In the fall of 2016, I was facing very insecure job prospects. I was on the final year of a post-doc position at Fordham University, where I had completed my PhD. After several bruising, failed job searches in the previous years, I decided to look for non-academic job opportunities. Through my search, I learned about the Presidential Management Fellowship program.
The Presidential Management Fellowship is a two-year program to train recent graduate degree earners for management positions in the US federal government. The program offers full salary and benefits, 80 hours per year of formal training, the opportunity to work in a number of different roles during the program to gain a broad basis of experience, and may include student loan repayment incentives. Further, the program boasts an impressive alumni network.
I applied for the program, was accepted as a finalist, and then finally offered a position in 2017—during the federal hiring freeze—as a management analyst with the US Department of Agriculture. Since that time, I’ve had excellent opportunities to acquire new skills and to develop as a manager and leader. The combination of pay, benefits, and work/life balance are fantastic. Finally, the job provides a great opportunity to make a difference. For instance, in my current role, I have the opportunity to help customers in four different federal agencies understand how to use their data to make their daily jobs more efficient and more effective, which ultimately leads to improved services for the public.
I would strongly encourage anyone interested in positions in government to consider the Presidential Management Fellowship as a great launching point for a career transition. Further, philosophers are excellent candidates for the program, since candidates are evaluated for many skills that philosophical education helps train, including critical thinking, originality, as well as written and verbal communication.
The Office of Personnel Management will accept applications for the Presidential Management Fellowship class of 2021 from September 30-October 14, 2020. You are eligible to apply if you have received a graduate or professional degree (MA, PhD, JD) between September 30, 2018 and September 30, 2020, or if you will have completed all requirements (including dissertation) for such a degree no later than August 31, 2021.
For more details, please see: https://www.pmf.gov Interested recent grads with further questions can contact me at shane dot wilkins at gmail dot com.
Shane Wilkins
Shane Wilkins wrote a PhD comparing medieval and contemporary theories of material constitution at Fordham University and has published papers in metaphysics, logic, and applied ethics. He is also a member of the APA’s Non-Academic Careers committee. He is very happily employed at the US Department of Agriculture. He’s also on LinkedIn.
Hey, I was a PMF, class of 2011/2012. I pursued it as a backup to academia — had always planned to become a fulltime phil prof. But the further I advanced in the program, the more impressed I became. Ten years later, I’m still grateful to be working with the feds, and enjoy a work/life balance that’s allowed me to keep a foot in academia, adjuncting on the side, and even editing a little for the APA Blog. So, practical-minded philosophy grads, I recommend it for sure. It’s not for everyone. But check it out. If the idea stable public service and a fast-track into mid/upper management sounds attractive, it’s tough to beat. Graduating phil MAs and PhDs welcome. The window to apply is brief and the competition stiff. For anyone worried about the public speaking portion, shoot me an email and I’ll forward my public speaking audiobook 😉