Managing Your Government Career

Stewart Liff

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780814412732
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Careers

This guide gives current and future government employees powerful advice for starting out and maneuvering through their entire career.

Working for the government offers many advantages: great prospects for professional growth, job security, an attractive array of benefits, and the opportunity to help other citizens—but it also presents unique challenges.

Based on the author's more than 32 years experience in civil service jobs, as well as his interactions with thousands of government employees, the book helps you:

• decide whether working for the government is right for you
• understand the differences between federal, state, and local levels
• apply, interview for, and get the job you want
• take advantage of the training offered
• understand the culture
• become familiar with local politics
• make yourself valuable
• develop the right mentors
• fluidly transition up the ladder

Packed with indispensable guidance, Managing Your Government Career is a unique and highly strategic resource for anyone working in government.

PART 1
GETTING IN
(ARRIVING)

CHAPTER 1

Should I Work for the Government and if So, Where?

THIS BOOK IS DESIGNED to assist current and future government employees in developing the best possible career with respect to self-fulfillment, overall growth, and personal happiness. It is based on my more than 32 years of experience in government, along with my interactions with thousands of government employees, some of whom had exciting and satisfying careers, while others had, quite frankly, miserable and disappointing careers that left them angry and cynical.

I spent the first part of my career in human resources management (HRM), starting as a personnel management specialist trainee and eventually moving up to run a national HRM program serving about 13,000 employees. During this time, I had the opportunity to learn the civil service personnel systems that are the framework for how people advance in government, and I will share that knowledge with you.

However, before we get started on learning the ins and outs of the government’s HRM systems, it is important for you to decide whether the government is in your future. This is a key decision that you need to make up front, because you do not want to languish in a system that is not a good fit for you. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with going to work for the government, getting some needed experience there, and then making the transition to the private sector, if that is a better fit for you. The key is to have at least some sense of where you are going, since if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll never get there.

Is the Government Right for You?

Like everything else, working for the government has its pluses and minuses. Before you decide to work for the government, it is important that you know what you are getting into, as the government is certainly not the right place for everyone. Let’s examine some of the advantages of working for the government (regardless of whether it is at the federal, state, or local level¹).

Advantages of Working for the Government

ADVANTAGE: HELPING YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS

You have the opportunity to make a difference. Every organization in government is designed to help our citizens. This may involve defending our country from terrorists, serving our nation’s veterans, protecting the environment, collecting taxes, managing immigration, educating our children, maintaining our libraries, fighting fires, or improving public health. Regardless of which branch of government you work for, you have the opportunity to help people and make a difference.

Imagine if you were part of the team that sent Neil Armstrong to the moon or helped the Apollo 13 astronauts return to earth. Now imagine that you are helping to prevent a recurrence of the 9/11 disaster, trying to combat global warming, fighting an infectious disease, aiding soldiers who are returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, or aiding victims of a major hurricane, fire, or flood. Government employees have the chance to make a difference on a daily basis . . . and they do.

Looking back on my government career, there is no doubt that being able to make a difference was definitely the highlight. Working with the dedicated employees of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) New York Regional Office (RO) to improve the way that veterans’ benefits were administered was an exhilarating and fulfilling experience. For example, we changed the way in which claims were processed from an assembly-line approach to a team-based, veteran-focused process. We also changed the way in which we paid our employees and developed VA’s first balanced scorecard. While we eventually received Vice President Gore’s first Hammer Award for reinventing government, and I actually got to meet him in the process, what was most meaningful to me was working together with great people to improve the lives of America’s heroes.

ADVANTAGE: JOB SECURITY AND SUPPORT

The government offers more job security than the private sector for a number of different reasons. The government is funded by taxes and does not require making a profit, so it will always exist in some shape or form. Moreover, for the most part, unlike their counterparts in the private sector, government employees don’t have to worry about corporate mergers, jobs moving overseas to low-cost areas, and other such threats. However, it should be noted that in recent years, there has been a drive to contract out some government work that is not inherently governmental,² and there is always the risk of consolidation.

In the unlikely event that a government job is abolished or transferred to another location, government employees still have strong protections. In the federal government, this type of situation is usually referred to as a reduction in force, or RIF. A myriad of procedures are in place to ensure that if a RIF occurs, employees are given appropriate credit for veterans’ preference, time with the government, excellent performance, and other such factors. Moreover, once an employee is in danger of losing her job as a result of a RIF, the government takes a series of actions to ensure that the employee is protected to the maximum extent possible.³

Many state and local governments take a similar approach. For example, in the state of New York, if an employee loses his job as a result of a RIF,

Every effort is made to avoid any employees losing State employment by reviewing their seniority rights and eligibility for transfer or reassignment and determining their “bumping” and “retreat” rights. Reemployment lists can provide job opportunities to competitive, non competitive, and labor class employees before and after they are laid off.⁴

Government employees also work within a system that enables them to appeal their removal,⁵ which makes it difficult and costly for their supervisors to fire them. In the federal government, employees can appeal the loss of a job to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) or file a grievance that can be decided by an arbitrator.

Many city and state governments provide their employees with similar protections. For example, in the city of Seattle, the Civil Service Commission “provides timely reviews of employee appeals regarding disciplinary actions and the administration of the City’s Personnel system.”⁶

In the event that you get into some sort of trouble in government, you generally have a union available that will represent you at no cost. In the federal government, “78 unions represent 1.1 million . . . civilian workers. . . . The unions range from the tiny 13-member Sport Air Traffic Controllers Organization to the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 600,000 employees. . . . In addition, four major unions represent most of the 800,000 workers at the Postal Service.”⁷

Unions also represent government workers at the state and local levels. For example, AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has about 1.4 million members nationwide. AFSCME represents a variety of service and health-care workers, including nurses, emergency medical technicians, bus drivers, and librarians.⁸

At virtually any level of government, employees also have the opportunity to complain about most issues affecting their employment either through the negotiated grievance procedure (where the union generally represents them if they are in the bargaining unit) or through the agency’s internal grievance procedure. Moreover, employees also have the right to file equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaints for acts of prohibited discrimination, where they are also entitled to a representative of their choice.

During my career, I never had the need for representation, since for the most part I was treated fairly and reasonably. However, on two occasions, I was concerned about losing my job, once because the organization that I was working for at the time was being downsized, and once because the organization faced the possibility of having its mission transferred to another location. In the first situation, I was able to switch to another agency in the same general area. On the second occasion, the mission was not actually transferred, although I was concerned about this happening for many months.

Had I actually lost my job on either occasion, I knew that my organization would follow the government’s priority placement program strictly and that I was likely to find another job within a reasonable period of time. Knowing this was very comforting during these periods of uncertainty.

ADVANTAGE: BENEFITS

The federal government offers an incredibly attractive array of benefits to its employees. To name just a few:⁹

• Its health insurance program offers you choice and flexibility along with a substantial employer contribution to premiums. Moreover, employees can pay both their share of premiums and out-of-pocket costs with pretax dollars.

• Its leave program provides time off to take care of personal, recreational, and health-care needs. In addition to 10 paid holidays, employees accumulate 13 days of sick leave and from 13 to 26 vacation days each year, depending on their length of service.

• To help employees manage their responsibilities outside of work and enhance their peace of mind, federal agencies may provide options including flexible work schedules and telework; child-care and elder-care resources; adoption information and incentive programs; child support programs, including subsidies and dependent-care flexible spending accounts; and employee assistance programs.

• The government’s three-part retirement program includes a social security benefit, a 401(k)-type plan, and a defined-benefit component based on years of employment and salary history.

• Employees can choose among several options for life insurance coverage.

• The government offers the largest group long-term care insurance program in the country. New employees can apply by answering just a few simple questions.

• Other programs include incentive awards, employee development programs, student loan repayment programs, and retention allowances.

The overwhelming majority of state and local governments offer similar benefits packages. For example, the following are some of the benefits that the state government of Ohio offers to its employees:¹⁰

• Ten paid holidays.

• Child care. Its Child Care Voucher Program provides cash grants once a year for work-related child-care expenses.

• Commuter choice. The commuter choice plan allows state employees to save money by paying for eligible transportation expenses, such as parking and transit passes, using pretax dollars.

• Credit union.

• Deferred compensation. The limits of this program are set by the IRS.

• Dependent-care assistance.

• Disability, worker’s compensation, and unemployment benefits.

• Employee assistance program.

• Flexible spending account.

• Health benefits:

Benefits comparison chart and guide

...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part 1: Getting In (Arriving)
• Part 2: Getting Off to a Good Start (Surviving)
• Part 3: Plotting Your Career (Thriving)
• Notes
• Index