How to Get Hired in Washington

Can you get a job on Capitol Hill if you ' re not a college-age intern?
Absolutely, particularly if you have expertise in a certain issue that's being addressed by Congress. Whenever you watch congressional hearings, you see somebody pass [members of Congress] a note or whisper in their ear. That's usually someone on their staff who's an expert on that area. If you have general political knowledge, speechwriting knowledge, substantive issue knowledge—that can be very desirable.

Can older workers get jobs elsewhere?
I've talked to recruiters at the State Department and at U.S. AID [the Agency for International Development] and other foreign-service agencies, and they are actively recruiting people who are experienced, who have substantial knowledge of issues being addressed—who have no international experience and no government experience. They are seeking diversity—even looking for parents going back to work, who have never worked overseas before.

A lot of the things that you would assume would be true are not true, like that you have to know a second language to work overseas. Totally not true, because English is the language of so many countries, and so many overseas programs give language training. Although people with language knowledge—particularly Middle Eastern languages—are in huge demand in the intelligence community [you can learn more at Intelligence.gov].

What ' s the best first step to take in finding a federal job?
Every federal agency has its own website, and every agency's website has a careers section, which has their openings and hiring bonuses. A lot of people don't know that a really important place to find openings is job fairs. The FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.] has a huge number of job fairs on its site. USAJobs is great, but there are a lot of openings that are not posted there.

Is there a lot of competition for these openings?
Most jobs attract a lot of applicants. That's the bad news. The good news is that most of those applications wipe out pretty quickly.

What gets an application wiped out?
Probably about 50 percent get cut immediately because they don't make the deadline or they don't include the information that's required, like a college transcript. Or they don't answer all of the questions. Federal applications do ask more questions, and sometimes they're essay questions and annoying to fill out. It's really essential, because it's a huge selection factor—screening out people who don't want it enough to ruin an otherwise enjoyable weekend. Target your application to the job. If you don't, it'll get about as much attention as the junk mail that gets sent to your home.

Any advice for federal job interviews?
Most people just kind of wing it, and they crash and burn. Just do a Google search on common interview questions, and craft employer-centric answers that give specific examples of your successes and show your desire for the job. Like politicians make their stump speech, you've got to make your stump speech. You are almost guaranteed to be asked common trite questions like: "Tell me about yourself: Why do you want to work here?"

Do you have specific recommendations for interviews with federal agencies?
Yes. Know your target organization. Read the website. If it's a big organization, know your particular office. Read the press releases. The big difference between public and private sector is that federal agencies are in the news all the time. Know the controversies going in. If you're doing a [sector] switcheroo, know your answer to why you want to start government work. Make sure your answer isn't that the agency is near the Metro or that you hate your boss.