Finding a Entry-Level Government Public Affairs Job

Despite the doom and gloom of sequestration and calls to reduce the size of  the Federal workforce, there will always be Federal job openings.  Exactly how many is difficult to quantify.  As Federal Computer Week noted recently, it is difficult to get an accurate count of Federal jobs.  We are going with the FCW estimate of about two million civilian Federal employees.

According to Govloop, there are about 1,260 white collar Federal jobs open at a given time.  So, which one is right for you?

Some fields are easy fits, such as information technology, accounting or medicine.  What about journalists?    A recent column in the Washington Post by Derrick Dortch headlined "For Journalists, Federal Government Offers Plenty of Job Opportunities" described some career options for reporters seeking to make a change. 

Paths to Becoming a Federal Flack

There are several paths for reporters to take into the Federal government.

Reporters who cover politics are sometimes solicited by the officials they cover for positions in the Administration or on the Hill.  The upside of these political appointments is that a civil services application process does not apply.  The downside is, appointees lack civil service protections. The Office of Personnel Management will be publishing the quadrennial listing of political appointee jobs, the so-called "Plum Book," later this fall.

Beat reporters occasionally are hired by the agencies they cover.  I was a reporter covering transportation policy issues for a trade publication when I landed a job as spokesperson for the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation.  Talking to the media was just part of my job, as is often the case for small agencies.