About Laszlo Bockh Expertise I will answer general questions related to employment in the Federal Civil Service, such as procedures followed and likely reasons why management takes certain actions. I will also answer questions related to how to develop a career and how to prepare for promotions, especially those related to budget and program analysis careers. I will not answer questions related to specific job actions or grievances.
Experience I worked for 35 years for the Federal government. I managed a human resources function for over 20 years. I started as a GS-7 and left as a GS-15, with acting stints in SES positions.
Organizations American Society of Public Administration, American Association for Budget and Program Analysis, Association for Budget and Financial Management.
Education/Credentials Master of Public Administration.
Question Hello, Im Dennis, a 22 year old senior at a four year university. Im currently a history major and should be graduating within the next year. I thought I wanted to be a teacher and a coach at high school, but recently I have had second guesses about my career path. I hope it is okay that Im writing to you, because I want and need to explore all of my career options while they are still reachable. Im not even sure what the Civil Service field can offer someone like me...but i just wanted to ask and see what would happen. So, my question to you is what is available in the field, and what is growing, and where should I go from here at this point in my life? Any response is greatly appreciated....thanks for your time.
Dennis
Answer Thanks for giving me the opportunity to address your questions. You are not the first college senior who has doubts about what to do in the future. Fortunately, you still have time to assess what makes sense for you before you graduate.
Before I give some insights about the civil service let me suggest that you use your career center at your university to do some study of what your interests are and how they could be best satisfied by work. Practically all universities have a career center that provides counseling and testing related to career choices. Use them. You are paying for it.
The civil service is simply being a government employee without being a military person - this is the "civil" part. It is civilians working for the government. The government can be the Federal government or a state or local government. The civil service consists of many different types of jobs. There is no "civil service" standard job. Civil servants are engineers, accountants, doctors, dentists, typists, secretaries, managers, teachers - practically everything you can image is done someplace by civil servants. Astronauts are civil servants as are the Weather Bureau forecasters and as are the fire fighters dealing with forest fires in the West. Opportunites with the civil service are broad, but the most important factor for you to consider is what type of work you would like to do.
Once you decide what you would like to do, you should consider who will give you a job doing what you want to do. The Federal Civil Service would obviously be one of the employers to look at. Government service can be very satisfying and rewarding. Some types of work can only be done with the Federal Civil Service - the work and jobs do not exist elsewhere (examples are astronauts, National Park and National Forest managers, Foreign Service officers, and many others). The salaries for most jobs are competitive with private companies; when benefits are included, government jobs in many cases come out ahead of private jobs, especially if you look a few years into the future.
The future prospects for various state civil service jobs vary with the state. For the Federal government, the future is not one of growth but opportunities for young people getting started are very good. Much of the existing Federal work force is older, and is expected to retire in the next five to ten years, creating many opportunities in the near future.
If you are interested in working for the government but do not have a specific type of work in mind you may want to explore some of the entry level programs that some agencies have. These programs are sometimes called internships, and can involve a year or more of training assignments generally related to general management work.
It is usually harder to get a civil service job than it is to get a private company job. This is because there are more legal procedures that must be followed. But if you persevere you can get a civil service job.
Hope this helps you to keep civil service as an option for you, and remember that you have to decide what you want to work on first, then consider civil service as an option for an employer.
Good luck with your career decisions. Feel free to ask additional questions if they come to mind.
