Practical advice about finding government and government-related jobs flowed freely from a panel of professionals at the 2006 Government and International Affairs Careers Event on Oct. 25 at Sweet Briar College. About 45 students took in the wisdom of participants ranging from recent SBC graduates to career U.S. State Department staffers with decades of service behind them.
A Central Intelligence Agency recruiter talks with students before the start of a moderated panel discussion.The city of Lynchburg, Amherst County, private sector organizations and Sweet Briar faculty and staff also were represented on the panel. Hosted by the College’s career services office, the event has been held annually since 2001.

“Some jobs have come out of this and some internships have come out of it,” Wayne Stark, career services director, said of past years’ panels. “This is an amazing opportunity to do some serious networking."

“This is an amazing opportunity to do some serious networking."
Wayne Stark, director of career services
The students heard a lot about networking during a moderated panel discussion that kicked off the evening’s agenda. Steve Eisenbraun, editor-in-chief of the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights, told students not to be afraid to ask people for help. “Networking isn’t presumptuous. It’s the way things are done, and not just in Washington.”

Completing meaningful internships while still in college was another common theme, as was researching and understanding a position before applying for it. Several panelists said that applicants should have a passion for the work they seek. These ideas aren’t unrelated: Internships let you discover if you like something, said Steve Bragaw, associate professor of government at Sweet Briar.

The panelists handed out no-nonsense advice. Anita Allen Spinner ’00 of the Office of Personnel Management told students to learn the U.S. government’s pay grade structure and be sure to apply for the appropriate levels. Spinner also noted that many federal jobs exist outside of the District of Columbia. Picking up the thread, Alison Stockdale ’00, a security specialist with the Department of the Interior, suggested getting used to filling out the “daunting” application forms now, and to use the process to figure out what jobs are available across the country.

Central Intelligence Agency recruiter Karen (last name withheld) flagged some pitfalls that future applicants for security clearances might not anticipate. Among them was illegally downloading music from the Internet. Still, Karen said, don’t assume you’re disqualified because of past behavior. “We’re looking for honest people who admit to their mistakes and who don’t do those things anymore.”

After the discussion the floor was opened to students’ questions, and the program concluded with students mixing with the panel participants for one-on-one conversations.

For more information about Sweet Briar’s Career Services Center, please visit the Web site at http://www.ccl.sbc.edu/csc/.

— By Jennifer McManamay, SBC staff writer