Career

Recruitment 411: Lessons of Leadership Part 3 – Setting up for Success

Today’s guest blogger is Eric Erickson, a communications specialist with the IRS Recruitment Office. They say life is full of important lessons. I’m not sure who ‘they’ is, but I found out recently that they are correct. I spent about two months as the acting manager of the branch where my usual duties revolve aroundRead… Read more »

Would a Learning Contracting Officer Help Your Agency?

In general, there are three types of contracting officers — the procuring contracting officer, the termination contracting officer and the administrative contracting officer. It may be time to add a fourth type — the learning contracting officer (LCO). You see, contracts specialists train to become full-fledged contracting officers. Much of what we contracts specialists doRead… Read more »

What makes older federal workers’ job satisfaction decline?

Note: I work for the Washington Post to produce our weekly “Fed Buzz” column, written by GovLoop staff. The column appears on the Fed Page of WashingtonPost.com. If you have ideas for questions you’d like us to explore in the weekly column, please send me a message through GovLoop or email [email protected]. You can alsoRead… Read more »

GovExpert: Dr. Kathryn Newcomer, Director of the Trachtenberg School for Public Policy and Public Administration

Dr. Kathryn Newcomer is the current Director of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University and a foremost authority on program evaluation (see full bio below). Why is the knowledge of program evaluation so important to a government employee? Program evaluation entails the application of social science analyticalRead… Read more »

Recruitment 411: Lessons of Leadership Part 2 – Overcoming Obstacles

Our guest blogger today is Jon, a recruiter in California working for the IRS Recruitment Office. He just finished a temporary assignment as acting manager over one branch of our office. Going through the IRS training program for future managers has been an exciting journey for me. I started the program by attending a oneRead… Read more »

Like A Boss

It’s hard not to feel inspired. I’m contacted daily by people who are deciding enough is enough, and they are taking charge of their careers. Perseverance Some have failed. Didn’t get that job they were going for. Didn’t pass the PMP exam. But they keep going. I don’t agree with everything he says, but IRead… Read more »

Mobile government can’t succeed without mobile government strategy.

White Horse recently released a report, “Mobile development Guidelines for Government Agencies,” that examines the mobile medium’s emerging role in delivery of government services. We believe that mobile has the potential to help government agencies keep the public informed, foster public engagement and ultimately improve the work of democracy. But in the rapidly changing realmRead… Read more »

A Day in the Life – Hybrid Education

Today, I start my first day as a professor of public speaking in a hybrid teaching environment. Oh, I’m not new to teaching–just the environment. Granted, it’s been awhile. It is both an exciting and daunting task. I won’t mention any names because it really doesn’t matter what institution it is; they are all relativelyRead… Read more »

GovLaunch: Facebook and Department of Labor Create Partnership for Job Seekers

Federal Computer Weekly reports that the Department of Labor and Facebook have partnered up to create the Social Jobs Partnership. This is an effort to use social networks to facilitate employment for those currently unemployed. The Facebook page states: In the interest of getting people back to work, the partnership plans to pursue a numberRead… Read more »

Last Call

I was reading some old notes about why to celebrate failure, a slippery subject, maybe a mental game. Then I realized that if I don’t announce my failures, it’s harder to move on. Can’t have a breakthrough, without declaring a breakdown. Otherwise I spend all my focus grieving, hanging on to a mental closetful ofRead… Read more »