Graduation hits you like a brick wall.A cleverly masked feeling of accomplishment, relief and maybe even elation comes over you. Then reality sets in, followed by panic, fear, and insecurity.A million questions start running though your mind. What am I going to do now? How do I finally become a contributing member of society? Does this mean my financial aid is going to stop? Wait…actually, it means that I’ve got to start paying back my loans!

When one decides to major in a liberal arts program such as political science or international studies, one entertains vague notions of what one would like to do with this degree and where one might like to end up.The question soon becomes“how do I get there?”While searching for that ever-elusive perfect job, you might feel like you will never get there.But with the aid of the Career Center, your professors, and the Internet a job hunt methodology can be established.The first bit of advice I can give you is start looking for and applying for jobs a semester before you graduate. This way you will not find yourself with too much time on your hands after graduation (I speak from experience!). The hiring process with the government can be exceptionally slow.I mean, the entire process, the processing of applications, the setting up interviews, the job offers and job start dates. 

So now that you have a rough idea of when to start, let’s continue with how to begin. Before you begin sending out your resumes, you have to find the job openings.This is not an easy task.During one day of searching you could find twenty or thirty openings, but maybe you should not send resumes out to all of those prospective employers. People get stuck on the idea that you must send out a great quantity of resumes a week.If you are looking for something specific, this is a waste of time.You have to ask yourself, “is it beneficial to send out twenty resumes?”Of those twenty there might be ten that you are not qualified for, five that you are over-qualified for, three you don’t even want, and only two that might actually work.If you did this each week you would waste precious time and energy on eighteen useless resumes. Identify theopportunities that sound good to you and that you may qualify for, and put your energy into preparing resumes and cover letters that will prompt the prospective employer to give you a call.Take the job search very seriously, almost as if it were a job itself.

What I have listed below are some resources I used, and some bits of information that might ease the often painful, sometimes exciting, and more times than not, post –graduation, self- deflating job search.During your search, you will find additional resources, and if they are particularly useful, pass them on to someone you know or to the Department of Government at UWF to add to the list.We are all in this together.Good luck!

USOPM (USA Jobs):http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/

This site is excellent for jobs that might fit the Political Science or International Studies major. Once at the site, look under the category “Social Science and Welfare.”The jobs I found most relevant were Foreign Service officers or intelligence officers.Since all of these jobs are with the government, they will have GS ratings.For those with a B.A. degree and no experience, you will probably be categorized underGS-07.For those with an M.A. and no experience, you will have a GS-09 rating.If you do have experience then your rating increases.The jobs I found on this website were often between a GS-04 and a GS-13.To fill out an application package, you can use a resume, but follow directions closely and you will often have to include transcripts.You ALWAYS have to answer the Knowledge, Skills and Ability questions (KSA’s).Do not leave any of these questions unanswered, even if you do not have experience in what they are looking for. Show how you have used that knowledge, skill or ability during school (research project, presentation, paper, thesis, etc.). If you do not have the experience, note that you have the capacity to perform the task or skill.

Other job sites that can be helpful include:

Jobs Library:ftp://ftp.fedworld.gov/pub/jobs/jobs.htm

This is a federal database listed by state from the Office of Personnel Management

Federal Jobs Opportunity Board:ftp://ftp.fjob.mail.opm.gov

Department of Justice:http://www.usdoj.gov

Career Path:http://www.careerpath.com

This site shows online want ads from seven major newspapers (Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, NYT, San Jose Mercury New, Los Angeles Times, and the Florida Sun)

I also found the Washington Post to be particularly helpful:http://www.washingtonpost.com

The International Trade Administration:http://www.ia.ITA.com.gov

Defense Intelligence Agency:http://www.dia.mil/pers/html/int.htm

CIA:http://www.cia.gov

The Federal Times:http://www.federaltimes.com

The Department of Defense:http://www.dtic.mil/defenselink

Usually intelligence positions are for higher GS ratings

Navy:http://www.navy.mil

Air Forcehttp://www.af.mil

Army:http://www.army.mil

FBI:http://www.fbi.gov

DEA:http://www.usdoj.gov/dea

US Department of State:http://www.state.gov

NSA:http://www.nsa.gov:8080/

Department of Energy:http://www.doe.org

DOS Foreign Affairs Network:http://www.dosfan.lib.uic.edu

U.S. Secret Service:http://www.ustreas.gov/treasury/bureaus/usss/usss.html

U.S. Office of Personnel Management:http://www.usajobs.opm.gov

USIS:http://www.usia.gov

U.S. Agency for International Development:http://www.usaid.gov

THE PRIVATE SECTOR

This area can be pretty surprising.Mistakenly, I thought that I would only be qualified for government or not-for-profit organizations.While there is not necessarily a huge demand for social scientists in the private sector, they are still needed.There will be some companies that just want to know that you have quantitative and qualitative research abilities.Here is a list of a few companies that might work.Keep in mind, though, that I was looking for something in the national security area, so most of these companies would be considered tech, R&D, and computer companies.Just look at ANYTHING that does not specify engineering, computer science, or physics.Also consider yourself warned that by the end of looking at this list you will wish you had put your computer and math skills to use and majored in one of those technical or science degrees!But remember that the run-of-the-mill physicist or IT man or woman probably cannot discuss political theory or world politics. Don’t forget that while you might not be making $90 grand after graduation, you can carry on really good conservation at cocktail parties!

America’s Job Bank:http://www.ajb.dni.us/

This is the number one-rated private employer job bank.Options to search by Job Code, Job Title, Military Occupational Code, etc.

Lockheed Martin:http://www.lmco.com/careers/index.htm

GRC International Inc.http://www.grci.com/

Research Planning, Inc. (RPI):http://www.rpihq.com

Special Operations and Defense Programs

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc.http://www.spa-inc.net

D. Appleton Company:http://www.dacom.com

Booz, Allen, & Hamilton, Inc.http://www.bah.com

Don’t let the name fool you into thinking this might just be another Pensacola law firm.There are tons of jobs on this site.

BAE Systems:http://www.baesystems.com

BDM International, Inc.http://www.bdm.com

CAS, Inc.http://www.cas-inc.com

Dynamics Research Corporationhttp://www.drc.com

Intellibridge Corporation:http://www.intellibridge.com

GRC International Inc.:http://www.grci.com

Profiles Threat Counter Measures:http://www.profiles-threat.com/

SAIC:http://www.saic.com

INSTITUTES-RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS-NOT FOR PROFITS

RAND Corporation:http://www.rang.org

A think-tank located in Santa Monica, California, but it has other locations throughout the US.

Created initially to examine national security issues, it has branched out to many domestic issues, such as welfare reform, health care, etc.They have a demand for researchers who have both qualitative and quantitative skills, but this would probably be something you might want to consider a little later in your career.

The Heritage Foundation:http://www.heritage.org

The Brookings Institution:http://www.brookings.org

The Urban Institute:http://www.urban.org

A non-partisan economic and social policy research organization.

The Economy Information Service:http://newecon.org

Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments:http://www.csbaonline.org

Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe:http://www.idee.org

Instituted for Defense Analysis:http://www.ida.org

International Crisis Group:http://www.crisisweb.org

US Institute of Peace:http://www.usip.org

Center on Policy Attitudes:http://www.policyattitudes.org

World Affairs Councils of America:http://www.worldaffairscouncils.org

American Institutes for Research:http://www.air.org

Additional Sources:

These additional websites, listed in the Aug. 20^{th, 2000} edition of the Pensacola News Journal might prove helpful.

www.quintcareers.com – This is a useful site for job hunting, cover letters, interviewing, and salary negotiation.

www.jobinterview.net – A data-base of interview questions.

www.homefare.com/calc/salcalc.html–This provides useful information for relocation.If this link does not work try www2.homefare.com/calc/salcalc.html.