“Planning and Navigating your Career into Public Service”

PLANNING AND NAVIGATING YOUR

CAREER INTO PUBLIC SERVICE

About your instructor

Alex Harrington, GCDFGlobal Career Development Facilitator

National Career Development Association, NCDA

Center for Credentialing & Education, CCE

CBP safeguards America's borders by protecting the public

from dangerous people and materials, while enabling trade

and travel.

The Federal Career Connection program was created in 2011 by volunteers to

provide facilitator-led workshops to equip job seekers with the right mix of

information and resources to enhance their federal job search.

Federal Career Connection Workshop Series• “Charting an Effective Course for

Success”Know your bearing

• “Planning and Navigating your Career

into Public Service”Know your terrain

• “Targeting Federal Jobs”Know your target

• “Writing a Competitive Federal

Government RésuméKnow your brand

FURTHER READING

How?!

The Planning and Navigating Your Career into Public

Service workshop is designed to:

Help job seekers clearly understand how to take steps to find a federal

career;

Show job seekers how to combine federal industry awareness and basic

search techniques to locate federal jobs; and

Provide simple principles and techniques to enhance a job seeker’s

marketability and personal brand.

Introduction

Learn various avenues to finding employment with the federal government;

Gain better understanding of the federal government hiring process and latest industry trends;

Gain better understanding on how to align transferable core competencies to the desired federal career field;

Understand and implement a basic federal job search approach; and

Learn basic techniques and principles when writing a federal résumé.

Course Objectives

I. More than one door to federal employment

II. Federal government hiring process and trends

III. Transferable Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (Core

Competencies)

IV. Basic job search approach

V. The skinny on federal résumés

Course Agenda

More than one door to federal employment

Graphic from Lefkoe Institute

Competitive Service

Excepted Service

Senior Executive Service

Three Categories of Federal Jobs

Other Sources of Federal Jobs

Presidential Management Fellows Program

Congress

Campaigns

Political Appointments (i.e., Plum Book)

Contract Jobs (i.e., USAspending.gov, DOD contracts)

Federal Hiring Authorities

Pathways Programs

Military and volunteer service

Disabilities

Other excepted service

How does the federal

government hire?

Federal government hiring process and trends

“The federal government, which currently

employs almost 2 million people, is currently

perched on the edge of an unprecedented

retirement wave…” (Lily Whiteman, How to Land a Top Paying Federal Job, 2012)

Must haves on your book shelf:

Useful Bookmarks: Government HR Policy

Merit Systems Protection Board http://www.mspb.gov

Office of Personnel Management http://www.opm.gov

Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov

Congressional Research Service http://pennyhill.com

Useful Bookmarks: Non-Profit / Academia

GovTrack http://www.govtrack.us

Partnership for Public Service http://ourpublicservice.org

National Academy of Public

Administration

http://www.napawash.org

Center for Innovation in Public

Service

http://mediarelations.gwu.edu

Useful Bookmarks: Media Sources

GovExec.com http://www.govexec.com

FedSmith.com http://www.fedsmith.com

Federal Times http://www.federaltimes.com

Federal News Radio http://www.federalnewsradio.com

Federal Daily http://federaldaily.com

Career Matters by Lily Whiteman http://blogs.federaltimes.com

Transferable Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

(Core Competencies)

“The Federal government seeks employees with

the same type of skills possessed by many ...

particular, in this post-9/11 environment, the

Federal government needs a well-trained,

disciplined workforce to protect our nation.” (Camille Carboneau Roberts, CC Career Services)

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS

ABILITIESPERSONAL

CHARACTERISTICS

STRENGTHS

So what? Why should I care about core competencies?

Basic job search approach

“Be creative and flexible with your federal job

hunting!” (Bryan Kempton, Director, Office of Career Services and Alumni Relations, University

of Maryland School of Public Policy)

Have a clear plan of how

you’re going to approach

them.

Have your questions

already prepared before

you meet your contact.

Define your end goal.

Target your network groups

Personal relationships

Professional relationships

Organizational and community affiliations

Opportunistic networks

Social media

Networking card

One-page résumé

Online presence (You must be ‘Googable’)

Blog

LinkedIn

Discussion forums

Setting yourself apart

The skinny on federal résumés

“When you apply for jobs, remember that hiring

managers won’t leisurely savor every word of your

résumé while relaxing beside a cozy fire, as if they

were reading a suspense novel. Instead, they will

… ruthlessly [find a reason] to reject it in order to

quickly whittle down the application pile.” ((Lily Whiteman, How to Land a Top Paying Federal Job, 2012)

What is the purpose of a federal résumé?

Remember, when writing your résumé, you’re writing

for two groups!

Remember to target your field

of interest;

Write for both – HR and Hiring

Official;

Include specific information in

your federal résumé;

Take advantage of the career

summary;

Highlight your stellar

accomplishments;

Develop a résumé that covers

about ten years or less; and

Create both a formatted and

scannable résumé.

When creating your Federal résumé:

So, what have you learned? What are various avenues to finding employment with the

federal government?

Where can you go to learn more about the federal

government hiring process?

What are core competencies?

What are some creative networking ideas?

What is the purpose of a federal résumé?

FURTHER READING

www.linkedin.com/in/alexjharrington