Finding and Applying for Government Jobs and Internships

Getting Started with Your Federal Job Search [pdf file]

Making the difference's web site is an excellent place to start.

Fast Facts about Government Employment

There is a government job for every interest and in every field, in local, state, and federal government, around the country and the world. Over 80 percent of federal jobs are outside the Washington, D.C. area. In 2005, there were 129,010 full time employees in California.
The State of California will hire 70,000 employees in the next five years serving 150 agencies.
In 2004 alone, over 84,000 new federal employees were hired on a full-time permanent basis by the federal government; more than 24,000 were entry-level hires.
The government workforce is rapidly aging. Sixty percent of federal employees will be eligible to retire over the next ten years. Similar rates of retirement are expected at the local and state levels. Rapid turnover will lead to significant opportunity for new workers.
Average government salaries are competitive for most professions and government benefits and job security are both excellent.
Some federal agencies offer student loan repayment assistance. For information on which agencies offer this benefit, see http://www.opm.gov/oca/pay/studentloan/.

Quick Glance: Where the Jobs Will Be

Over the next two years, the fastest growth in federal jobs will take place primarily in these five high-skill fields:

Engineering and Sciences – includes engineers, biologists, physicists, chemists and astronomers.

Program Management/Administrative – includes program managers and analysts who monitor program operations and effectiveness.

Medical and Public Health – includes physicians, nurses, and medical technicians.

Accounting, Budget and Business – the Internal Revenue Service is driving growth in this category, as the agency continues to hire revenue agents and tax examiners as part of its efforts to step up enforcement.

Security, Enforcement and Compliance Assistance – includes inspectors and investigators.

For information on federal agency-by-agency hiring projections, visit http://www.ourpublicservice.org/research.

Navigating the Government World

The government is comprised of many layers and agencies, each of which handles its own recruitment and hiring practices for jobs and internships. In additional to visiting agency sites and clicking on career or student opportunities, the following sites may assist your search. Scroll down for featured sites.

In addition to the Haas Center and other campus resources listed below, the Stanford Career Development Center’s Public Service Career Program is a key resource. For information on CDC resources, see http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/research/publicservice/
and register to get information on events, jobs, and opportunities. Contact Sam Rodriguez at srodriguez@stanford.edu to make a public service career counseling appointment.

Finding a Federal Government Job

http://www.calltoserve.org/ – Call to Serve is a site run by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS), providing information about federal jobs and internships in student-friendly language. Check out http://www.bestplacestowork.org/ for the PPS comprehensive ranking of federal agencies.
http://publicservice.monster.com/ – Monster Public Service offers tips on applying for federal jobs and internships, as well as profiles of public servants. It also offers a free weekly e-newsletter, “Monster Public Service News,” that contains updates on federal openings, hints, tips on applying, and more.
http://www.usajobs.gov/– USAJobs is the federal government’s official job posting site. Jobseekers can search through all currently available positions by salary, location, key words and job type. You can also sign up to receive regular e-mail messages when positions that meet your criteria are posted. The site also allows you to create a resumé suitable for most federal job applications and stores it for applying to multiple agencies.
http://www.federaljobsearch.com/– Federal Job Search offers state-by-state information on federal job openings by occupation and by location. It also sends applicants regular automated e-mails with new postings that match their career interests profile, including titles, salaries and locations of positions.
http://www.studentjobs.gov/– This government-run site offers a one-stop shop for students interested in temporary employment or federal internships. Like USAJobs, students can use studentjobs.gov to narrow their search to focus only on positions of interest to them. Some federal agencies do not list their internships on studentjobs.gov, so students should visit the websites of agencies that are of particular interest.
http://www.studentjobs.gov/e-scholar.asp– This site provides an overview of many different educational opportunities open to high school, undergraduate and graduate students.
Several educational organizations work with federal agencies to fill internship positions – these include The Washington Center (http://www.twc.edu/), the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (http://www.hacu.net/), and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (http://www.nafeo.org/).

Finding A State Government Job

http://www.spb.ca.gov/– information on state government opportunities in California.
http://www.csus.edu/calst/Programs – The State of California offers four prestigious State government fellowship programs: the California Senate Fellows, the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship Program, the Executive Fellowship Program, and the Judicial Administration Fellowship Program.

Find A Local Government Job

http://www.jobs.icma.org/– and http://icma.org/nextgen/ - The International City Managers Association website features the Next Generation Initiative, ICMA’s effort to recruit professionals into local government.
http://www.CalOpps.org/ - CalOpps.org is a searchable website for government agency opportunities. Applicants can also create their own personal profiles on this site,
http://www.abag.ca.gov/ - Association of Bay Area governments provides an introduction to the issues local government addresses and direct links to government sites.
http://www.mmanc.org/ - The Municipal Management Association provides support and resources for government employees and direct links to local government internships.

INTERNSHIPS

Participating in a government internship for a semester or summer is a great jump-start to exploring government as a career and can result in a permanent job for the former intern. Start your exploration with four easy steps.

1. Use the Federal Internship Directory Master List

Connect to the Federal Internship Directory Master List [Excel file], a valuable tool for beginning your internships search.

2. Check out these campus resources.

http://haas.stanford.edu/index.php/item/322
The Haas Center supports a number of summer fellowship programs, several of which can be used to support government internships.

http://haas.stanford.edu/index.php/item/334
Stanford in Government supports students to work in local, state, and federal government during the summer.

http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/internships/
The Career Development Center has a number of resources for finding and succeeding in your internship.

http://haas.stanford.edu/index.php/item/386
If you are eligible for work-study funds, you can use these funds to support a government internship as long as it is not a political position (e.g. related to campaign work).

http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/network/
The Career Development Center’s Internship Network allows you to connect with other students about their internship and fellowship experiences.

3. Use these direct links to finding a federal government opportunity.

Call to Serve offers the following resources on their Internship Page.

The ABCs of Internships

Internship Opportunities in the Executive Branch

The Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) Program

World-Class Internships at the State Department

Federal Career Internships

Internships at the Smithsonian Institution

The White House Internship Program

E-Scholar

http://www.studentjobs.gov/
This government-run site offers a one-stop shop for students interested in temporary employment or federal internships. Like USAJobs, students can use studentjobs.gov to narrow their search to focus only on positions of interest to them. Some federal agencies do not list their internships on studentjobs.gov, so students should visit the websites of agencies that are of particular interest.

http://www.studentjobs.gov/e-scholar.asp
This site provides an overview of many different educational opportunities open to undergraduate and graduate students.

4. Consider these three programs to jump start your career with the federal government.

The following are examples of federal government initiatives designed to expose students to government careers. Participating in these kinds of programs often leads to permanent government jobs.

Federal Career Intern Program – Agencies hiring under this program can use a streamlined process that is more applicant-friendly than most, http://www.opm.gov/careerintern/index.asp

Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) – Students who have completed a certain number of hours as an intern in this program are eligible to be hired upon graduation without further competition, http://www.usajobs.opm.go/STUDENTS.asp

Presidential Management Fellow Program - Several hundred graduate students are hired through this prestigious program each year (requires nomination by the university), http://www.pmf.opm.gov/.

Both the Haas Center for Public Service and the Career Development Center send out regular announcements of internship and job opportunities. Make sure you are on the following two lists:

Haas Center's service4all list. To subscribe, email majordomo@lists.stanford.edu and write "subscribe service4all" in the body of the email.
Career Development Center Liv-Diff Email Distribution List: You will receive email messages about events and opportunities related to public service jobs and internships.
Step One: Go to https://cdc-secure.stanford.edu/login/

Step Two: When prompted for your school password, enter in your SUID (omit the initial “0”).

Step Three: Complete the personal data forms! You can change your registration data and post your resumé into the system at anytime.

Step Four: When filling out the section on “CDC Student Services,” select the “Liv-Diff” option, which will allow us to email you public service information and events.

If you have problems, send a message to crstudents@lists.stanford.edu.