Policy Career Development Newsletter

FACT #1: 85% OF FEDERAL JOBS ARE NOT IN WASHINGTON D.C.

FACT #2: STUDENTS CAN USE A LITTLE-KNOWN PROGRAM TO CONVERT THEIR FEDERAL INTERNSHIP TO A FULL TIME JOB.

FACT #3: THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEEDS 1,000’s OF TALENTED PROFESSIONALS AND WILL BE HIRING SOON. (SEE ARTICLES AT BOTTOM)
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Finding Opportunities in the Federal Government Without Using USAJobs.gov

Working in the federal government can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience. BUT finding the right opportunities can be a long and frustrating process, especially when using USAJOBS.gov, the central place to find and apply for federal openings.

FORTUNATELY, there are several opportunities for current students, undergraduates and recent grads that are not part of the competitive hiring process and are not listed on USAJobs.gov.

This document will introduce you to two growing federal hiring programs for students and recent graduates: the Student Employment Experience Programs (SEEP) and the Federal Career Internship Programs (FCIP).  This email includes slide show with info and downloadable documents including an agency-by-agency listing with key details and contact info.

1. Introduction to the Student and Federal Career Internship Program

Students interested in federal government employment must know two acronyms: STEP and SCEP. The STEP (Student Temporary Employment Program) and the SCEP (Student Career Experience Program) make up the federal government’s SEEP. The purpose of both programs is to give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in substantial, career-enhancing, paid, internship-like positions. Both the STEP and SCEP offer other benefits to the student depending on the hiring agency, like vacation, health insurance, and retirement, and they are not part of the competitive hiring process.

What about opportunities for alumni? Don’t let the word “Internship” turn you off from Federal Career Internship Program (FCIP) opportunities as you don’t have to be a current student for these particular FCIP opportunities. The federal government created the FCIP hiring authority to help agencies bring in the best and brightest graduates. FCIPs are professional training programs often given names like “Emerging Leaders Program” or “Administrative Fellows Program.” Regardless of the names, the FCIP hiring authority is the closest thing federal recruiters have to “on-the-spot” hiring, and they don’t have to be posted in USAJobs.gov.

The first section of the following slideshow will give you the basics of the SEEP opportunities, and is followed by an outline of the FCIP.

View the slideshow

Download the document

2. Listing of Specific Federal Agency Internship, Application Info & Contact Details

This is an agency-by-agency list of basic SEEP and FCIP descriptions, application details and contact info. It is by no means comprehensive or exhaustive. New positions are created every day, often at the suggestion of students and alumni. Please send your updates to Paul Binkley via email at tscareer@gwu.edu and he will add them to the listing.

View the slideshow

Download the document

THREE HELPFUL HINTS IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR FULL-TIME FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT

1. Focus on SCEP internships. Why? Most often are paid and you can possibly convert it to a full-time federal job once you graduate.

2. If you do a SCEP internship in one agency you can convert that experience to a full-time job in a completely different agency.

3. You can get half of the required hours needed for a federal job waived by superior performance in your internship. (Supervisor can waive if they agree)

RECENT NEWS ARTICLES ON FEDERAL HIRING:

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HIRING FOR THOUSANDS OF JOBS

HELP WANTED IN PUBLIC SERVICE

HOW TO RIDE THE FEDERAL HIRING WAVE

THIS EMAIL MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY NASPAA

This Federal Career Info Message is from the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). Your school is a member and that is why you are able to receive this message. Please see www.NASPAA.org. You can also join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions or suggestions please email Scott Talan, Director of Communications at NASPAA, at Talan@naspaa.org.

THANK YOU TO GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Information and slide show were created by:
Paul Binkley, Director of Career Development Services
Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
Web: www.gwu.edu/~tspppa

*Citation for 85% of federal jobs being outside of Washington DC is from Partnership for Public Service who tracks and works with federal agencies in helping provide better and clearer ways to recruit new people to federal service.

Several international policy students have asked for a simpler header design on the eFolio online portfolio, indicating that the current Monterey Institute header is too large and too busy. Well, that new header has arrived! With thanks to Kristen Byers and the folks at eFolio, we have a new header in dark and light blue, with the Monterey Institute logo in white. Students can now access the new design and apply it to their online portfolios by following these steps:

1) In the Administrative side of the portfolio site, click on the Site Management tab.

2) Choose Design Center from the list of Site Management Tools.

3) In the Category drop-down menu, choose “Custom Design Engine.”

4) Click on 2 to go to the second page of designs. Select the icon labeled, “MIIS2.” On the right side of the screen, click on “Choose This One!”

5) You’ll be asked to enter your site information. If you like, you can add a title for your site (such as Britt Humana’s Portfolio) and change the school name to Graduate School of International Policy and Management. This will appear on the right side of the header.

6) Click on Finished, and you’re done!

Check out this invaluable list of job search sites, articles and directories compiled recently by Sabrina Atwater and Tate Miller! You can also find more of these types of resources on the Moodle Advising Course.

Some Job Search Engines/Listings to Try
JuJu
Philanthropy News Digest
ReliefWeb (humanitarian assistance)
Opportunities in Public Affairs
NextBillion (Development through enterprise)
Corporate Social Responsibility Jobs
GlobalCorps (PSC’s for USAID/OFDA and OTI)
NonprofitJobs
OpportunityKnocks
National Association for Environmental Education
Careers in Nonprofits
MakingtheDifference (federal jobs/internships)
GreenBiz
Green Dream Jobs

Resources for Job Searching
Directory of Development Organizations
InsideGood Nonprofit Ratings

Articles and Blogs on Career Development, Job Searching, etc.
Tips for Staying Afloat in Job Market
Professional Associations: Membership Has Rewards
Best Cities for Jobs
Stimulus Package to Increase Government Hiring
20 Things Grads Need to Know to Boost Job Search Mojo
Careerealism
Candidates Must Learn to Be a Little Flexible
Clever ways to research Employers and Positions
Five Reasons Your Job Search Isn’t Getting the Results You Want
It’s All About You – Or Is It?
Long Distance Job-Search Tips
Ten Things You MUST Understand When Looking for a Job
Are you a passive job seeker? You might be, but don’t realize it!

Networking
Networking and Informational Interviewing Templates
Tuning in to the network: Tips for successful networking
Informational Interviews
Social Networking For Professionals

Personal Branding and Self-Marketing
Discovering your Value Proposition
What the Heck Is an Elevator Speech?
Recommended reading: Tell Me About Yourself
Career Truth #1: Brand or Be Branded (Are YOU Willing to Risk What Shows on the Top Fold?)
When Passion Meets Expertise Your Brand Succeeds

Social Media and the Job Search
30 Ways to Lose a Job on Twitter
Job Sites and Career Experts on Twitter
RiseSmart Career100 (top 100 career related blogs)
HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter
People to follow on Twitter to accelerate your job hunt
10 “Must Use” Websites For Your Job Search!!!

Cover Letters
Tell me about yourself (part 1): Cover letters

Resumes/CVs
Tell me about yourself (part 2)
Targeted Resume: How to Write a Targeted Resume

Interviewing
Acing the phone interview (part 1)
It’s for You-HOO! (phone interviews)
How Not To Get Stumped By Behavioral Interview Questions
A Checklist to Nail Behavioral Interviews
Interview Tips – Behavior Based Interviewing
The Weakness Question
22 Reasons You Bomb the First Interview
Nailing the Second Interview
When Interviews Don’t Go Well

Follow-up
When And How To Follow-Up On Your Job Application

Salary/Package Negotiations
Some Things to Know Before Negotiating Salary with a New Employer
How to Evaluate a Job Offer
Job Offer Checklist
Salary Talk During the Job Interview

The Policy Career Development and Special Programs team wants to celebrate your professional development successes with you. We would also love to hear from you if you’re still working on your plans for this summer and would like some support and guidance. Please take just a few moments to fill out this survey related to your summer plans and your career development activities (jobs, internships, on-campus involvement, etc.) during this past fall and spring. If you have new information to share, please go ahead and fill out the survey again (we’ll connect it with your previously completed survey) Once you’ve filled out the survey, you will automatically be entered to win one of four $25 gift certificates to Trader Joe’s. Winners will be announced this Wednesday!

If you would like us to customize a letter of evaluation for your supervisor with both your information and their contact information, please just let us know and provide their information once it’s available. If you would simply like the template letter from the Dean, just send me an email and I’ll send it right back to you

Finally, we would love to share your stories on the Monterey Institute website. The format will be similar to last year’s posts. A question at the end of the survey asks whether you would like us to share your professional development story. If so, we will confirm the wording with you before it is made public. We hope you will share your experience with your fellow students, prospective students, and the rest of the Monterey Institute community!

Click here to link to the survey.

Thanks so much for providing this invaluable information!

Everyone knows the grim news — unemployment in the United States has jumped to 8.5 percent, a 25-year high, and is racing toward double digits. Since November, the nation has lost more than three million jobs.

But not everyone knows the brighter side to the equation: deep in the maw of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, millions are still being hired…

Link to the full article here

Hear details about Fulbright programs directly from the people who run them!

As you may know, the US Fulbright program website is comprehensive but sometimes confusing and overwhelming. Here’s a way to get a lot of information about what’s new to the program in a quick and easy format.

Check out the latest additions to the Moodle Advising Course:

• Links to two online Middlebury career resources, the “Careers in the Common Good” newsletter and the “Immediate Job Openings” page of the Middlebury website, which contains positions for those with a few years of professional experience
• A Resource section on Social Entrepreneurship
• A link to nonprofitjobs.org, a site with postings similar to those of idealist.org (though note that there are currently no internship/volunteer positions posted!)

You can find the course by logging in to the Moodle site at elearning.miis.edu. Click on “International Policy Studies,” then the “Advising” subcategory, then the “Advising” course.

Literally millions of nongovernmental and non-profit organizations exist throughout the world, and new ones are forming all the time. When applying for internships and deciding where to go, how can you tell if an organization is really doing what it says it’s doing? Here are a few tips:

• Conduct a thorough Google search on the organization’s name
• Check the organization’s “partner” page on its website. If partners are listed, check a few of those organizations’ websites to ensure that the organization is also listed on their websites.
• If the organization’s website hasn’t been updated in quite some time (more than six months), this could be a “red flag” that the organization is not doing legitimate work
• If the organization is based in the US, make sure that it is a registered nonprofit. Most nonprofits will have 501c3 nonprofit status, which should be noted on their website
• If the organization is based in the US and has 501c3 nonprofit status, it should be listed on the GuideStar.org website: www.guidestar.org. With free membership to this site, you can see tax forms submitted and member reviews of organizations.
• Talk with a faculty member who’s work is similar to that of the organization’s mission
• Talk with a career advisor on campus. We can check to see if an alumnus works with the organization. If not, we may be able to identify an alumnus working in a similar field in the same city, state/province or country who should have a sense of who is doing what in the area.

Currently, we know of two organizations that should not be contacted for internships under any circumstances:

Good Morning Africa! (Ghana Office), www.goodmorningafrica.org
Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems, www.nerenew.com

If you know of any organizations that should be added to this list, or have additional tips to share with students, please feel free to comment on this blog or send me an email directly: jennifer.hambleton@miis.edu

To all students graduating from GSIPS in May 2009 from Dean Ed Laurance:

Now that more than 150 graduating GSIPS students are wrestling with the Portfolio graduation requirement, it is only natural that some questions have arisen concerning this requirement. I met with three students yesterday who felt that they had a grasp of some of your concerns. I also understand there is a petition circulating with many of these concerns. Rather than wait for the petition I would like to give you the gist of the conversation I had with students yesterday.

Before getting into the substance of the Portfolio, let me say that your class has known about this assignment since you entered in the Fall of 2007. While some minor changes have been made as it developed, there has been ample opportunity to stay apprised of these changes via email announcements and podcasts. Additionally, there have been eight workshops already this calendar year and three more scheduled. (See end of note)

The Portfolio has three purposes. Here is an excerpt from the Portfolio Guidelines found on your Moodle advising site.

Developing a portfolio serves several purposes:

• First, it is an exercise in self-evaluation. Self-evaluation is a critical component of your development as a public policy professional, and continues throughout your career.

• Second, the portfolio allows you to showcase your interests, achievements, knowledge and experience as a public policy professional. Your resume and supporting portfolio components must read as though you are a public policy professional in training, not a graduate student taking courses.

• Third, the portfolio acts as a guide to your professional development. By evaluating what you have done, what you are currently doing, and where you want to go, you can determine what skills and knowledge you have yet to acquire and develop a plan to obtain them.

Please note that the first priority is self-evaluation. This is one of the key elements of a professional and being a professional school, it should and does have an important place in our curriculum.

The Dean, faculty and staff of GSIPS have been working for two years to come up with an exit evaluation for all students, based on our accrediting agency’s emphasis on assessment in general. This is now a common question to college presidents: how do you know how well your students did while they were enrolled? We know that GPA by itself is not a good indicator, since it leaves out much of your professional development at MIIS. After a pilot run last December, we decided that the Portfolio would be the primary form of exit evaluation. We have established criteria for evaluating the Portfolio (See Portfolio Guidelines and Checklist on the Moodle advising site). Faculty have agreed to evaluate all of their advisees and students have been making appointments to do so for some time. Note that faculty can award “With Distinction,” pass or fail. This evaluation is invaluable, not only for you as a self-evaluation and preparation for the job market, but also for us in GSIPS. We will conduct an assessment of the portfolios based on faculty feedback to see if there are any shortcomings we as a school need to address. Finally, the Monterey Institute is known mainly by its graduates. We feel that this process will better prepare you and therefore enhance our reputation.

Some concerns have been expressed that this is an attempt to implement a common approach to job hunting. I hear some say “I have interviewed for jobs and employers have no time to read a Portfolio.” Others say that the utility of a Portfolio for getting a job will vary depending on the country and culture. All of these things may be true and what you do with your portfolio is of course up to you.  But the purpose of the Portfolio is to prepare you to sell yourself. Most employers will want to know what you did in graduate school. After all, it is the newest item on your resume, and it is two years of work, most likely including 3-9 months of professional experience. We have determined, after a great deal of research and discussion, that a Portfolio is a tool that gives our graduates the best opportunity to prepare themselves. If it was only something designed to present to an employer, we wouldn’t go to all this trouble, since we all know that every job search has a unique context.

Some concern was also raised about the confidentiality of the material you catalog for the portfolio. At the end of this memo please find instructions on how you can control the security of your portfolio material. This information is covered in the many Portfolio workshops that have been held. Please note the last paragraph of this handout.  “If you prefer, you may use another online tool of your choice to develop your portfolio. Alternately, you may save your portfolio to a CD or DVD, or print a paper version for review by your faculty advisor.”

In a few cases, students graduating will have completed their language requirements prior to the spring 2009 semester, when the detailed guidelines for the language part of the Portfolio were finalized by the language faculty and Dean. This may result in you not having had the opportunity to video record a language presentation, a portfolio requirement. Simply let your language professor know this and the video portion of your Portfolio will be considered optional. However, in the view of the GSLEL Dean and faculty, you should make an effort to “stage” the presentation again so that the words “Fluent in French/Chinese/et al” are empirically demonstrated.

A note on core competencies. Describing your competencies, and providing examples of how you have developed and utilized them, is an important part of many job applications, and is certainly important in the interview process. This component of the portfolio also serves to let us know how you have developed expertise in the key skills and knowledge areas necessary for a career in the international policy arena while at MIIS.

Should you have any further questions, please attend any of the following scheduled workshops on creating your Portfolio. Contact Jen Hambleton for additional information.

Event:          ePortfolio Information Session
Date:             Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Time:            12-2 PM
Loc:               B-104

Event:          ePortfolio Information Session
Date:             Friday, April 17, 2009
Time:            12-2 PM
Loc:               B-104

Event:          ePortfolio Information Session
Date:             Thursday, April 23, 2009
Time:            12-2 PM
Loc:               B-104

I found the session with your colleagues valuable and I trust I was able to answer their questions and deal with their concerns. We closed the meeting with the proposal that these students put together a student Ad Hoc Committee, to generate feedback on the Portfolio itself as well as how it was used as an evaluation tool by the faculty and administration of GSIPS and GSLEL. This information will be invaluable as the new GSIPM further develops the exit evaluation process next year.

Thanks for reading this long note and I look forward hearing good things about your Portfolios.

Dean Ed Laurance

Managing Security on your ePortfolio

There are three ways to manage who sees your electronic portfolio:

1) While working on your portfolio, you can turn sections “off” so that they cannot be viewed publicly. Under the Content Tools tab in Site Administration, click on the name of the page you’d like to hide. On the next screen, you will see “Section Display: On” in the top center of the page. By clicking on the green “On” button here, it will switch to “Off.” To turn off the entire site, open up the page entitled, “Introduction to My Portfolio (Home Page).” Turning this section display off will turn off all other pages in the site, as well.

2) You can change the site, or individual pages within the site, to “Private” and create a user name and password to be used by your advisors for the review process. Under the Content Tools tab in Site Administration, click on the name of the page you’d like to make private. Click on “Configure Section” under Section Tools. On the next screen, click on the drop down menu next to “Section Access” and change from “Public” to “Private.” Again, to make the entire site private, open up the page entitled, “Introduction to My Portfolio (Home Page).” Changing this section to Private will affect all other pages in the site, as well.

Next, go to the Security tab under Site Administration. Click on “New Item.” Here you will be able to create a new user name and password for your advisor(s). Do NOT make this user a “Superuser” (this would give them editing rights!) Once you are done, click on “Finished.” On the next screen, be sure to change this new user from “Off” (the default) to “On.”

3) Finally, you may simply request to have the site deleted after it has been reviewed by your faculty. You may also request a deletion at any time after graduation. If after a year you have not elected to renew your individual portfolio (which is possible with a small yearly fee to the portfolio provider), your portfolio will automatically be deleted.

If you prefer, you may use another online tool of your choice to develop your portfolio. Alternately, you may save your portfolio to a CD or DVD, or print a paper version for review by your faculty advisor.

The Fulbright US Student program application process opens May 1, 2009 for the 2010-2011 competition. The on-campus deadline for applications is typically the beginning of October. Please contact Jen Hambleton (jennifer.hambleton@miis.edu), the Fulbright Program Advisor for the Monterey Institute, if you are interested in applying.

A Guidance Session for students to have all questions about the Fulbright Program will also take place in San Francisco, CA on Wednesday May 6, 2009, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm.

For more information visit here!