Securing a Government Job: How Non-Traditional Applicants Can Stand Out
For the unemployed, people looking to make a career change, or people looking for a stable nine-to-five, government jobs are the golden goose. The combination of widely available positions, competitive salaries and benefits packages, and concrete off days on holidays makes attaining a government job an attractive proposition.
However, chances are likely that whatever position you’re coming from, you aren’t exactly making a lateral career move. You’re either starting from scratch after leaving your previous profession, or you’re lacking what you think is relevant work experience. This can be a discouraging notion for job seekers, especially as entry-level positions often ask for some level of knowledge and expertise.
While you may not feel you have the credentials for a government position, experience comes in all forms, and while government jobs are notoriously difficult to crack into, they are also known for prioritizing that experience over education. All that really matters to your next potential employer is that you have a quick mind, are ready to learn, and are able to present your skills effectively.
How to do that, you ask? Well, you’re in the right place. Read on to learn how you can effectively present your skills, manage potentially negative interviewer perceptions, and navigate the conservative world of government employment.
Effectively Present Your Skills
Good leaders consider a candidate’s potential over their past. You may have been working sporadic shifts as a line cook before stepping into their office, but you have skills that you’ve developed over the course of your life that can be put to use in other, potentially unique ways. If you’re a candidate with little experience in the field you’re applying to join, the interviewer will recognize this and ask you questions designed to uncover your potential.
There are plenty of government jobs that don’t require a college degree, such as firefighters and community health providers, that both train and refine a variety of useful skills. Conduct an inventory of your prior work life, then isolate potentially useful traits and prepare answers to questions that are meant to assess your skill set. You can find a wide variety of potential interview questions online, giving you a solid framework for what your interviewer may ask you.
For government jobs, prepare stories that emphasize any of these traits:
- Readiness to learn: nobody knows everything about a job when they first start. Highlight opportunities you had and took to learn and grow, with emphasis on how quickly you picked the new skill up and any recognition/increased responsibilities that came of your work.
- Collaborative nature and communication skills: Any government job is going to require you to work with a vast array of different people. Highlight moments where you worked well with others, even those with whom you had differences, and prepare at least one story about how you resolved a conflict within your department.
- Creativity and ambition: Both are highly prized traits across fields and disciplines for a reason. Employers don’t want employees who only want to do the bare minimum, collect their checks, and go home. They want people who will actively invest in their workplace, and strive to make it more profitable for all. Note moments when you took initiative and when you proposed solutions to specific problems.
Consider the position you’re applying for as well, and whether any skills you have might be particularly useful in fulfilling your duties. For government jobs, a penchant for organization, corporate communication, and a proactive eye for problems are likely to be in high demand.
Government jobs allow you to work with a wide range of people from all backgrounds, as well as environments with different levels of formality.
Manage Potentially Negative Perceptions
It’s an unfortunate fact: no matter how skilled you are, the first impression an interviewer gets of you will likely outweigh even the most extensive resume. Applicants are rejected for such simple reasons as their personality doesn’t appear to fit well with company culture, or because their presentation was not quite nice enough compared to other candidates.
For instance, in some cases, body modifications are generally seen as unprofessional; all the more so if the job involves physical labor, where body modifications could be a health risk. The potentially traumatic injury that could occur if a piercing got caught on something and was ripped out, or the specter of endless doctor’s appointments taking care of various infections, are all very much on the mind of your interviewer.
The best way to avoid this ever becoming an issue is to conceal what you can. Long sleeves, dress shirts, leggings, all the typical tattoo and piercing coverings that you’re likely used to using in other professions, are a must. If you have something that you can’t necessarily conceal, like a septum, madonna, or medusa piercing, consider swapping out your jewelry with spacers while you’re working.
While we can hope that your potential employer doesn’t have any conscious or unconscious biases against body modification, you can never be too careful – especially in the interviewing stage.
Navigating the Public Sector
Government jobs allow you to work with a wide range of people from all backgrounds, as well as environments with different levels of formality. Conducting some research on the job you want, taking into account everything former employees have to say about the culture, atmosphere, and work-life balance, is a great way to see if the position you seek is a good fit.
Your key to success will be presenting yourself as the employee you want them to see – professional, courteous, and willing to learn. Let your ambition drive you to leverage your skills in new, exciting ways, soak up knowledge like a sponge, and you’ll no doubt succeed in a government career.
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