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How to Find Government Jobs (How to Find Federal Government Jobs, How to Find State Government Jobs, How to Find County Government Jobs, and How to Find City Government Jobs)

Harrison Barnes
By Dec 08,2022
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Summary
There are many sources for government jobs, but these jobs receive relatively few applications because they are poorly advertised and for this reason can be much easier to get than private sector jobs. Many people fail to check, or don’t even know about, the thousands of government job-related websites that exist. You need to look beyond commercial job boards to find these jobs, that other job seekers may unwittingly overlook.

One of the best sources of jobs out there is government jobs. There are so many sources of government jobs, it is astonishing. Most government jobs are poorly advertised or promoted and receive very few applications. Because they receive so few applications, they are much easier to get in most cases than private sector jobs. In addition, most people have no idea how to find government jobs because they are “hidden” on a variety of government websites that most people never check (or do not even know about). I am going to tell you how to find these “hidden” government jobs.

No discussion of government jobs would be complete without me offering a few praises of them as well. Compared to the private sector, government jobs generally

  • Have more employment security,
  • Offer better healthcare benefits,
  • Award better pensions and/or retirement benefits,
  • Require less work, and
  • Often have less stress.

In many cases, working for the government mirrors what it was like working for the private sector in larger companies back in the 1960s. At that time, when someone joined a company, they did so with the expectation that they would work there the rest of their career. Getting fired was very difficult—and rarely happened. Retirement benefits were awarded to people commensurate with how long they worked there and were enough for people to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Great healthcare benefits were always given. The hours of work for most jobs were also very predictable.

The greatest benefit of working for the government, I believe, is the employment security that most government jobs have. The jobs themselves rarely go away and layoffs are infrequent compared to the private sector. While the salaries in many cases are lower than the private sector, when benefits are factored in, people are often earning more working for the government. In addition, the employment security you get working for the government means less stress worrying about if your job is at risk, and there are more earnings over the long term because you will probably never be out of work.

Given the employment security and other factors that go along with government work, I would be remiss if I did not point out that this makes a lot of government workers lazy, and the atmosphere can often generate a lot of incompetence. This means that if you are a motivated person, you can quickly “rise up” through the ranks in many government jobs much faster than you might otherwise in the private sector.

How to Find Government Jobs

When looking for a government job, there are generally four places you should look:

  • The federal government
  • State governments
  • County governments, and
  • City governments

A. How to Find Federal Government Jobs

There are an astonishing number of jobs you can get with the federal government. I am continually amazed at how many federal government jobs are available out there.

When you are looking for federal government jobs, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, many of the job descriptions are unreasonably long. In fact, there is often so much text in these that they can go on for pages. Do not be discouraged by these descriptions—they are mainly “government formalities” written by bureaucrats. Do not spend a lot of time worrying about the descriptions because many of them simply make no sense.

Secondly, when you look for federal government jobs, you should only concentrate on sites that end with “.gov”. This is the government’s URL, and if you see sites advertising government jobs that do not end in .gov, the chances are that these sites are commercial in nature and are advertising some sort of paid service. You can find every federal government job on a “.gov” site and, thankfully, there are not a ton of sources you need to check.

1. Check USAJobs.gov

The most popular way to search for federal government jobs is on the site USAJobs.gov. Theoretically, most of the federal government job postings are supposed to be on this site. While this is the intent of the site, not all federal government jobs are here and there are several other sources you need to check. Nevertheless, if you are seeking a job with the federal government, this is a very good place to look.

2. Check These Other Sites for Federal Government Jobs

In addition to USAJobs.gov, there are several other sites you should check. Many federal agencies do not list their jobs on USAJobs.gov and, instead, post their jobs on their agency websites. In order to find these jobs, you should go to the agency websites and find their “careers” or “employment” section.

Here are some links I recommend you visit to find more federal government jobs:

Link directories of federal government sites:

http://www.fedworld.gov/govlinks.html
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/

You can search for various federal agencies using these links. Some of the agencies and career sites will have jobs on them and others will not. It is important that you monitor all of them. These are good links you can search.

Some examples of good job federal agency job sites:

http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/careers/
http://www.todaysmilitary.com/
http://www.fedshirevets.gov/
http://www.usps.com/employment/welcome.htm
http://www.fbijobs.gov/
http://www.ssa.gov/careers/
http://www.fema.gov/career/index.jsp
http://www.nsa.gov/careers/index.shtml
http://www.secretservice.gov/opportunities.shtml
http://www.jobs.irs.gov/
http://www.fd.org/odstb_employment.aspx
http://www.justice.gov/oarm/
http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers.aspx

Most popular links:

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation National Capital Planning Commission
African Development Foundation National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
Broadcasting Board of Governors National Endowment for the Humanities
Central Intelligence Agency National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities
Civil Air Patrol Great Lakes Region National Labor Relations Board
Commission on Civil Rights National Mediation Board
Commodity Futures Trading Commission National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) National Science Foundation
Corporation for National Service National Transportation Safety Board
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Environmental Protection Agency Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Office of Government Ethics
Export-Import Bank of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Farm Credit Administration Office of Special Council
Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Peace Corps
Federal Election Commission (FEC) Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Postal Rate Commission
Federal Housing Finance Board Railroad Retirement Board
Federal Labor Relations Authority Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Federal MaritimeCommission Selective Service System
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Small Business Administration
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission Social Security Administration
Federal Reserve System/Board of Governors Tennessee Valley Authority
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) The Institute of Museum and Library Services
General Service Administration Trade Development Agency
Homeland Security United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investment Board
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board United States International Development Cooperation Agency
Inter-American Foundation United State International Trade Commission
International Broadcasting Bureau United States Postal
Merit Systems Protection Board
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

B. How to Find State Government Jobs

Most states have sites that are dedicated to all of their jobs (the same way that the federal government tries to use USA.gov to consolidate all of its federal government jobs). In addition, in the same manner that the federal government attempts, but does not succeed in consolidating all of its jobs in one place, state governments suffer from the same problem.

1. Check the Career Information Site of the State You Would Like to Work In

The best way to find state jobs is generally to first check the state’s career information site. All 50 states have career information sites that you can easily search for jobs.

Here is a list of state career information sites:

State Career Information Sites

Alabama: http://dir.alabama.gov/
Alaska: http://jobs.state.ak.us
Arizona: http://www.labor.state.ak.us/
Arkansas: http://www.state.ar.us/esd/
California: http://www.edd.ca.gov/
Colorado: http://www.coworkforce.com/
Connecticut: http://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/
Delaware: http://www.delawareworks.com/services.shtml
DC: http://www.does.dc.gov/does/site/default.asp
Florida: http://www.floridajobs.org/
Georgia: http://www.dol.state.ga.us/
Hawaii: http://hawaii.gov/labor/
Idaho: http://labor.idaho.gov/dnn/Default.aspx?alias=labor.idaho.gov/dnn/idl
Illinois: http://www.ides.state.il.us/
Indiana: http://www.in.gov/dwd/
Iowa: http://www.iowaworkforce.org/
Kansas: http://www.dol.ks.gov/index.html
Kentucky: http://oet.ky.gov/index.asp
Louisiana: http://www.ldol.state.la.us/
Maine: http://www.maine.gov/labor/
Maryland: http://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/
Mass. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=elwdhomepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Elwd
Michigan: http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/
Minnesota: http://www.positivelyminnesota.com/
Mississippi: http://www.mdes.ms.gov/Home/index.html
Montana: http://www.dli.mt.gov/
Mss. http://www.labor.mo.gov/des/claims/index.asp
Nebraska: http://www.labor.mo.gov/des/claims/index.asp
Nevada: http://detr.state.nv.us/
New Hamp.: http://www.nh.gov/nhes/
New Jersey: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wnjpin/wnjpin_index.html
New Mexico: http://www.dws.state.nm.us/
New York: http://www.labor.ny.gov/home
North Carol.: https://www.ncesc.com/default.aspx
North Dakota: http://www.jobsnd.com/
Ohio: http://jfs.ohio.gov/
Oklahoma: http://www.oesc.state.ok.us/
Oregon: http://www.employment.oregon.gov/
Penn.: http://www.employment.oregon.gov/
RI: http://www.dlt.ri.gov/
SC: http://www.sces.org/
SD: http://dol.sd.gov/
TENN: http://www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/
Texas: http://www.twc.state.tx.us/
Utah: http://jobs.utah.gov/
Vermont: http://labor.vermont.gov/
Virginia: http://www.vec.virginia.gov/vecportal/
Washington: http://www.esd.wa.gov/
WV: http://www.workforcewv.org/
Wisconsin: http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/
Wyoming: http://doe.wyo.gov/Pages/default.aspx

These lists and sites are all different, but each is a lot of fun because each can lead you to discovering other job sites that are resources for employment.

2. Check the Agencies of the State You Would Like to Work in for Jobs

Numerous state agencies may have jobs on them that are not consolidated on the jobs section of the main state career information website. Here are some examples of lists of state agencies from different states:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg/abbrev.shtml
http://kentucky.gov/Portal/OrgList.aspx
http://www.georgia.gov/00/topic_index_channel/0,2092,4802_937045,00.html

In order to find a list of agencies in your state, all you generally need to do is do a search on Google for your state, and the term “agencies”. For example, if you were looking for a list of state agencies in Oregon you would simply do a search for “Oregon State Agencies”. Once you locate the list of agencies, just go to each agency website and check them for jobs.

C. How to Find Jobs With Counties

Most counties in every state of the country have their own websites with jobs on them—the same thing you find with federal government and state jobs. There is an average of 62.8 counties per state and each county typically has its own job site!
You can find a list of jobs in the county you are interested in working in, by simply searching your county name and the term job.

1. Locate the Counties You Would Like to Work In

If you do not know what county you are in, the links found in this Wikipedia entry can be of tremendous help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_(United_States)

Most states have lists of their counties if you search for this term on Google. Once you locate the counties you are interested in working for, just visit their website and find the jobs or career section.

When you are looking for county jobs, you also want to be sure that you are applying to jobs that are near your own county. For example, on this map http://www.counties.org/default.asp?id=6, Los Angeles County is next to Ventura, Kern, San Bernardino, and Orange Counties. It is always smart to check nearby counties when you are looking for a job and not just confine yourself to the county you are in.

2. Make Sure You Also Check County Agencies for Jobs as Well

When you are searching for county jobs, remember that there may be jobs on county agency websites that are not on the main county site. For example, most counties almost always have a completely separate website for their Sheriff’s department that contains jobs not listed on the county-specific site.

In order to locate all of the county jobs, you should always search for a list of agencies within the county as well and then check the agency websites for jobs. Just like with other government agencies, you should also search for a list of all agencies within the county and check their website for jobs as well.

  • Do a search on Google for the list of agencies in a particular county and you will generally be directed to a list somewhere on the country website of the county agencies (each of whom may have their own website and job site).
  • Alternatively, you can search the county website for agencies as well. As an example, if you were looking for a job in Los Angeles County you would want to check all of these agencies: http://portal.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/lac/government/departments

D. How to Find Jobs With Cities

There are over 35,000 towns and cities in the United States. Most of these cities have job sites. There are an incredible number of cities out there where you can potentially work.

1. Locate the Cities You Would Like to Work In

In my opinion, the best way to find jobs with cities is simply to do a search for the name of your city and the term “jobs” or “website”. This will generally bring up the city website of your city and you can check your city for jobs.

It is important to also make sure you select nearby cities of where you want to work as well. Most cities are near other cities and you would be making a huge mistake if you applied to jobs only within the city you are living in, for example. In order to find a list of cities nearby you, I recommend finding the Wikipedia entry for your county and then seeing the list of cities nearby where you live.

Here is a list of the 200 largest cities in the United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

2. Check the Agencies of the City You Would Like to Work in for Jobs

Many cities do not list all of the jobs they have on their website and, instead, put them on their individual agency websites as well.

In order to insure you find all of the jobs within the city you are interested in working for, it is important that you review all of the agency websites in your city. Many cities have separate agency websites with jobs on them. You can generally locate a list of the agencies in a city on the city website, or by doing a Google search.

Conclusions

I would estimate that there are well over 50,000 government-related websites with a variety of jobs on them. Most of these jobs are not advertised on commercial job boards and very few people know about them. You are now equipped with powerful tools to go after these jobs by knowing where to look.

I hope this information helps you.

Appendix (Comprehensive List of Government Job Site Links)

Links to Search for Government Jobs:

THE LESSON

There are many sources for government jobs, but these jobs receive relatively few applications because they are poorly advertised and for this reason can be much easier to get than private sector jobs. Many people fail to check, or don’t even know about, the thousands of government job-related websites that exist. You need to look beyond commercial job boards to find these jobs, that other job seekers may unwittingly overlook.

Related Articles:

About Harrison Barnes

Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.

About BCG Attorney Search

BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.

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