Have you ever looked at the resumes of government employees?

[The Backlash Cometh]

Some of the things will scare you. In the Central Florida region you get the impression that it's all about connections. Take the Economic development consulting jobs that have been around for about ten years. A track record has been established to show that some plans ended up as a train wreck. Then you look at the resumes and see the people who took the jobs graduated in college with nothing that would have prepared them for government work -- which is probably why they were selected in the first place. They've spent more time in the 19th hole of golfcourses than they have in the library.

Another case, an employee who worked in the Comprehensive Planning department listed, "Comprehensive Plan experience," just to take me aside later and tell me that he had no experience in the matter.

Another one, a land development coordinator, boasted on his resume that he had helped acquire drilling rights off the coast of Florida and that he was in the CIA, but doing what he was not at liberty to say. He would later tell me as he grit his teeth, "I can go so deep into the Louisiana Bayou that no one can find me."

The was pre-Katrina.

In sum, I don't think that government employees are being picked for the right reasons. It's not about competence, it's about family connections or the ability to be ignorant enough on the subject that they can be molded into the position.

[hobbit709]

1. It's "Who you know or who you blow"

[raccoon]

6. Definitely true in SC. nt

[GoCubsGo]

14. Only in the State House

I know lots of employees who work for SCDHEC, DNR and other agencies who are very well-qualified. In fact, the state is getting a bargain with these people, because they work their butts off for shit pay. They got their jobs because of their qualifications, not because of their family ties.

[raccoon]

15. Yeah, I know some like that. Like me, and others in my department.

Shit wages and no benes.

[mitchum]

22. You can say that again... it is all about one's fucking bloodline or who one is fucking

It is a corrupt little fiefdom
and will never change

[Zynx]

2. Might be true in Florida. In Wisconsin government we have a lot of extremely qualified employees.

[supernova]

3. And that makes gov't different from private industry,... how?

Lots of people work in jobs that they are not fit for.

It's not just a gov't thing.

It's all about connections is the way of the world, unfortunately.

[Fumesucker]

4. My thoughts exactly..

It's almost getting to the point that I'm surprised when the most competent person with the best track record gets picked for advancement.

[Romulox]

8. Ostensibly, gov't employment is supposed to serve the public interest. That's how. nt

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. They're not what they use to be.

One told me to my face that she hated public records requests and started reciting retention periods and other ways to obstruct a request.

[harkadog]

19. The difference? You have to ask?

It is almost impossible to fire a federal government employee for incompetence. It is fairly easy to fire someone for incompetence in the private sector. I can't believe the question was asked.

[-wulf-]

5. In my city

There is a mandatory requirement for minority and female participation in all employment and by private contractors and businesses, and a separate requirement that a minimum percentage of the owners of businesses and contractors be minorities and females. There are also tax incentives for every percent above the minimum requirement. As a result, typically a little over 65% of the city work force and all associated private businesses are minorities and minority females.

So, the first and most important item on any resume is race. Other qualifications are secondary and not weighed as high as ethnicity and gender.


Weird huh?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

12. Many companies that participate in that kind of environment merely have female figureheads

IE, some guy starts a business and "sells" it to his wife or has a minority friend buy into the company @ 51% or something.
I've always felt quotas are used entirely too much and the concept and meaning gets watered down.
Quotas, like everything else, should have a time and place.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. Resume isn't all that important.

I seem to remember a President who was elected with merely 1/2 of a US senate term on his resume.

[CBR]

9. I have worked with alot of smart people in the government. nt

[Xenotime]

11. That's where many of them work.

[tabbycat31]

10. yes I have

as the daughter of a government employee (director of planning), I know exactly what his experience is.

[GoCubsGo]

13. Yes. I have.

I have worked with a number of government employees. In some cases, they are complete morons, which is the case no matter who is the employer. But, the overwhelming majority of them are well-qualified and extremely competent at what they do. And, none of them got their jobs due to family connections--unlike a lot of people I know in the private sector.

I worked for 22 years at a federal facility that was operated by private contractors. When I would go out to do my field work, I would run across people from various organizations. The Forest Service employees were all busting their asses. So were the Dept. of Energy employees, and the state environmental commission employees. The one who were sleeping out in the woods, carrying on extra-marital affairs with their co-workers, or boozing it up? The very well-paid employees of the private contractors who operated the site. Oh, and I often ran across those who worked for the private security provider way out on the back roads in their squad cars. Parked. Taking naps.

With all this government employee-bashing, I thought I accidentally went to some right wing site, like the Free Republic.

[tonysam]

25. That's federal level. Local level, especially school districts, are the worst

for nepotisms. There is no getting around that fact.

One of the reforms I would like to see in public ed is the instituting of a real civil service system instead of this connections shit that goes on in virtually every school district in the United States.

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. I have nothing but respect for civil servants.

I'm the daughter of a life-long civil servant. But that's why I know what I see today in local government, ain't it. Some exceptions, especially where the federal laws might intrude, but otherwise, it's pretty shoddy stuff.

[HipChick]

17. Is this any different from how other employees are picked?..

Most of my jobs I have got is because of someone I knew,someone I worked with...

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. I think it makes a difference.

When you're in private business the incentive is to make money. When you're in public service, the idea is to serve the public. Not everyone is cut out for it. And not every local government takes it seriously. They're more like brokers for the real estate industry.

[Cleita]

18. I thought you had to take a civil service exam to work in the government that

measures your basic ability to learn and handle a given job. Has that changed?

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. I haven't hear of one in the eleven years I've walked in and out of

City Hall.

[GoCubsGo]

23. There are a few local governments around that require them

I have seen a handful of state agencies, too. Not most, however.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. I just figured out my City.

I was at the official records room in the County, looking up records and behind me a man say, "I'm not a legal people, I'm a concept person."

Everything fell in place. Our mayor believes they should avoid the "legal issue" because they have to work together. In other words, they need something to barter with. It's like saying, I'll break the law for you if we have your vote on this next agenda item.

[tonysam]

24. You just found that out? School districts are the WORST

for nepotisms, one of the reasons they are so dysfunctional. People get hired because of who they know or who they blow, and anybody on the outside doesn't have a prayer.

I knew of an idiot principal, the one I hope to sue in the near future, who hired as teachers a mother (transferred from another school) AND her two daughters who all work in the same building at the same school. That kind of shit shouldn't be allowed--EVER.