Government+Jobs

FER Professional Development 09 February, 2011 Government Jobs Guest Speakers: David Wear, USDA Forest Service: Project Leader, Forest Economics and Policy Research Holly Weyers, USGS: Director, North Carolina Water Science Center

Applying for the position: · Condense your experience (field, teaching, etc…) into one concise paragraph. · Use key words from job description when describing your work experience. · It’s o.k. to have a defined skill-set and you should point these out, but also let them know that you’re willing to be flexible, you’re ‘trainable’ and you work well with others. · Call, call, call! Look at where the duty station is and call unit leaders, current employees, etc… · Ask questions and let them do the talking. If they ask you a question, be prepared to answer concisely and do not over-embellish. · If posted as 11/12, take 11 and know you can be advanced to 12.

Some changes that are about to occur: · Applicants will be ranked as: ‘best qualified’, ‘well qualified’, or ‘qualified’ and hiring officials have access to everybody · March 1st change in student hire: old STEP and SCEP now ‘recent graduates’ · Within 2 years of graduating, you can apply for a ‘term’ position which acts similar to a post-doc o After 2 years of post-doc, you may be able to extend. either way, it’s a good way to get experience and move-on

Some qualities they look for in ideal candidates: · Leadership qualities, independent, thought provoking; understand the scientific method, strong quantitative skills, and strong writing skills. · Some training is always necessary, but you should be able to make your own decisions and design your own studies within 2-3 years.

What to expect once you get the job: · If they tell you they cannot promote you during the interview (i.e. GS11 to GS12), they cannot. So don’t take the position thinking that you’ll be able to negotiate your salary ‘after the fact’. · Research grade equivalent (RGE) positions are similar to academic 10 year positions. You get reviewed on your productivity every 5 years based on complexity of research, independence, performance, etc… · Ask for training opportunities (i.e. review process, publishing, etc…) and make yourself more qualified for future positions Some ‘cons’ to consider:  · You’re being paid to disseminate information…so sometimes you need to publish in USGS journals instead of ‘big journals’ to get the information out quickly.  · You cannot recommend and make policy, only report results  · All publications, presentations, etc… have to go through internal review  · There is a lot of ‘silliness’ and bureaucracy that occurs  · Be prepared to negotiate hurdles to get good work done and shield employees from having to deal with it  · No stock in natural resources (oil, etc..)

Some ‘pros’ to consider:  · You can help people make better decisions in [forest] management  · The ability to retain questions longer/long term studies  · connect with a mission  · Assigned broad research area  · Maintain your reputation as an unbiased scientist  · Work in teams of like-minded individuals with the same mission  · Access to resources  · National or local level work being done on any given day  · Good vacation, health insurance, matching retirement, leave-share, etc…