Job in Gov Affairs: What's Your Typical Day?

[Ben414]

Inspired by several 'What's Your Typical Day' threads on other forums, I thought I'd start one for jobs in government affairs.  There are a lot of sources that provide a general outline of what different jobs look like (Chicago's Skills and Employment Guide and HKS' Professional Areas of Interest come to mind), but they don't do a good job of showing what the jobs are really like on a personal, day-to-day basis.

I'm not sure how many MPP/MPA/IR/etc. graduates are active on this forum, but ideally I'd imagine this thread would consist of people in various fields explaining what a typical day for their job looks like and, if willing, they would answer questions about their employment.  The explanations can be as short as a couple of paragraphs or as long as a dozen paragraphs.  Admins, if this thread takes off can you pin it?  I'm sure many current and prospective students would find it very useful.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Ben414

[MaxwellAlum]

I graduated from the Maxwell School (Syracuse) three years ago from their dual masters program in public administration and international relations.  I currently work as a policy analyst for the local county council (I chose to go into local government to be closer to my family).  My office conducts research and evaluation projects based on a work program defined by the council each year.  We are a small office, so we don't specialize in specific policy areas.  

My typical day involves conducting desk research, analyzing data, and/or writing.  Depending on the stage of the project or projects I'm working on, I may also spend time scheduling and conducting meetings with folks who manage programs that are relevant to my project, privately briefing members of the council on the findings of a project, or preparing and delivering presentations on completed projects to committees of the council and other community organizations.

One of the skill areas I think is becoming increasingly important in my field is data analysis, particularly using tools like R and Python.  Although I can do most of the data analysis I need to do in Excel (we do mostly descriptive analysis rather than any inferential statistics or regression analysis, although understanding statistics is really important in my job), occasionally I encounter data cleaning or data analysis issues that are best addressed in other programs.  My office does not have access to proprietary software like SPSS or Stata, so I have worked to teach myself a bit of R and am working on learning Python.  Skills in GIS software like ArcGIS are also really important.  These were not skills that were taught when I did my master's program, but I think there are efforts underway to get grad schools to start teaching them.  While a lot of the jobs coming out of a public policy master's might not require knowing R, Python, or ArcGIS, these skills can definitely help you stand out in the field and I think they will become even more important in the future.

Edited December 9, 2015 by MaxwellAlum

[Ben414]

8 hours ago, MaxwellAlum said:

I graduated from the Maxwell School (Syracuse) three years ago from their dual masters program in public administration and international relations.  I currently work as a policy analyst for the local county council (I chose to go into local government to be closer to my family).  My office conducts research and evaluation projects based on a work program defined by the council each year.  We are a small office, so we don't specialize in specific policy areas.  

My typical day involves conducting desk research, analyzing data, and/or writing.  Depending on the stage of the project or projects I'm working on, I may also spend time scheduling and conducting meetings with folks who manage programs that are relevant to my project, privately briefing members of the council on the findings of a project, or preparing and delivering presentations on completed projects to committees of the council and other community organizations.

One of the skill areas I think is becoming increasingly important in my field is data analysis, particularly using tools like R and Python.  Although I can do most of the data analysis I need to do in Excel (we do mostly descriptive analysis rather than any inferential statistics or regression analysis, although understanding statistics is really important in my job), occasionally I encounter data cleaning or data analysis issues that are best addressed in other programs.  My office does not have access to proprietary software like SPSS or Stata, so I have worked to teach myself a bit of R and am working on learning Python.  Skills in GIS software like ArcGIS are also really important.  These were not skills that were taught when I did my master's program, but I think there are efforts underway to get grad schools to start teaching them.  While a lot of the jobs coming out of a public policy master's might not require knowing R, Python, or ArcGIS, these skills can definitely help you stand out in the field and I think they will become even more important in the future.

If you don't mind answering a few questions:

1) How many hours per week do you work on average?  How often do you have to work nights or weekends?

2) What was the process like for getting your job, and what other positions were you looking at?  How helpful did you find Maxwell's career services?

[MaxwellAlum]

12 hours ago, Ben414 said:

If you don't mind answering a few questions:

1) How many hours per week do you work on average?  How often do you have to work nights or weekends?

2) What was the process like for getting your job, and what other positions were you looking at?  How helpful did you find Maxwell's career services?

1. I generally work 40 hours a week.  I would say I've maybe worked on weekends 3-5 times over the past year, and a couple of nights.  It does depend a bit on the project and how time-sensitive it is, but for the most part I have a very reasonable work schedule (and it's flexible too!).

2. I applied for my job during my last semester at Maxwell.  I was also looking at jobs in think tanks and the federal government, but I had not gotten too far into my search when I found this position, and it was very well-suited to my interests.  After I applied online, I contacted a Maxwell alum who worked at the office, and was able to speak with her on the phone informally before the interview.  I then had an official phone interview, followed by an in-person interview with several staff members, followed by an offer.  Career services was very helpful in reviewing my resume, but the biggest help from Maxwell was from the alumni network.

 

[went_away]

First job out of grad school: show up moderately early to skyscraper at global HQ of household name company in Manhattan, a big environmental change from previous life/job in a conflict-torn North African capital. Settle into my desk with a delicious coffee/breakfast and catch up on political security developments around the world while clearing inbox. Say hello to co-workers and various supervisors, walk the halls, knock on doors, catch up, and get a sense of what was going on in our department. Carry on working on long-term research project asked for by my boss, edit other pieces, and finish off some deliverables due by end of business day or later that week. Generally at some point would do a deep dive into some research project I was working on, read obsessively about the topic, draft the initial report, and call up various experts in the field to get the human element. Do additional networking to enhance deliverables/find new ones, and maybe attend a meeting. Rinse and repeat. It was fun. 

[Ben414]

5 hours ago, went_away said:

First job out of grad school: show up moderately early to skyscraper at global HQ of household name company in Manhattan, a big environmental change from previous life/job in a conflict-torn North African capital. Settle into my desk with a delicious coffee/breakfast and catch up on political security developments around the world while clearing inbox. Say hello to co-workers and various supervisors, walk the halls, knock on doors, catch up, and get a sense of what was going on in our department. Carry on working on long-term research project asked for by my boss, edit other pieces, and finish off some deliverables due by end of business day or later that week. Generally at some point would do a deep dive into some research project I was working on, read obsessively about the topic, draft the initial report, and call up various experts in the field to get the human element. Do additional networking to enhance deliverables/find new ones, and maybe attend a meeting. Rinse and repeat. It was fun. 

If you also don't mind answering a few questions:

1) How much of your research was quantitative versus qualitative?  Did you regularly use SPSS/Stata/R/etc.?

2) How helpful was Fletcher's career service and/or alumni in helping you get this job?

3) Why did you leave that first job, and do you perform similar work in your current job?