If you are a college student with your sights set on a federal employment career path after you graduate, whether that is as a politician, a senior executive service (SES) position or another type of federal employment, this guide will help you know the steps you can take to increase your chances of achieving that goal and finding success within your role.
While it is common to assume that achieving that goal primarily hinges on decisions made once you graduate, the decisions you make early on in your college career will have a significant impact on your chances of both getting a future federal government job and how far you move up within the federal government.
While you do not need a university-level degree to get a federal job, having one can improve your chances of significant career advancement within the federal government. Although the best degrees for a politician are not necessarily the same as those for high-level federal employment positions, there is often significant overlap between the two. So if you are unsure which type of federal employment you see yourself with, you likely cannot go wrong with any of the following degrees:
The best level of education for a federal job depends on where you are at on your career path. Most entry-level federal jobs can be had with a Bachelor’s degree, and many do not even require that much education as a condition for hiring if the candidate has sufficient or equivalent experience.
However, the higher you climb up the management ladder with federal employment, the greater your chances are of being hired if you have advanced education. Moreover, you may find that you need to go back to school mid-career to enhance your qualifications for higher-up positions.
When seeking to maximize the potential of your career path within federal employment, it is important to take stock of where you are now and what it will take to get to where you want to be in five, ten or even 15 to 20 years into the future. Doing so may take some time, both to figure out the skills, experiences and qualities you currently have and determine where you want your career path to lead to, but it will give you a greater sense of direction for your career path.
As you take a personal inventory of where you are and where you want to be, consider the skills, qualities and experiences that are attractive to hiring boards and make a plan to develop and implement them into your portfolio. With regard to federal employment, there is no better place to look than the five Executive Core Qualifications laid out by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Those five qualifications are as follows:
When hiring for an SES position, members of the hiring board will assess how well each candidate measures up according to those core qualifications. You can also read through the OPM’s Guide to Senior Executive Qualifications for an in-depth look at what it takes to land an SES position with the federal government and the skills you need to acquire for senior executive service positions.
With that in mind, it can be highly advantageous to seek out jobs that provide opportunities for you to develop those qualities in yourself, whether those jobs are in the public or private sector. As such, look for jobs that allow you to:
When you find a job that allows you to grow in those particular areas, affiliate yourself with areas of that organization that provide mentorship opportunities for the purpose of career advancement. As you gain more experience and credibility within your organization, set your sights on an executive position to gain executive experience.
After considerable experience and recognition within your department or organization, enrolling in an SES candidate development program (SESCDP) approved by the OPM could be the next step on your career path. A SESCDP is designed to set candidates up for SES positions as they devise the perfect résumé and develop the essential skills needed to shine like a diamond in the rough when it comes to the SES position hiring stages.
The SES career path is highly sought after for numerous reasons. Not only are you handsomely paid but you also have the opportunity to have a lasting impact on the health, education, security and living standards of people within the United States and the world at large. With that in mind, here are some other benefits of the SES career path:
Additionally, SES positions typically have attractive benefits packages, which includes 90 days of paid leave, one week of home leave for every four months of service, reimbursement for up to 50% of the price for professional liability insurance and excellent health insurance, life insurance and savings plan programs.
When leaving the private sector for a job with the federal government, there is certainly a growing curve to expect. With that being said, there are certainly advantages of doing so, both for the individual joining the public sector and the federal department or agency they are joining.
In general, federal government jobs have significantly different structures than those within the private sector, which will take some time acclimatizing yourself to if you switch from the latter to the former. At the same time, when a qualified and skilled individual enlists in federal service after experiencing success and recognition within the private sector, they can provide fresh insight and innovation into the rigid governmental structures.
Such insight and innovation do not happen right away, however, as the individual will be most effective if they first take the time to listen to team members and get to know their organization or department. Moreover, government employees tend to stick to their departments much longer than professionals in the private sector. Thus, it pays to get to know the people you will be working with, including their vision for the department or organization, what motivates them and what their talents and skills are.
You will also need to learn how to navigate the rules and processes of federal employment strategically and effectively before you can make innovations or have a lasting impact on your departments, such as those that are designed for fairness and inclusivity.
A common misconception about high-level federal jobs, such as SES positions, is that time spent in the military automatically improves your chances of being hired for such positions. While the Veterans Preference Act can give Veterans the upper hand in certain circumstances when applying for government jobs, the advantages apply only if they meet certain eligibility conditions. Moreover, the Veterans Preference Act does not apply to SES positions.
If a Veteran meets the Veterans Preference Act eligibility conditions, they are most likely to benefit from it if the swath of candidates for the given federal job have equal qualifications and the hiring race is neck-and-neck. With that in mind, the eligibility requirements to qualify for the Veterans Preference Act benefits include:
With all that said, military service can potentially benefit an individual on their federal employment career path, but it is far from a guarantee that it will and such service will have no bearing on your eligibility for an SES position. Moreover, you can leverage your experience and education without any military experience to find equivalent success with federal employment. As such, enlisting in the military for the sole purpose of improving your chances of landing a high-level position within the federal government is not recommended.
While there is no way of knowing exactly how automation and the digitization of our modern society will affect government jobs, it is certain that it will in some way, in addition to the ways that it already has. Departments of the government and federal jobs that have already been affected by automation include accounting, transportation, postal service and library jobs. Furthermore, a study published by Oxford University estimates that 47 percent of government jobs are at risk of automation, especially those that involve highly repetitive tasks.
On the other hand, some departments and federal jobs stand to benefit from increased automation, such as cybersecurity and information services.
That said, it is inevitable that automation will make forays into federal government operations, so it is a good idea to prepare yourself for what that might look like and adjust your skill-set accordingly. Some things that automation cannot replace, at least anytime soon, are soft skills like interpersonal exchanges and creative collaboration. As such, it is highly beneficial to develop those irreplaceable skills now and continue to as you consider federal employment.
At the same time, you will want to develop skills that are bound to become more relevant in a digital landscape, such as digital literacy, data-driven mindsets and intercultural awareness and competency.
Whether you are a college student, a professional within the private sector considering federal service or a federal employee exploring the possibility of career advancement, our résumé writers and career coaches at CareerProPlus would love to help you achieve your goals and reach the heights of your potential. We can help you nail your SES application or federal employment résumé. Get in touch with us today to learn more about what we can do for your federal employment career path!