Joining the New Government

To Our Friends in the Recruiting Community:

As you read this, the government by, for, and of the people has taken a giant step forward. We have inaugurated our first African American president, and our country is going to change in ways we can’t even imagine yet. Many UCSB students are in D.C. today taking part in this historic moment, while most of us watch from afar.

As Obama’s new paradigm takes hold, many students will join in. We had a number of social service agencies attend our CARE Expo last week, offering students ways to help the country through social service. Next week we will sponsor the Diversity Fair, highlighting employers with a commitment to diversity, a group which will no doubt grow as our country changes. But some of you want to actually be a part of the change in the new government that Obama is building. You want to join the Federal Government.

Tip: Most Federal agencies do their own recruiting and hiring. Because agencies do their own hiring and have different requirements, procedures and information required are often varied between agencies. All agencies require the basic resume information but it varies on how much additional information is needed. A good tip is to go to the agency for which you want to work, then check out the jobs and internships they have listed. Follow the application instructions carefully, as information not submitted can result in your application not being evaluated. Here are some good starting places you can check out to get yourself connected.

• Internships. Internships are a great way to learn about an agency and get your foot in the door. Many agencies post their internships at StudentJobs.gov. You’ll see a few designations here that you’ll want to understand. Positions in the Student Temporary Employment Program do not have to relate to your field of study; positions in the Student Career Experience Program do. Positions in the Federal Career Intern Program are full time, 2 year long positions, and are good post-BA internships. For a good overview, as well as access to the Federal Internship Director, go to Making the Difference, and click on Federal Internships. This site is also a wonderful site to use to peruse federal jobs as well as internships.

• USAJobs is the official job site of the United States government. You can use it to build your résumé (which is different from a normal résumé), explore the agencies with the highest job availability, as well as search for position openings. It’s pretty much your one stop shop.

Some things to consider:

• Federal agencies have the authority to provide up to $10,000 in loan repayment assistance per year for federal loans with a total lifetime cap of $60,000 per employee. In exchange, the employee must commit to working for the federal government for three years for each year they accept the loan repayment. Not all agencies are able to provide this benefit, and those that do usually use it for “hard to fill” or “hard to retain” positions. Additional detail and information can be found here.

• The government pays pretty well. Salary is based on grade (typical college grads would start as GS5’s, those with a high level of academic achievement and a bachelor’s degree, may be eligible for a GS-7) and location (a GS-7 in D.C. starts at $39,330 and in S.F. at $43,117). A top performer could be eligible for promotion to a GS-11 (DC – $58,206; SF – $63,811), which may be attainable in 2-3 years.

The federal government may need to hire up to 500,000 people over the next five years to replace these retirees and others who leave government. Obviously this “spells opportunity” and lots of it for new feds.

Micael Kemp is the director of Career Services at UCSB.