Are you interested in launching a career that will help you make a real difference in the world while also allowing you to pay your bills?
If so, there are a variety of public service careers that you should consider. About 17 percent of Americans currently hold public service jobs with the government—and there are millions of others who work in other public sectors.
In order to land a public service job, you will often need at least a bachelor’s degree or some other kind of formal training. This sounds daunting, but here are services that help you supplement your education to help you do things like learn anatomy online, in the case of EMTs or other medical professionals, so that you can graduate on time with a high GPA. But that isn’t always the case, depending on which kind of public service career you pursue.
Let’s take a look at some of the steps you’re going to need to take in order to land a public service job and put yourself on the right career path.
Learn About the Different Public Service Careers
“What is public service?” That’s the first question that most people ask when they start thinking about pursuing public service careers.
There are a variety of public service jobs that you can try to land if you’re interested in doing it. Some examples of public sector jobs include:
- Federal, state, or local government worker
- Police officer
- Firefighter
- Military member
- Public school teacher or administrator
- Doctor or Nurse
Generally speaking, public service careers are any careers that benefit your city, your state, or the country in some way.
Consider Which Careers Might Fit You Best
Since there are so many public service careers that can pursue, your job is going to be to narrow down your options. You’re going to have a tough time finding a good fit if you don’t focus on a specific career in the public sector.
There are some instances in which it’ll be pretty easy for you to select a public service job. If, for example, you’ve always enjoyed working with kids and teaching them, working as a public school teacher will be a natural fit for you.
But if your interests aren’t that specific, you might need to do some soul-searching prior to pursuing one public service career over all the rest. If you find that you are passionate about, say, the environment, there are environmental jobs that would be right for you.
It’s all about figuring out which public sector you want to work in and looking up the jobs that fall into that category.
Find Out Which Qualifications You Need to Have
Once you know which type of public service career you want to pursue, your next step will be to find out which qualifications you need to have to land a job.
As we mentioned earlier, there are some public sector jobs that will require you to have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. You might also need to get a master’s degree to move up in these fields.
At the same time, you can score some government jobs without a degree. As long as you graduated from high school, they’ll be open to you. You may, however, need to take some kind of civil service test before you start applying for jobs.
Speak with People Who Work in Your Preferred Field
In addition to taking a look at which qualifications you’ll need to land certain jobs, you should also try to speak with those in your preferred field to gather more information on certain public service careers.
Let’s say that you love the idea of working as a firefighter. You’ve been obsessed with the thought of doing it since you were a little kid and know it’s what you want to do.
You can confirm that it is, in fact, the right career for you by spending time talking to a firefighter who has some experience under their belt. They may tell you all about how amazing it is working as a firefighter and even show you challenge coins for fire fighters just to emphasize how cool of a job it is.
But they may also tell you about some of the challenges they face. For instance, they might warn you about how you have to work most holidays and weekends during your early years while you make a name for yourself as a firefighter.
This will let you know what to expect from your preferred public sector job and let you know about the things that might make you second-guess your decision to pursue it.
Start Looking Around for Available Jobs
After you have the right qualifications to enter into a specific public service career and you know it’s what you want to do, it’ll be time to start searching for jobs. There are a lot of websites that will let you sift through your options.
Some of these websites include:
You can find dozens, if not hundreds, of jobs in your chosen field on these sites. You shouldn’t have any trouble tracking down places to put an application in.
See Which Jobs Offer the Best Pay and Benefits
In a perfect world, you’ll start hearing back about different public sector jobs within a few weeks of applying for them.
It’s important to note that many public service careers start off with slightly lower salaries than you might find in the private sector. But there is a ton of job security in the public sector that you’ll come to appreciate.
Some public service jobs will also help you pay down your student loans if you have them. This is yet another advantage of going with one of the many public service careers.
Apply for Public Service Jobs Today
You’ll love the feeling you get when you’re helping other people as part of your career. You’ll also appreciate the job security and the future that public service careers provide for you.
The key is to spend time thinking about which public service careers would work best for you based on your interests and your passions. If you’re able to find something that you really enjoy doing, you’ll love working in the public sector for many years to come.
Check out our blog to see how to go about investing your money once you start a new public service career.