Supporting the Next Generation of Public Servants

I had the privilege of speaking with students from Hobart and William Smith Colleges as they prepared for their DC Career Trek. These students will soon head to Washington, DC to network with alumni and professionals across the private and public sectors, exploring what their careers might look like after graduation.

For many of them, this will be their first real glimpse into how their majors translate into actual jobs and that's exactly where the conversation gets tricky.

The Skills Gap in Early-Career Job Searching

This is the challenge: traditional government job boards match candidates based on keywords and prior job titles. But when you're seeking your first role, you don't have those keywords on your resume yet. You can't search for jobs you've never held or titles you've never heard of.

Students graduate with degrees in International Affairs or Environmental Protection, ready to serve, but they hit a wall. They don't know which government agencies are hiring for roles that match their skills or even what roles are out there across levels of government. They don't know where these jobs are located or what a realistic career path looks like. The system is built for people who already have government experience, not for people trying to break in.

That's exactly what GovSkills was built to solve: matching students to public sector careers based on their skills and potential, not just their work history.

From Theory to Practice: Career Translation Reports

To make this concrete for the DC Career Trek students, we took the three most popular majors and turned them into three career translation reports: International Affairs, Program Management, and Environmental Protection. These reports showed real career progression paths, translatable skills, hiring agencies, and geographic locations for roles that align with their education.

We produce these reports because their insights surprise even us. Environmental Protection careers? The Department of the Navy is the top hirer right now, and California leads as the location. For those studying public policy or considering Program Management roles, we showed them how this is one of the federal government's largest and most accessible career fields. One that values analytical thinking and communication skills over specialized technical expertise, making it a strong entry point for liberal arts and social science graduates.

These insights matter because they open doors students didn't even know existed.

Mission Over Product

This is what excites us most: GovSkills is not just a better job board. We're building a bridge between students' skills and public service opportunities. We're committed to helping the next generation discover how they can serve, whether that's at the federal, state, or local level.

For the DC Career Trek, we're creating something special, a field guide full of career translations specific to the speakers, alumni, and professionals these students will meet.

Looking Ahead

Public sector careers shouldn't be mysterious or inaccessible. We're eager to see these students use GovSkills to explore careers they might never have considered. More importantly, we want to hear their feedback, learn what works, and continue refining how we support students entering public service.

Interested in bringing GovSkills to your campus or organization? We'd love to hear from you.