Expert: Laszlo Bockh - 9/14/2000

Question
Hello. First of all, thank you for taking the time to do this!  I am considering a career change and am looking for as much input as possible.  I have a master`s in library science and have been a librarian for 10 years.  I am thinking about going back to school to study public administration, because I want to be able to make a difference in my community.  I am fortunate to live in Syracuse NY and hope that I might be able to get into the program there. I am also considering a joint MPA/JD program.

My question is about jobs for people with this degree.  I would really like to end up in a policy analysis position at the state/local level.    Do you have any comment on what the typical job track might be for someone trying to end up in such a position?   

Also, what are the characteristics that you would consider important for a person to be successful in this field?  

Thanks again!

Answer
Congratulations on your decision to change careers, especially for considering public service as a desirable career.  My experience is mostly with the Federal service, but I believe that I can provide some thoughts for you to consider.  I will raise some issues that you may want to consider as well as give you my opinion as to where civil service careers may be headed in the future.

I have made this somewhat long, but I assume that you want to have as much input as possible since you are considering a major change in what you do, and your commitment in time and money will be large.  The main thing you should keep in mind is that policy analysis is simply analytical work applied to specific requirements that arise in government, and that how, where, when, and by whom it is performed depends on circumstances.  And you have to be ready to shift focus quickly as programs change and the interest of the executive and legislature shifts.  Policy analysis is similar to an academic endeavor, and much policy analysis is done in think tanks rather than government offices.  There is a tradeoff between managing programs (and making things happen) and studying and reviewing them (the policy analysis function).  Most people with public administration degrees work in the action parts of government.

Policy Analysis as Work

You should consider the type of work that you would like to do before you consider the degree.  Policy analysis is a very broad area, with most policy analysis-type work being performed by people with backgrounds in specialties other than public administration.  There are engineers, economists, mathematicians and people with many other backgrounds doing policy analysis because the focus of policy analysis tends to be in subject matter areas, or requires an esoteric skill.  Highway policy tends to be addressed by people with highway backgrounds, economic development by people with economics or business backgrounds, and some issues involve complex technical or data manipulation matters that demand primarily a high level of skill in the subject matter or mathematical/statistical analytical skills.

Organizational and Geographic Location of the Work

Policy analysis by and large consists of assessing programs, ideas, or needs and coming up with ways to meet them or by second-guessing the ways in which others want to solve problems.  ("Second-guessing" may not sound very nice, but this is in fact what review levels do, and that is how the people who have to do the work of programs view them.)  The work is generally carried out within larger organizations that have the resources and need for people doing this type of work.  This means that policy analysts work for larger states or very large metropolitan governments, or they may only do policy analysis as part of another primary job, such as planner or administrator.  If you seek this type of work you have to be prepared to move to the places where the work is, generally state capitals or very large cities.

Value of the Degrees

I do not want to imply that a master of public policy or similar degree is not helpful, because it is. (Some schools award MPAs and MPPs, with the MPP being more valuable for "policy analysis" positions; you should check the specific school and find out what they award.)  But you have to consider the fact that by now you have some work experience, and you may be looking for a position that may be filled by people with other than public policy degrees.  There is more than one way to get to the type of work you seem to want to do.  Don't limit yourself to public administration.  And if you study public administration make sure that you have a good foundation in some of the "harder" subjects, such as statistics, economics, and business.  Accounting and budget may not be a bad idea to add to your repertoire - all policies cost, and much policy analysis deals with the costs of programs and alternatives.  Without a background in the area in which you may seek work you will be competing at essentially entry levels with younger people with backgrounds in other specialties, so you should be able to hold your own if the employer is looking for hard analytical skills and training.

Adding a law degree may be useful, especially in finding work.  Your flexibility increases, especially if you want to work in the legislative side of government.  Most legislators are lawyers and would consider such a degree a mark of higher skill.  Legislation does, after all, relate to laws.  Lawyers could have an advantage in this type of work and be more valuable for their employers, but there are lawyers in general counsel and other legal offices that can provide these services.  I would pursue an additional law degree if I were sure that I want to practice law at some point and that the additional time and cost are not a large obstacle – adding a law degree usually adds one or two years to a program of study.

Job Track

My comments to this point hint at the mixed nature of getting to these types of positions.  Some people arrive by way of expertise in a subject matter (e.g., highways, welfare).  The expertise may have been built up by having worked in the programs.  Or the expertise may have been acquired in academia and transferred to the public sector.  Or the expertise may have been acquired by academic study (e.g., a Ph.D. in statistics would be a prime candidate for an analytical job that requires sophisticated analysis of large databases).  Others arrive by luck - an assignment came their way in other types of work, such as audit, and they became experts in an area and were the best qualified when a policy analysis job opened up or was established.  There are also well established policy analysis shops that hire people out of school and teach them the programs that they have to deal with.

Most people with public administration degrees work in parts of government that do not do policy analysis, although they do have to use their training and intelligence to get things done.  You may find some government work that interests you.  You could start as a management intern in an agency and become a manager for a direct function.  Later you may find yourself shifting to a purely analytical position after you acquired a wealth of knowledge about the program you managed.  And even later you may find yourself returning to running a program after your analyses resulted in changes.

Employment Prospects

By and large, government employment prospects are good.  There is a steady increase in population, which demands increasing and more complex services, which must be delivered in sophisticated ways.  This places a premium on well-educated and intelligent government workers.  The pay and benefits of government work vary with states, but in many cases it is comparable and in some ways better than what is offered by private sector jobs - you have to do a full analysis of the value of salary plus benefits to make a fair comparison.  (The paperwork for getting hired, on the other hand, is usually more in government.)

With current economic conditions continuing it is likely that government hiring will keep on happening.  However, if there is an economic downturn, governments may stop hiring -they have the bad habit of freezing employment for long periods of time.  You should be prepared for this and be ready to work at other things if government hiring in areas you have an interest has stopped.  It is my impression that you would be looking for work in three to four years, so this may be a situation that you have to consider seriously.  Another factor is the political one.  At state and local levels elections have a more direct and immediate effect on jobs and hiring.  Regardless of economic conditions, a politician elected on a platform to "throw the rascals out" may well do that, eliminating jobs and hiring simply for political reasons.

Personal Characteristics

Policy analysis requires flexibility, ability to persevere, intellectual curiosity and ability, ability to present materials well, and a well rounded education - you never know what you will encounter in studying problems and presenting your results.

Action Suggestion

I suggest you talk to a few people who are in policy analysis positions.  You will find them in legislatures (in analyst positions of various sorts, including budget), governors' offices, in state auditor shops, and in some non-profit think tanks.  Ask them what their backgrounds are and how they arrived at their current positions.

You may also be able to talk to mid-career students or career changers at Syracuse and find out why they are back in school.  You should get invaluable insights as to the reality of work in government and the qualifications required.

Hope these thoughts help you in making your decision, and please feel free to ask additional questions as they arise.  I wish you luck and wisdom in making your career decision.

Sincerely yours,

Laszlo Bockh