There are a couple of different reasons that people want some kind of career in the government. For a lot of people, it’s because they want to make a positive change to people’s lives and they see working in government as the best way to do that.
If you’re working in public health or helping to draft new policies, you can make real-world improvements to your community and there’s a lot of job satisfaction that comes with that. People are also attracted to government work because they see it as a more secure career path because government positions are less prone to the economic situation.
If you think that government work might be right for you, here’s how you can get into it.
Education
You’re going to need some level of higher education for most government jobs. You’ve got two main ways of doing this; first off, you can identify the area that you want to work in (more on this later) and then work out what degree or training you need to apply for those roles.
However, a lot of people don’t know exactly which area of government they want to work in and they’ll have a look at a lot of different roles before they land on one. If that’s the case, you should look into getting a qualification in Public Administration.
The University of San Francisco offers one of the best programs in the country. It’ll teach you the basics of policy implementation and give you a lot of transferable skills that will prepare you for a lot of different government jobs. This is your best option if you think that you want to work in government but you want to try a few different areas before you settle on one, because a Public Administration degree qualifies you for a lot of different government job.
Pick An Area
The first step to finding the right role is to pick an area of government that interests you. You might already have a certain area in mind, but if you don’t, you need to start thinking about what your priorities in a career are.
For example, if you want to help young people, education is a good area. If you hate being in an office, something in one of the environmental branches of government is ideal. Start by listing what you want out of a job and then use that list to narrow down your options.
Find A Specific Role
Now that you have an idea of the specific area that you want to work in, you should start looking at the specific roles that you could do. You can start off by looking at job sites and see whether there are any listings. It might also be worth calling up and just asking for some more information about the government department and what the different job roles are. You can also inquire about the different skills and training that you need for certain jobs.
If you follow these 3 steps, you can start a long and rewarding career working for the government.
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