Reader responses to Career Corner- Experience v. education

DAILY BRIEFING

Reader responses to Career Corner - Experience v. education

Here are the responses we have received to the August 8 Career Corner column, "Experience v. education."

I agree with your assessment that the combination of education and experience are vital to advancement in the agency. While my advanced degrees have enriched my abilities to think and write (in my opinion, the most valuable assets a graduate degree can give a student), I know I will only be valuable to the agency when I learn more about it.

However, I think the education vs. experience question is not limited to civil service. An MBA or law degree is about as useful for a private sector position as it is for a federal job. I think we should remember that much of what we experience in career development and as present and future leaders in the public sector is similar to what goes on in the private world.

-Megan Henderson
Office of the Deputy Commissioner
Social Security Administration

I think the value of education in either the government or the private sector is that it (hopefully) gives the person the ability to think (which some might argue isn't used - or allowed - very often in government agencies), and the ability to search for reference material (regulations, laws, etc.). [From what I have observed over the years, I believe many (if not most) large corporations probably have their own, often peculiar, internal procedures, processes, etc., which any new employee must learn and abide by, no matter what he or she learned in school.]

-Phill Baumgardner
Section Chief
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

In the past I have been on rating panels and education is one factor for which and applicant may receive points. However, the applicant can only receive points for the highest degree they may have. Additional points may be given for training (whether in academia or professional) provided it meets the minimum eight (8) hours rule. Once again there is a limit on the total number of points that can be given for this section. Experience is another area for receiving points. The experience must show a relationship to the position being rated. An applicant also can receive points for voluntary work, but this must have been in a leadership position (chairman of a voluntary board). All of these points are then total, and the applicants are then place in ranking order. It should be noted that all members of the panel must give the same point level for each of the rating section. This is information that very few applicants are familiar with. In conclusion an applicant has 3 to 4 stages to pass before possibly being selected.

-Pam McDonald
Management Analyst
Department of Justice

I am a careerist with 19 yrs total service at the federal level. During these years at USDA, I have learned that both experience & education are important for all employees & the amount of each truly depends on organizational culture. I have also developed very high career goals & was willing to confront a 5-figure education debt. I started college classes in June 1986 a few months after my USDA employment began. I was a half-time student with no thoughts of completing any degree programs. I finished my Associates of Applied Science degree in Data Processing Technology in 1991, my Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996, & my Master of Public Administration degree this year. It is the education that complements my experience.

I have returned to the computer environment, & my education is complete. I now live with the realization that many current SES employees face retirement in the next few years while I have more than 20 yrs. of federal employment ahead of me. I can assure them that they don't have to worry about the quality of their potential successors. I am fully capable & qualified to perpetuate the business of government to service the public trust. I'm also certain there are other federal careerists with an education and experience. All we need is the organizational culture that values the combination.

-Alison
Notary Public, State of Ill.

While it is true that education has not been an emphasis in career development in the Federal workplace, I cannot agree that it has always been very beneficial. Instead, because employees have been promoted without having any educational achievements, the government is now saddled with a certain sector of the workforce that will never leave the government.

Frankly, many aren't worth what they are getting paid now, and could never possibly get a comparative job offer from private industry, even if they only took a pay cut for a year or two. So rather they will sit on the jobs they hold, possibly get a promotion at some time, but for the most part, they will stay where they are. This leaves the more educated and ambitious employees to circle around at the bottom, until they are frustrated because there are no promotional opportunities, and leave the agency.

If federal employees do not have a higher education, it is, for the most part, because they do not want to make that extra effort. As someone who was an orphan, a ward of the state, now going to law school, it has not been easy, but, never impossible.

-Elizabeth M. Harris
Financial Management Specialist