Thinking About a Government Job? Better Start Thinking About 2011

The woman who chairs one of my networking groups dropped a bombshell on us this past Monday - she found a job with a government contractor and will be starting week after next.  Not only did this surprise our group, but I confess it left a number of us wondering:  "Whoa!  How'd she pull that off in just a few weeks while the rest of us have been searching for months???"  But there was something she had in addition to connections and good fortune.

She had the gift of timing. 

According to a number of people I've talked with recently, she may be one of the last people to get hired on a government-related job before next year.  Why?  Well, for starters, we're now about 90 days out from the November mid-terms, and that means many government departments - and their corresponding contractors - will be holding off on any hiring until after the elections.  (Side note:  A few years ago I interviewed with a contractor a few weeks before the midterm elections.  Everything seemed to go well, and I was told to expect a follow up call.  The elections came and went, and none of us ever heard back from them.  Apparently, the results shifted the company's focus and their expected hiring plans.)  This makes sense since a change in the power balance - which usually occurs during midterms when most presidential administrations (particularly those in recessionary economies) lose some of their standing with voters - means changes in needs and resources.  In other words, hiring goes on a deep freeze until the results are known and people can plan accordingly. 

But there's more.  Once the elections are done come November, there's not likely to be much hiring before 2011 since few companies fill new positions during the last 6-8 weeks of the year.  The Thanksgiving holiday basically eliminates one week, and Christmas & New Year's essentially knock out two more as well.  Combine that with most people taking end-of-year vacations because of use-it-or-lose-it leave policies (to say nothing of new budgets that do not kick in until the new year starts) and chances are there won't be too much hiring before January at the earliest. 

That's not to say that there won't be ANY new jobs out there.  People will leave some positions, and occasionally a few of them will be designated as "essential" and probably filled.

But for DC job hunters, it means a tougher road ahead for at least the next few months.