Hello GovLoop!
My name is Jessica and I am extremely excited about joining this new online community! Currently, I am a graduate student in my second (and FINAL) year of my Masters of Public Administration at the University of Delaware and with graduation quickly approaching, I have already begun to kick the wheels in motion for my future career in the federal government!
Now, I didn’t always plan to become the “next big public servant”. Like most people, I’ve been quite indecisive about my career. At one point, I hoped to be a singer/dancer (I can’t sing and I have no rhythm), doctor (medical school is too long and expensive) and even a professional student (which is not as crazy as you think; I know many professional students!). Luckily, I came to my senses and realized that none of those options were quite right for me; indefinitely, leading me on my quest for the perfect career. After realizing that my true interests lie within health policy, I immediately decided that I wanted to be an active participant in the national health care reform; like Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
As a result of my looming graduation and interests in national health policy, I am now in the process of applying to the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF). For those of you unaware of the program, it focuses on attracting future leaders from a variety of disciplines who have clear interests in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. In my weekly blog, I plan to provide the GovLoop world with a detailed account of my application process; the good, the bad and the downright boring! The entire process will take between 6-7 months (thank you federal government!) and will require substantial paperwork (via USAJOBS), testing and interviewing. Hopefully, come spring I will be able to announce in my final blog post that I am a PMF fellow! Along with a detailed account of my PMF experience, I will also provide insight into my graduate school career, my search for full-time employment and my various interests in the public sector.
In my next post, I will begin discussing the PMF process with a detailed account of the first step; applying to the job announcement via USAJobs.
Till Next Time,
JB
Good luck Jessica! Hopefully we’ll both be in DC in March to job hunt at the PMF Job fair. I’m interested to see how much the online assessment resembles the previous assessment (from what I’ve heard in the past two years from people who have gone through the former process).