Thoughts on Government Jobs?
I was recently in a zoom meeting with one of the co-founders of WestExec which is a geopolitical consulting firm and was started by 4 former staffers who served under the Obama Administration and one of the founders is Antony Blinken. This meeting got me thinking about working in government and going into the private sector later. Government officials start their own consulting and lobbying firms all the time and even go to finance sometimes (Rahm Emanuel going to Centerview). The two topics I find most interesting are policy and finance but I ended up choosing finance because of how lucrative it is and I didn’t see much of a future in government. What do people think of the feasibility of working in the State Department or DoD and then moving into the private sector?
So, I don't have much experience in gov't jobs and honestly don't want any. I think if you can land a top-tier position, it could be pretty cool but other than that I wouldn't want to do it. Though, later in life, I might get involved in politics. Now in Pakistan, all my cousins are gunning after gov't jobs. Apparently, their more highly thought of there because of pensions and how easy they are.
Yeah I definitely understand the sentiment. I actually was dissuaded from going into the State Department from a good family friend who’s a high ranking Pakistani Diplomat who had to bust his ass in third world countries. Across countries it seems like diplomacy especially is less meritocratic and more about connections which doesn’t necessarily play into my favor in the US. In Pakistan government jobs are an easy way to get rich because of rampant corruption but in the US there seems to be so many better options.
I agree, I feel there are better things to do with my time and career than go work for the gov't. At least in the US.
It's really going to depend, because if you want to stay in finance, it'd make sense to work in an agency that works in that general space, for the most part not in the State Dept and the DoD, at least in the terms of investing. There are some agencies that do, so it would help to know how you'd narrow it down by interest.
CALpers is where it's at. At least until it crashes and burns.
Do you know if they have a direct investment team for alternative assets? Seems like it’s all placements. Also who would want to live in Sacramento
Interesting. I thought of this route in reverse. I figure as I get older I’ll want to do more for society. Right now I’m focused on building the foundation for my family and I.
There are some bad hambres in the government - gotta get em out.
Yeah I’ve definitely heard of the reverse being more common but over these past few days I’ve been meeting with a bunch of geopolitical consultants and lobbying firms and all of them seem to have been public sector employees in the state department or DoD and then later made firms to use their contacts to their advantage. I definitely think for finance you would have to go from private to public if you wanted to make the jump for things like consulting it seems like either way is possible.
I worked for 4 years in management consulting for the DoD. It's pretty easy work. I was dying to get out of the industry though as it is slow and boring. If you want job security and predictability, DoD is for you.
Would you say that consulting under the DoD would be a good way to build a strong rolodex. The cushy laid back nature of government roles doesn’t really appeal to me but I’d be willing to do it with the intentions that I could build strong contacts and use that in the private sector.
Not sure how you're going to build repertoire in the private sector from the public sector.
Yeah you can build a great rolodex in the public sector. You basically just have to show up for the contract renewals and you're golden. Easy to make high six figures and WFH as an Exec.
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