Life After Peace Corps

A Job Offer – a Successful Story

January 2, 2012

It is the news that I having been waiting for more than six months. The Federal government finally makes its offer. After applying for 75 Federal jobs, I get myself not only one job offer but two; a budget officer for the USDA National Forest and a staff accountant for the Smithsonian Institution. I like both jobs, but moving to DC is much easier than moving to Utah, so the decision is obvious.

Some of my PCV friends said that I was lucky to get the job so quickly. Some of the AZ6 left Azerbaijan a year earlier still struggling to get an interview, how fortunate I am to land myself a job within a month after returning to the US. Just for the record, my dear fellow RPCV friends, I was not lucky; I had worked very very hard for it. I do not know any AZ7 (my group) who had applied as many jobs as I did, and I definitely do not believe any AZ7 who had done as much research as I did on “how to find a Federal Government job”.

Back in January 2010, I already knew it would be extremely difficult to find a job in the public sector. I was fully aware that I had to compete with lots of veterans, veterans’ family, former federal employees, people with disabilities and thousands of RPCVs. The chance of my resume to be selected by the “computer” and later by “HR” is close to zero, unless my resume is so exceptional, so outstanding, so terrific, so stupendous, so marvelous, or it would never reach the desk of the hiring manager. So I worked on my resume, I had a resume for every job I applied. I read, read and re-read the job description and made sure all the job requirements and qualifications were properly reflected in my resume. Some of my resumes were 6 pages long, some 8 pages long, some emphasized on my skills, and some highlighted my accomplishments, whatever format, style and presentation seemed appropriate for that job, I worked on it.

There were countless nights that I worked on my resume until my neck became so stiff. There were numerous weekends that I traveled to Baku, sat in front of a computer in the Peace Corps dark basement, spent hours and hours applying the job on-line until my eyes got so tired that I felt dizzy. Six months later, when I received a first e-mail for a telephone interview, I rehearsed the interview with my cell phone and practiced how to speak clearly. When I went down to Washington DC for a second interview, I practiced in front of a mirror, trained to smile properly, and learned how to use body language, how to dress, and how to impress the interviewers with well-prepared answers and questions. So my success is no coincidence, and definitely not lucks. It is hard work, discipline and not willing to give up that reward me with a result.

One advice to the AZ8 who wants to work for the Federal Government, start your job search NOW, don’t wait until you return to the US, don’t wait until this summer, get yourself familiar with the application process, apply as many jobs as possible. You will get zero respond for the first 3 months, but do not get discouraged, do not give up, keep revising your resume until you get a respond. Be prepared to apply for more than 100 jobs, just keep going.

You do not need luck, just hard work!