Welcome to the Call to Serve eNews September 2007 edition focusing on Business and Accounting. This online forum is designed to energize Call to Serve members to educate a new generation about the opportunities for an exciting career or internship with the federal government.  

Where the Jobs Are Report: Business and Accounting

Do your accounting and business majors know that nearly 10,000 accounting and budget and over 11,000 business and industry positions will be hired in the next two years across the federal government? These jobs offer great benefits and the opportunity for student loan repayment. Some of the top departments for business and accounting jobs are: 

• Department of Treasury 8,291 (including Accounting, Internal Revenue Agent, Tax Examining, Procurement) 
• Department of Defense 6,841  (including Contracting)
• General Services Administration 1,368 (including Financial Management, Acquisition, Realty Management)
• Department of the Homeland Security 1,260 (including Contracting)
• Department of Agriculture 1,064 (including General Business and Industry, Loan Specialist)  

Find out more about new hires in the Where the Jobs Are report, which provides information on 193,000 jobs, by federal agency and occupation, that need to be filled in the next two years. 

Also, be sure to download the latest Business Quick Guide in this issue! 

 

Table of Contents

News

       Need a Job? Check out the Openings with Uncle Sam

       Student Loan Cancellation: College Cost Reduction and Access Act

       New Call to Serve Toolkit: Coming Soon

       Call to Serve Reaches 602 School Members

Resources

       Business Quick Guide

       Federal Legal Opportunties Guide

       Hot Jobs/Cool Internships

       Student Programs: Call to Serve Workshop Notes and Student Programs Guide 

Community Forum

       Presidential Management Fellowship: How to Raise Student Applications

       Marketplace Wants to Hear from You        

       Ask Us Column: Getting Federal Agencies On Campus

Events      

       Security Clearances: Call to Serve Workshop Registration

       Involving your Campus Community: Call to Serve Workshop Registration

       Career Fairs on the Horizon

Need a Job? Check out the Openings with Uncle Sam

By Stephen Barr
Dallas Morning News

Uncle Sam, the nation's largest employer, is gearing up for a hiring binge.

Over the next two years, federal agencies expect to hire nearly 193,000 new workers in almost every occupational field, according to a report from the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that urges young Americans to consider careers in government.

More than 83,000 of the jobs are expected to be filled at Defense and Homeland Security as part of the continuing effort to protect and secure the nation from terrorism.

Agencies also will be hiring in medicine and public health, accounting and auditing, engineering, science, computers, program management and administration.

"The most striking feature to me is the breadth of need," said Max Stier, president of the partnership. "You aren't seeing three, four or five agencies projecting hiring needs; it is across the board."

 

Read complete article.

 

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Student Loan Cancellation: College Cost Reduction and Access Act

Congress is in the final stages of negotiations on legislation that would allow federal loans to be cancelled after ten years of payment for those who work in public service. The current law requires 25 years of service! This law would also increase the maximum for Pell Grants and reduce the student loan interest rate on Stafford loans.

 

Read complete article.

 

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Call to Serve Toolkit: Coming in October

We are excited to announce the release of the new Call to Serve toolkit that will be delivered in mid-October to your campus University Coordinator. Only one toolkit will come to each campus, so if your Call to Serve information has changed or you are not sure who that person is, please take a moment to update your school's information. Complete the Updates form or send us contact information for your school or agency POINT OF CONTACT and any other changes (Presidency or Contacts at Business/Public Policy/ Engineering/ Medical schools). We appreciate your help in keeping our records up to date!  

 

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Call to Serve Passes 600 Mark

Welcome to Clark University in Massachusetts and Central Methodist University in Missouri. Here's what their university coordinators had to say about joining:

“Clark University joined the Partnership for Public Service because of it's deep commitment to public service opportunities and to help demystify the process of applying for and securing Federal opportunities. Locally and globally, Clark students learn to be responsible citizens in the campus, local and global communities. Clark's urban location, long tradition of community partnerships and hands-on approach to education provide many scholarly and extracurricular activities for students and faculty to make meaningful contributions to society. We hope that the Call to Serve will alert many more of our students and alumni to the wealth of opportunities within Federal Government.”  (David McDonough, Director of Career Services)

Central Methodist University joined the Call to Serve to provide exciting opportunities in federal public service to our students.” (Linda Lorenz, Director of Career Development) 

If you know of any additional colleges, universities or federal agencies that would be interested in joining Call to Serve, have them email calltoserve@ourpublicservice.org or download the application online.

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Business Quick Guide

With more than 200,000 current employees today, business is an important focus in federal government.  As you can see on the map (right side), business jobs are spread across the US. We've compiled information about the most common business positions, internship programs and more. Use our printable business quick guide to easily share information with students and faculty/staff about jobs for business majors. Makingthedifference.org has additional information about jobs in business and 16 more interest specific guides.

 

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Federal Legal Employment Opportunities Guide

Make sure your prelaw and law students (and faculty members) have seen the Federal Legal Employement Opportunities Guide! The National Association of Legal Career Professionals (NALP), in collaboration with the Partnership for Public Service and the American Bar Association, recently released their updated annual guide on legal careers in government. Legal professionals make up a large portion of federal employees who benefit from loan repayment, while also working on public interest issues. Also, check out our legal page on makingthedifference.org. 

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Hot Jobs/Cool Internships of the Month

Updated weekly, Hot Jobs and Cool Internships are your source for great entry-level opportunities in government. Note that State Department's summer internship deadline in November 1, 2007. Share this opportunity with your student listservs.

Agencies: Submit your Hot Jobs/Cool Internships to get them featured on makingthedifference.org! 

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Student Programs: Call to Serve Workshop Notes

Did you miss the call about federal government student programs on September 13? No worries, the notes from the workshop are posted from this workshop and others calltoserve.org. Also, check out the printable Student Programs guide.

 

 

**Don't forget to sign up for the next workshops, “Security Clearances” and “Keys to Success: Engaging your Campus Community.”

 

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Presidential Management Fellows: How to Raise Student Applications

The Presidential Management Fellowship is a prestigious government fellowship offered to graduating graduate students. The application period opens between late September and October, so this is the time of year to get the word out to faculty and students to encourage higher application rates. Students apply online and then get their institution to nominate them. For more information on PMF, see the notes from the Call to Serve workshop.

 

We asked Call to Serve university coordinators, Abby Conover at Stanford and Pam Coltharp at Louisiana State University, to give us some of their strategies to promote the PMF program.

• Broadcast the message early and throughout the year starting in the fall semester to announce the application process and begin dialogue on campus
• Reach undergraduates early by positioning PMF to undergraduates as the premier aspirational fellowship
• Partner with graduate schools to introduce the PMF at program orientations
• Use annual graduate opportunities fairs and follow up by holding an information session the next evening. Conducting an "information blitz" like this helps to build hype and awareness about the program.
• Showcase your PMF Alumni by sharing stories about your recent graduates selected for the program so that current students can relate to it. Last year, we held a conference call with a PMF who went to our School of Education. It was a great way for students to get their questions answered and to hear about the program firsthand, and she didn't have to come to campus! 

 **What do you do to promote the federal student programs on campus? Send us your ideas!

 

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American Public Media Wants to Hear from You

The Partnership for Public Service is partnering with American Public Media to help bolster news coverage of the federal government on its premier business/finance public radio show -- Marketplace! Marketplace reaches more than eight million listeners, nationwide.

 

Marketplace wants to learn about things both small and large that the government is getting right - or wrong, and they're looking for people with first-hand knowledge to advise and inform their reporting.  If you're a government worker, an expert with insights into policy and governance news, or a business leader working closely with federal, state or local government, please consider sharing your experience with Marketplace here:

 

Federal government:  http://americanpublicmedia.org/pin/government

State and local government: http://americanpublicmedia.org/pin/stategovernment

 

We hope you'll help advise Marketplace journalists and editors on a wide-ranging set of stories reported through the lenses of business, economics and finance.  This is a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on civil servants making innovative and high-impact contributions critical to our nation each and every day.

 

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 Ask Us

Q: What can we do to increase federal agency representation at career events? (Chris Foley, Michigan State University)

A: Increasing the federal presence at your career fairs is an important (although not the only way) to get recruiters interested in your students and get your students interested in federal public service.  Realizing that they, like you, have limited budgets and realistically can’t attend every school’s career fair, the Partnership has identified a few things to increase your campus as a target school for federal recruiters. 

• Set up your career fair to be part of a larger relationship you develop and nurture with federal agencies. Identify agencies that are likely to be good fits with specific departments (e.g., NASA with engineering, Social Security Administration with social policy) and develop relationships. Get faculty involved. And then get those agencies to come to your school to participate in a variety of activities including the career fair.
• Find the exact person to contact at an agency to invite them to your career fair can often be one of the most challenging parts of increasing federal representation on your campus. The Call to Serve Directory of Federal Agencies  can be helpful when developing your invite lists to events and build relationships. We ask that you do not share this list directly with students as not to overwhelm our agency coordinators.
• A subset of this is to identify the federal contacts your faculty members already know. Faculty members can call upon their contacts and federal colleagues to establish relationships with specific, relevant agencies, and this can be an important way of encouraging agency participation at your institution.
• The Partnership for Public Service has conducted extensive research to identify the best way to structure a job fair that introduces students to the opportunities being offered by our nation’s largest employer – the federal government. The Federal Career Day toolkit reflects the lessons learned by this research and offers a step-by-step guide on how to engage agencies in your fair or expo and offers various approaches to effectively reaching out to federal recruiters.
• Where the Jobs Are is a publication produced by the Partnership and was released in July 2007. This report shows federal hiring projections for the next two years as reported by federal agencies. Use this tool to help you identify which agencies are looking to hire students from your academic areas that meet their needs. You can download the report for free on makingthedifference.org (our Web site for students and job seekers).
• With limited budgets, it is often beneficial for you to build a strong relationship with your local Federal Executive Board (FEB). Federal Executive Boards (FEBs) are generally responsible for improving coordination among federal activities and programs in areas outside of Washington, D.C. FEBs support and promote national initiatives of the President and the administration and respond to the local needs of federal agencies and the community. (GAO-04-384) Having representatives from a local field office can also increase the chances of the recruiter being from the geographic area and possibly an alumnus of your university.
• Look for ways to partner with other nearby colleges and universities. Agencies have limited travel budgets, but if they can come to your career fair to meet with students from several colleges and universities, that can be very attractive to them. An alternative is for them to be at your career fair and the next day meet with individuals from other local schools.

Have a question about federal jobs and internships? Send it to us and it will get answered in the next eNews!

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Security Clearances in Federal Government: Call to Serve Workshop  

September 13, 2007
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST 

Most summer internships and entry-level jobs (including those for recent graduates) that require a security clearance have deadlines in November. Make sure your students are prepared to successfully navigate the process. Join us for this discussion with security clearance experts from federal agencies. 

To register, send us your complete contact information and share this opportunity widely with your colleagues and faculty.  This workshop is filling up fast!

 

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Involving your Campus Community: Call to Serve Workshop Registration 

October 18, 2007
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST

Educating your faculty and staff about federal jobs and internships is a key component to building student knowledge about federal service. Learn from other schools and Call to Serve research about how to engage key players, include faculty members and create a sustainable force to leverage your efforts.

To register, send us your complete contact information and share this opportunity widely with your colleagues and faculty. Space is limited. Complete workshop series schedule.

 

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Agencies: Note these Career Fairs on the Horizon

This list provides the details of many of the upcoming career fairs at our Call to Serve member schools. Make sure to email information about your school's career fairs, so we can include it next month and post it on makingthedifference.org.

 

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