I was pleasantly surprised to see the results of the most recent bi-weekly GovLoop poll: “How did you get your first job with the government?” The results were: 30.8% Student Internship 7.7% Leadership Programs (such as PMF) 30.8% USAJOBS 0.0% Job Fair 30.8% Referral From Friend I think this poll is good information for thoseRead… Read more »
Welcome to the Hokie Guru’s inaugural post on GovLoop. The Hokie Guru commonly refers to himself in the third person, similar to Jimmy from Seinfeld. However, please do not refer to yourself in the third person when you are writing in the federal government. Remember; use “plain language.” GovLoop has endorsed the Hokie Guru asRead… Read more »
GovLoop will continue to feature the weekly blog from Young Government Leaders. Here’s another great post from Young Government Leaders courtesy of President Kate Walker. Check out the original post and attend their upcoming event. —————————– Numerous studies have found a majority of Americans are not prepared for retirement and face the prospect of havingRead… Read more »
Starting today, Young Government Leaders will cross-post their weekly blog on GovLoop. This is a great series written by the executive board of YGL with topics ranging from mentoring, leadership, to managing life outside the office. Please check out the original blog at the YGL website We will begin by posting a few of myRead… Read more »
Recently, I finished the book How Washington Really Works. It is just one book in a series (Bureacracy, Case for Bureaucracy, Hardball) I’ve been reading trying to understand the government space where I work. Since my master’s is not in public policy, a lot of this is still new to me and I am basicallyRead… Read more »
Looking at the residence listings of GovLoop members made me feel a bit of an outsider; so many are from what I would consider the “DC Area.” It made me wonder how valuable GovLoop would be for me, as a Washington Outsider. But then I got to thinking: what, if any, are the real differences?Read… Read more »
The tally is in for last week’s poll and we have a clear winner…..MISSION. When asked why do they work for the gov’t, GovLoop members voted: 73.7% Mission 0.0% Co-Workers 15.8% Benefits 5.3% Money 5.3% Google Turned Me Down Personally, this resonates with everything I’ve heard from my colleagues and read in surveys. People comeRead… Read more »
Management is (to paraphrase Casey Stengal) :”75% art and the other half is science” . To individuals entering the profession, managing can appear to be an endless minefield with potential disasters lurking at each step. Yet veteran managers often appear to subordinates as magicians able to generate optimum performance effortlessly. Over the next several weeksRead… Read more »
I just got back from two days at the Harvard Kennedy School for the Government 2.0 conference hosted in conjunction with nGenera (the Wikinomics crew). I was there on a panel speaking about Young Government Leaders and discussing what it will take to get a new generation into government (I think the answer looks aRead… Read more »
I just got back from two days at the Management of Change Conference in Norfolk, Virginia. There were a number of speakers there but the standout was Daniel Pink , a well-known business author whose recent book is A Whole New Mind. The theme of the book is the rise of right-brain thinking in theRead… Read more »