Transition manual from the Federal Government
Life After Federal Service: A Transition Manual
I put the following together to consolidate the most common questions I have discussed with the hundreds of State Department colleagues that I’ve helped navigate their transition from federal employment over the last six years. While some details will vary I hope this proves helpful to other federal employees.
This is a quick draft. If you’d like to help me improve it, please send me a message. Justin
Step 2: Get your documents in order
Step 3: Get your stories straight (and short)
Step 5: Refine LinkedIn’s algorithm
Step 6: Apply! - Ask for referrals - and ask the referral to send your docs to the hiring manager
Step 8: Negotiate your package
Bonus: Onboarding so you get promoted quickly.
Appendix: Money - how much is the pension really worth?
Step 1: Define your goals
What do you really want after State? It is ok not to know or to have multiple ideas in your head at once but the more clarity you can get, the easier it will be for others to help you.
These are the questions I recommend writing out the answers to:
Where do you want to live?
Do you want to work full time?
Do you want a demanding job or better work life balance?
Do you want to work in the private sector, an NGO, IO, other government role?
How much money do you want to make to start?
How much prestige, however you define it, do you need in your next job?
Step 2: Get your documents in order
Baseline resume - one page - maybe a little more if you are going to be applying for multiple types of roles such as Comms, Government Affairs, and also some NGOs. Here is my template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16fUUpWUJ9SxUXClhyCPntMeHCUPbUNA2g89xEQC9J70/edit
Set up your LinkedIn profile to mirror this, adding more info and keywords to your summary so you show up in searches related to each type of role you plan to apply for.
Reminder: Your resume and profile aren’t for you. They are for the hiring manager. The only things on there should be those that demonstrate you absolutely can do the role they are hiring for, and you will make their life so much easier. Everything else should go. Or better yet jot them down and use what you left off to tell great stories at your first team offsite in your new role.
Step 3: Get your stories straight
This is the hardest step for FSOs. It takes work. For two reasons.
We tell long stories.
We never take direct credit because we all know no matter how big our role, we just played one part of anything major that happens. And if we did take credit while bidding people wouldn’t hire us because we’d be seen as too egotistical. You must to get over that.
Go through each EER - write down two awesome things that happened that year that you can turn into stories. They should be examples where you can show you did something that had an impact that mattered.
Practice each story in this format
This is the issue: Russia invaded Ukraine
Here is what I did: I quickly drafted a short list of Russian’s the U.S. could sanction
What happened: The President approved sanctioning some of them
Here is the impact: The Ruble dropped by X percent over the next X days. Russia did not invade beyond the eastern provinces.
Here is why it mattered: Kyiv remained free and no U.S. troops were deployed.
Notice ALL the extra context I left out. There were a lot of other steps. There were hundreds of people involved in this, almost all of them more senior than me at the time.
Now do it again and again until you can get the story down to two minutes or less.
Now do it again so you get it to two minutes while talking slowly. Speaking slowly conveys confidence. These stories are exciting, and complex, so you need to simplify even more.
You should be able to come up with 12 of these evergreen stories you can pull out in any and all interviews.
You cannot skip the impact and why it mattered.
You should be able to do this well before interviewing because most of your networking calls are also going to be 30 min or less. And you need to give 15 of those minutes to the other person because people get stressed when they aren’t given at least half of a conversation to speak themselves.
I found it very hard to do this homework but writing the examples out even just in outline form was essential.
The three practice interviews I did with a friend that worked at Facebook felt incredibly awkward. They were essential, and once I did them, I’ve been able to interview successfully across industries for a wide range of senior roles.
Bonus - dress for success. Think of it as code switching. It was so hard not wearing a suit to interview at Facebook. It was even harder to go in jeans, a t shirt, and a hoodie. In fact I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I settled on jeans, a button down shirt, covered by a zip up gray sweater from J Crew after much prodding by my friends. A t-shirt would have been better - it would have further helped overcome the fear anyone interviewing me had that I was going to be too tied to government style processes to succeed at Facebook, but I would have been too self conscious in that first interview (and I still got the job). Now that I have seen the full range of working environments, I’m comfortable in a suit when interviewing with finance in Manhattan and a plain T-Shirt when talking to a Blockchain start-up.
Step 4: Build your contacts
This takes time and no one else can do it for you.
Add people you know on LinkedIn. And any other social platform you might want to get intros on. Mutual connections increase reply rates a lot.
Once you know the orgs you want to work for or the city you want to be in, find as many people as you can there that you have a connection with.
Come up with a prioritized list to reachout to.
Reach out to twice as many as you can reasonably expect to budget 30 minutes to chat with per week.
If you know the person reach out with a three sentence note along the lines of:
Hey X, It has been awhile. I’m starting to figure out what life after State will look like and am particularly interested in X. Would you have a couple minutes to catch up in the next few weeks?
If you don’t know the person but have a mutual connection, ask your mutual connection if they can give you an intro. It also gives you a chance to let your connection know you are in the job market. The more people thinking about you while you are searching the more opportunities will find you.
Hey X, It has been awhile. I hope you are doing well. I’m exploring what will come after State and am particularly interested in X. I noticed you know Y. They seem like someone who might be able to help me better understand X, would you be willing to connect me with them here? Would love to hear more about how you’ve been as well if you have time.
If you don’t know them and don’t have a mutual connection, reach out to them with a three sentence note.
Hey X, We both went to X University/Are from Iowa/love the St. Louis Cardinals/my wife went to Richmond/I used to live in the Leigh Valley. I’ve been serving as a U.S. Diplomat in X and am ready for a change. I’m particularly interested in X, would you be willing to chat for a few minutes to help me better understand how I might fit at X?
Bonus - what on earth are these calls for?
Not what you might think. They are for you to one, let your contact know how much you appreciate their time. For you to collect new vocabulary words to use in your conversations with other people at the company. For them to leave with a positive impression about how you might easily plug into the organization, and that you are ready to make it through the interview process.
For example - when interviewing with Meta being able to talk about scope, reach, and impact - Billions of Daily Users!! For Airbnb - talking about a love of travel is generic, talking about a love of connection - that is what they are looking for. You want to understand how the company views itself and the words they use to describe themselves and their mission.
Step 5: Refine LinkedIn’s algorithm
Follow the companies or organizations you want to work for.
They also have an option to click I’m interested in working here on the companies page.
Set your status as open to work (only visible to recruiters).
You don’t have to put the banner on your profile photo to let recruiters know you are open to work.
Search for jobs at your target companies and with the titles you are going for and save them, well before you are ready to apply for anything.
Set it up so you get daily emails about new jobs LinkedIn recommends for you.
Everytime there is a decent fit in the email, click the ‘save’ button on LinkedIn, this will help them make better recommendations to you.
Step 6: Apply!
You’ve found a role you are excited about. Here is the optimal order of operations.
Immediately customize your resume by rewriting the top paragraph pulling language from the job description. Rewrite one bullet from each of your two most recent roles to incorporate language from the job description.
If you know someone at the org, send them a link to the role and your resume with a short note. (Ideally you already have been in contact with them recently during Step 4 above).
Hey X, I see that the Director of Wizardry was just posted at Hogwarts. Would you mind submitting a referral and sharing my resume with the hiring manager? Line about how you are an amazing wizard who would make the hiring managers life so much easier immediately.
If the recruiter reaches out - ask for a call with your contact to talk through vocab and what they screen for in advance.
Step 7: Interview
Interviews generally follow this formula, though thankfully not all companies include every step.
Recruiter screen - usually 30 minutes. Slow down. Get to know your recruiter. Ask them about themselves, what makes candidates successful both in interviews and at the company. Ask who you are meeting next, and what you should know about them that isn’t obvious from their LinkedIn page. You don’t need to impress them with your experience, you need to impress them with your research on the company, its values and why you are excited to join the company in this role. I always ask what the budget for this role in my desired location is. If they ask me for my number before sharing their range, I defer and eventually say, I’m interviewing for roles in the range of X which tends to be a very high number and what I expect to be the top end of their range based on conversations with people at the company and in the industry.
Hiring manager interview - 30 minutes at most companies - 1 hour at Amazon.
Slow down. Focus on why you will make their life easier. Show that you have researched the company and the role and them.
Answer each question in 2 minutes or less in the following format.
Here is the issue
Here is what I did
Here is the result
Here is why that result mattered (it’s impact)
Did I give you everything you need?
Ask them 2-3 questions depending on time that show you are thinking about how you will fit into the team and how you will be able to add value.
3. The Loop - 3-5 interviews with people you will likely work closely with in this role. 30 minutes at most companies an hour at Amazon. Same format as hiring manager interview.
[Many companies will then get the loop members and hiring manager together and if they agree on a top choice an offer can be made at this stage.]
4. Cultural fit interviews - Airbnb and others - 30 minute interviews with people you are unlikely to work with at the company to see how you fit with the culture.
5. Bar raiser interview - Amazon - usually not someone you would work with in the role, to see if you would ‘raise the bar’ of Amazon employees. Questions did not differ much from standard loop questions but the interviewer often doesn’t have specific knowledge of the role you would be taking.
6. Another hiring manager interview - sometimes they want another conversation.
7. The skip level interview - your future bosses boss. Format varies from similar to loop interviews to more informal.
There are three reasons you might have one of these:
Sometimes there are two candidates and the hiring manager is having a hard time choosing or the people in the loop are divided.
The boss wants to interview anyone joining their org
The boss is coming in to do a little screening but mostly to help sell you on the upcoming offer
If this isn’t part of the process, I recommend asking for one after you get an offer. Your bosses boss will play a big role in your future promotions so it is helpful to get a sense of them before you accept any role. If they are unavailable to meet you that also gives you an important data point.
Step 8: Negotiate
Many companies can negotiate some if not all of the following variables: base salary, annual bonus, equity compensation, signing bonus, days of annual leave, start date, location, title. It is worth taking time to both prioritize which of these are most important to you, and to listen for which ones your company may have flexibility to negotiate as it varies tremendously.
Below is the script I've used to help maximize offers. I've had great results from it in tech and a couple other industries.
First when they make the offer, listen. Then ask questions while conveying a humble, grateful, and excited tone.
Call script:
They will give you a number for a base salary.
If they don’t offer more details you’ll want to pause, go slow and ask,
1. What level is this role?
2. Is there any room to move it to the next level?
3. What is the bonus rate for this role?
4. What equity is part of the compensation package?
5. How often does it vest?
6. How soon are refreshers granted? Would I expect to get more equity early next year or have to wait until 2025?
7. Is there room for a signing bonus in the budget?
8. How many days of annual leave are there?
9. Is it standard for all employees or does it depend on level/time at company?
10. Can that be increased (share current leave levels if helpful).
11. What is the 401k match?
12. When do employer contributions vest?
13. What are some possible start dates? (companies usually only onboard a couple times a month).
Finally circle back to base salary and say so the offer is X, with bonus X% and equity X over 4 years. Where does that fall in the salary band for this role and level?
Pause.
They won’t tell you.
Then follow up and say can you help get me to above the midpoint for the salary band for this role and level? Or even better towards the top? I always add a truthful line about how it is hardest for me to negotiate on behalf of myself but I owe it to all those I mentor to make sure I do so for myself.
Hopefully that last part gets them to give you a slightly higher number. So then you can say thank you so much so it could be XX up to…
Pause and see if they raise it again.
I always note that, money won’t be the most important factor in any decision in which role I accept. I'm just trying to get the best sense of which parts of the package could be increased.
As long as it is done in a grateful and excited tone, I’ve found recruiters love helping you understand all the components of their company’s offer and if you can show them you honestly want to get the deal closed, they will share a fair amount about where they have flexibility for improving a package.
Once you have all that info, then you can hang up, celebrate and take a day or two to see what parts you want to try to improve with additional negotiations based on your priorities.
I’ve only found a couple of companies that truly don’t negotiate and luckily they all set those expectations very early in the process so that you can have this conversation at the start of interviewing rather than at the offer stage.
Bonus: Onboarding so you get promoted quickly.
It is important to realize who has a say in your promotions. At tech companies the review process usually consist of a short write up of your impact that half by your boss, and a short 360 style process of feedback gathering. And then a series of ‘calibrations’ meetings.
Often people focus too much on ensuring they get good feedback during the 360 like process. A bad 360 can hurt you, but in general people spend too much time on this phase and not enough on the next.
My view is you are better served by making sure you know who will be in the room with your boss during ‘calibrations’. This meeting is usually led by HR and your skip level boss and consists of their direct reports. Each participant has a couple minutes to justify the rating they are giving each person on their team. When I proposed anything above a good rating, I would start to get pushback. There is an unspoken rule that each team needs to keep its exceptional ratings and promotion rates to certain levels. The times I succeed in getting people promoted was when I had allies in the room with me. When a skeptical voice would speak up it was invaluable having someone else on the call that would say oh yeah I worked with X on project Y, they were invaluable and performing well at the next level. Etc.
If all goes well there, then my boss goes into a similar meeting with their boss. At lower levels promotions aren’t scrutinized too much, but as you get higher it is invaluable to have one of your skip level’s peers in that room with a vested interest in seeing you get promoted.
What to do:
First set clear expectations with your boss about what you are expected to deliver and then exceed them. You can’t prove you exceeded expectations if they weren’t clear to start.
1. Tell your boss you want promoted and make sure you are doing work and having an impact they consider promotion worthy. If they don’t have the desire to make a strong case for you, you have no chance.
2. During 1:1s ask directly if what you are delivering has you on track to exceed expectations and move towards promotion this cycle. If not figure out what you need to do.
3. Catalog the impact of your work so that your boss has easy to use examples of how you delivered value at the next level.
4. Make sure your boss shares that document with their boss right as they go into their calibrations meeting.
5. Most important: build relationships with your boss’s peers, your skip level, and your skip level’s peers so that they know you and the impact of your work.
Appendix: Money - how much is the pension really worth?
The most common question about deciding if to leave the FS often revolves around the pension. I’m not a financial advisor. This is just how my family thought about things before we left. We tried a range of variables but here is one set of calculations.
If I stayed in until 50, I would have had 25 years of service. So my pension percentage would be 1.7 x 20 + 5 = 39. I assumed if I stayed until 50 my top three salaries in the FS would have averaged 180,000.
So my yearly pension starting at age 50 would have been ~ 70,200.
If I lived until 90 that would mean collecting ~2.8 million.
I was 11 years from vesting when I left so I discounted 2.8 million at 6% for 11 years, which comes to 1,475,000. Then I subtracted the pension I’ll receive starting at age 62 which is 12% of my high three average which should work out to roughly 14,000 per year. So the prevent value of what we were walking away from was slightly below 1.4 million. We felt comfortable that we could make up that amount through higher income for both me and my wife, though of course it also required investing that extra present day income for retirement rather than increasing expenses.
One option that some companies offer is the ability to save up to 56,000 in your 401k per year and to convert contributions to Roth status via backdoor Roth conversions. But please consult a financial and or tax professional before making any decisions.