Boren 2011-2012

[Espanya2013]

As a former Boren Fellow, one reality I wish someone told me about before I accepted the Boren Fellowship was how difficult it would be to satisfy the government service requirement. It is prestigious to receive a Boren, but not many in government recognize your achievement, nor understand what Boren is about. And although NSEP maintains a very broad definition of what national security is and gives you two to three years to find a job, there is little effort on NSEP's part or IIE to aid returning Scholars/Fellows to find federal employment that satisifies the requirement. I met numerous former Boren Fellows/Scholars who felt this way, many of whom spent about one year looking for a job. Another important point: many Scholars/Fellows do not use the language that have been trained while performing government service as the jobs they receive have little to do with what they studied when they were abroad.

In short, the post-Boren experience can be somewhat disappointing. This should not deter one from accepting, but just realize the program is "still working itself out" in its infancy (It is only 10+ years old compared to Fulbright or Peace Corps which are much older programs). Here are a few tips to those who have or will be accepting a Boren.

1. Begin your job search one year in advance even if you are abroad. Government applications take a long time to process and they can sit dormant for months at a time. Some may tell you not to apply to government jobs. You should not apply for any intell jobs while you are abroad, but everything else is fair game.
   
2. Reach out to people who are currently completing government service, former Boren alumns, and people within the government. If you are performing a domestic portion of your program, this is imperative. Tell them you want to work in their department far in advance and to notify you of opporuntities. Continue to check in with them while you are abroad.
   
3. Work with hiring managers and not HR representatives. They are more receptive to finding a place for you within their agency if they like you.
   
4. In reality, you receive no hiring privileges. Although you are given Schedule A status, hardly anyone knows what that status means and what to do with that status. Most Borens are hired not through any special hiring authority, but get hired the way every other person on the street gets hired. KNOWING PEOPLE.
   
5. Don't rely on any supporting organization to help you find a job (i.e. NSEP / IIE). They take the reactive approach rather the proactive one and look to check you off their list once you found a federal job and/or prove you can't rather than help individuals find a job. It makes sense, since there's only two people who support 100+ people looking for federal jobs.
   
6. Realize you will be entering the workforce when the federal government is decreasing its hiring efforts due to the budget problems. This will most likely make it harder to find something, so start very early.
   

Unfortunately what you say in my experience is 100% correct. I wish I had known this information as well.

[StephanieM]

Damn that post just kills any hope I had of this helping me get a job...

[elementwil]

Well you know what they say...nothing worth having comes easy!

[StephanieM]

I can't help but wonder what languages those who are disappointed where studying. There are certain languages which are just honestly in more demand than others; Arabic, Chinese, Russian... IMO, I think it'd be easier to find a job if you studied Farsi, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, and so forth, or if you're highly specialized and have vast experiences in the language/area you studied. I might be wrong, but I hope not, as I'm personally going for the "expert on Russian economics and foreign policy" route. Either way, I think we all knew before applying that even with a Boren, finding such prestigious government work is difficult and highly competitive. I just hope the Boren gives us at least a bit of an edge.

[riverguide]

From what I've seen we need to start looking for jobs now, even before we leave. We need to plan our careers like a chess game or a white water run and be ready four, five, six moves down the line, depending on the water level and the obstructions in the river...

[StephanieM]

Anyone else feel overwhelmed by the service requirement? I feel like I'm not good enough in the KSA department...

[riverguide]

Steph, with all of your achievements and your willingness to travel to challenging learning environments and your clear commitment to tough tasks and overcoming daunting obstacles, I don't think this will be too challenging for you. Some agency out there will be very lucky to have you and there's always the military where you can hone your skills and earn a masters also...

[mkt123]

quick question for Fellows: have you applied after your first year in graduate school OR along with your application to graduate school. in other words, are you applying so that you will delay your graduate education or applying so that you will break up your graduate degree?