral" is the key word. That usually is your resume was forwarded to a selecting official (may or may not be a panel) and he/she//they deemed you lower ranked when compared to others. The only other thing that people confuse is "referral" is different from "reference" which is where the official calls a reference and gets a negative review. That can drive the result of the referral as well.

My experience in hiring lots of GS employees but not hiring 10-15 times more is your resume is likely mismatching with the Series/Grade and specific job criteria. I agree with other RPers that getting some help with it is advised. There's too much Urban Legend about other reasons. I've seen less than 1-2% of actions tainted with preselection, nepotism, etc. The HR review and their subsequent audits pretty much have driven that away 20+ years ago. There are exceptions but that as a standard knee jerk answer does more harm than good. I believe you need to find out what the 98% answer is. Oh, the system flags resumes that have "copy/paste" attributes. Nothing like telling HR you're trying to game the system. They have seen it all.

One of 2 reasons: 1. You are being totally honest about your abilities and your resume doesn't perfectly match the job description. 2. Nepotism/Cronyism/Broken System - the people doing the hiring already have someone lined up and/or are hiring internally but they legally have to post the job, so in reality that job isn't available to you it just looks that way. There isn't much you can do about number 2 other than find a friend who already works there to help you get in. As for number 1 definitely do what SSgt (Join to see) has suggested as well as adding the job description to the end of your resume in 1 pt font and white font color (so it can't be seen even when printed but will be picked up by the computer). Hope that helps.

Before I retired I applied for more jobs than that. It is a slow process but before applying make sure the following things are good. First, make sure your resume is detailed and not brief in what you have done. Also make sure your resume contains the keywords from the job announcement. Second, if you are a veteran make sure you have your points in USAJOBS.gov. Also remember you can apply for government that are just for government employees under VEOA, VRA and if you are 30% disabled. Third, patience is the key. For each job announcement agencies receive hundreds of applications. Also if you are a Christian, trust in God. If He has gotten you through tough times in the past He is not going to forsake you now.