Weekly Column: An Interview With a Canada@150 Participant

A couple of weeks ago the Canada@150 project had its Ideas Fair.

Interestingly, our blog as well as Etienne Laliberté’s An Inconvient Renewal site were mentioned during one of the conferences, and links were included in the published materials (PDF and web). After a quick email to the Canada@150 team, the links to these pages went live on the Policy Research Initiative (PRI) official government website.

Despite Mike and I being screened out of the Canada@150 project (no bitterness here), we managed to wrangle ourselves [CPSR] an interview with an anonymous participant [AP].

Warning! This interview is chocked full of successy-goodness.

[CPSR]: Thank you for agreeing to speak with us about the Canada@150 project. Can you tell us a bit about it before we start?

[AP]: Sure, Canada@150 is the brainchild of the Privy Council Office (PCO) and the Policy Research Initiative (PRI). It consisted of a team of 150 young public servants selected from more than 1,700 applicants. We were tasked with identifying and evaluating the most important challenges that Canada will face in 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

We were instructed to go beyond current research and develop our own policy responses to the challenges we identified. We were also asked to consider the implications of our findings for the Public Service as a whole and to develop strategies for keeping pace with change and meeting emerging challenges.

[CPSR]: Looking back, what did you think about the project?

[AP]: Overall, it was a very positive experience. The project brought together 150 people from across the country and overseas, with varied backgrounds, educations and job experiences. The task was extremely broad by any measure: the context of the project, the geographical challenges, the use of a new collaborative web suite (Clearspace, not currently in use anywhere else to my knowledge). Despite the size and scope of the project, its novelty, and the unique backgrounds of the participants, I left feeling proud of what the group had accomplished. In the end, I think it was a success: a success that speaks to the qualities of the participants, the organizers, and the technologies.

[CPSR]: How much support did you have from your manager?

[AP]: My manager and director were extremely supportive of my involvement in the process. They even championed some of the initiatives that came out of the Canada@150, particularly in the adoption of collaborative platforms for policy development.


[CPSR]: How much freedom did participants have to manoeuvre during the project?

[AP]: The latitude we were given by the organizing secretariat was impressive but somewhat daunting. We were provided a solid introduction to futures and systems analysis, and then asked to undertake a broad environmental scan. PRI basically said, “go out and find out what we, as a country, are going to face.” Obviously we came up with hundreds of potential issues facing the country. But over the next six months, we continually refined our analysis and narrowed the issues to what we considered to be most pressing. Ultimately, I think we developed a solid list and some great recommendations from across the spectrum of policy instruments. I won’t go into any specifics because people should really read the reports when they are released.

[CPSR]: Do you know when those reports are going to be available? I was hoping they would be available at the Ideas Fair.

[AP]: From what we have been told, they should be released in September 2009 and, from what I can tell, many of the initial recommendations have been warmly received by senior management.


[CPSR]: Did you get to meet any of the big guns in Canadian civics?

[AP]: Absolutely. Among others, we heard from the Honourable John Manley, Kevin Lynch, Margaret Bloodworth (former National Security Advisor), author Adam Kahane (Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking Listening, and Creating New Realities), and Prof. Peter Bishop (Associate Professor of Strategic Foresight and Coordinator of the graduate program in Futures Studies at the University of Houston). It was great to hear them speak about the relevance of public service and problem-solving in general.

[CPSR]: You mentioned a collaborative tool earlier, would you mind speaking a bit more about it?

[AP]: With the advent of Government 2.0 there has been a significant amount of interest in the tools we used to complete the project. Senior management has becoming increasingly interested in Web 2.0 applications. I found that, despite modest prior experience, the collaborative applications were invaluable to the process. The learning curve, both in terms of research/document production and social cues, was very quick. For the most part, we transitioned from non-users to users within six weeks and were full-fledged practitioners at the end of three months. We quickly realized that editing someone else’s work is not a personal affront, but something that aims to improve the result.

In fact, I have become somewhat of a spokesman for the Web 2.0 tools with senior management in my own department. My first hand experience using them in the Canada@150 project gives my advice more weight and my ideas more traction. The project allowed participants to demonstrate, in a tangible way, that the tools aren’t just fancy communication vehicles or social toys – instead they were the tools that enabled us to be productive and allowed us to tap into one another’s expertise more easily.

[CPSR]: I know you are expecting a question like this from me, but can you tell us a bit about the conversation around public service renewal that was taking place among the participants?

[AP]: Hah, yeah sure. We discussed pretty much what you would expect: flexible working relationships, career development opportunities, and fostering collaborative work environments, technologies, and relationships. There was an entire group that focused on that issue, so look for more details it in the report.

[CSPR]: Do you have any final thoughts you would like to share?

[AP]: The Canada@150 experience was a once-in-a-lifetime experience – the opportunity far outweighed any personal cost in terms of time or added work. When the project first started, I met a lot of people who I would have considered colleagues in a professional sense. Those colleagues have since become good friends; friends who I am happy to raise a glass with and reflect on the project with. Honestly, sharing their insight and experience will prove invaluable as I move through my career in public service, and for that I thank them.

With respect to the project, my hope is that some of the recommendations and approaches will earn their place as mainstays within the public service because there is value in having them there.

[CPSR]: Thank you so much, and I am looking forward to seeing those final reports.

[AP]: My pleasure.

Special Edition: An Interview with a Not So New Hire

A while back we interviewed a new hire. That interview is still one of my favorite posts because I know a lot of public servants who can (and did) identify with the adversity the new hire faced during the onboarding process. Well we [CPSR] are back to conduct another interview, this time with a not so new hire [NSNH], who spoke about their own experiences with entering the public service, and some of the challenges they’ve faced with staying in it.

[CPSR]: Hello, and thanks for agreeing to share your story with us. Why don’t we start at the beginning, when did you start in Government?

[NSNH]: I started working for the Government when I was 18. I was working part-time answering calls five afternoons a week in a Deputy Minister’s Office (DMO) while I was a student and then worked full-time for the summer. Eventually there was a change in management and, despite my hard work, I was let go without a rational explanation.

[CPSR]: What happened next?

[NSNH]: Well, a few months went by before I was re-hired through the FSWEP program. My first day on the job, I was told that my work station wasn’t quite ready, which was understandable, but I found myself sitting in my bosses’ office for the first week. Like most new jobs, I was given a ton of reading material so I could bring myself up to speed and be ready to hit the ground running as soon as my workstation was up and running. Two-weeks later I finally got my new office.

[CPSR]: How was the office?

[NSNH]: Let’s just say it was less than optimal. I was stationed at the complete opposite end of the floor, very far from the rest of my group. In fact, my new office wasn’t actually my office at all. It belonged to someone else who was working part-time. Everyday I came into work and was met by pictures of someone else’s family. I was incredibly uncomfortable.

[CPSR]: How was the work?

[NSNH]: Well, I obviously ran out of reading material so [I] spoke with my manager. Instead of tasking me with something, she told me she was working on a work plan for me and that I would have a better idea of what my role would be when she would be done.

[CPSR]: How long did it take her to complete the work plan?

[NSNH]: I never saw it. I asked about it for months. In retrospect, the only thing I ‘accomplished’ during my FSWEP term was reorganizing the central filling cabinet. I felt completely insignificant. I’m still convinced that I could have just walked out and not come back and no one would have been the wiser. What was even worse was that whenever the higher-ups came by the office my management team was quick to point out to them the number of students they had hired; like they were more interested in filling a quota than giving us some tangible work experience. When it came time to renew my contract, I declined.

[CPSR]: What happened next?

[NSNH]: A year went by before I decided to give it another shot. I accepted a casual position as an administrative assistant for a director that I worked for in the past. The director offered to keep me on board via the FSWEP program during my last year of University.

[CPSR]: Sounds like you finally found someone willing to give you some support.

[NSNH]: Absolutely. I was really fortunate. That director was a great mentor. Unfortunately, the director ultimately accepted a job in another department. I was left without a manager for 4 months. It was incredibly stressful, especially because I was hoping to be bridged in after I completed my degree. Technically I was reporting to a director general, but that person ultimately had no idea who I was, [what] work I was supposed to be doing, or [took] the time to sit down to figure it all out.

[CPSR]: Sounds like a bit of a difficult situation. What was your strategy moving forward?

[NSNH]: Yeah, I didn’t know if anyone was going to hire me. I needed to make some connections and demonstrate my abilities. So I went around to several teams in my branch offering my help. Luckily, someone took me up on my offer, and eventually bridged me into a junior position. I worked in that branch for a full year as a permanent employee; it was fantastic and a great learning experience.

But looking back, I feel like people were reticent to take an interest in my career because I wasn’t a full-time permanent employee.

As the year went by, I began to feel like I had mastered my job so I started to look for other opportunities and additional responsibilities within my branch. Unfortunately, the only positions available were either very senior or very junior. It was impossible to move up. I found an opportunity in a different department that fit my interests and background so I took it.

[CPSR]: How was the new job?

[NSNH]: During my first week my manager informed me that she was taking a month long stress-leave and that I would be managing the unit while she was away. I would be responsible for liaising with regional offices in order to coordinate their input on a number of projects. I thought it odd to be flung into it, but was eager to take on the opportunity, hoping that I would be able to deliver.

[CPSR]: Did you deliver?

[NSNH]: Not exactly. About a month into it, I realized that something was very wrong. My relationship with the regional offices deteriorated quickly for a number of reasons that seemed beyond my control. Two months later my manager came back, but by then it was year-end and we got swamped with files from the regions to review. On top of that we got hit with a Cabinet shuffle and my program got transferred to an entirely different department. The global reporting relationship became unclear but my work just kept piling up. I easily had the work of 5 people sitting in front of me on a daily basis, making the deadlines unmanageable. When I first started there were 5 employees in my group. Within 6 months I was the only [one] left. Everyone left, like rats abandoning the sinking ship. I, like them, was quickly coming to the realization that it would be in my best interest to again start looking for another job.

[CPSR]: Did you find one?

[NSNH]: Yes, and in fact, this brings me to my current situation. Before I arrived here, I was considering two options. I was considering going to either Montreal or Ottawa. It was a really difficult decision but I ultimately decided to accept the position that offered me a spot in a developmental program because I thought it would provide me with some stability and structure over the long run – something that thus far my career in the public service was severely lacking.

[CPSR]: Is the development program giving you the structure you wanted?

[NSNH]: I don’t know. I was refused admittance to the program because I was on an acting assignment. If I wanted to join the program I would have to do so at my substantive position that is at a level that I haven’t been at for years. Couple this with the reclassification (as part of the EC conversion) and I will actually be losing two levels, and the opportunities and the pay associated with them. Moreover, the acting position I am in will eventually be staffed by someone in the development program; how’s that for cruel irony? Once again, I find myself facing circumstances that will most likely result in me having to look for another job.

[CPSR]: Is there anything you want to share with people reading this interview that might help them avoid some of the things you have had to go through?

[NSNH]: Absolutely. First, despite all my difficulties, I have worked very hard to get to where I am today. Sometimes when things are tough it is easy to forget how hard you’ve worked. Second, students need to be encouraged more when they are on coop, FSWEP or casual terms with the government. It is so easy for them to get discouraged or internalize a lazy work ethic when no one is paying attention to them, or when they are denied involvement in big files and interesting tasks. Third, if we as government are going to offer development programs we need to do a better job in communicating exactly what they entail. Finally, something needs to happen with our human resources practices. Hiring someone shouldn’t be seen as a burden. Staffing is often so complicated that many of us go the route of acting positions because they can happen more quickly. Yet in the long run they are not necessarily the best option for either the candidate or the hiring manager. Given the demographic pressures facing the public service, if we don’t get these things right, and someone else does … well, where do you think people are going to choose to work?

[CPSR]: Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, we appreciate it and wish you all the best moving forward.

CPSRenewal.ca Weekly: An Interview with ACFO

Recently Joe Boughner [JB], a communications officer from the Association of Canadian Financial Officers (ACFO) let us know that they had just unveiled their new website for their union membership (FI group); and you might be surprised to see what they've done.

We checked out the site and decided to ask him a couple of questions:

[CPSR] What efforts has your union made to incorporate web 2.0 into its communications and where do you see the convergence with public service renewal?

[JB] Thus far we’ve rebuilt our site using WordPress as the content management tool to create an RSS feed for our updates. We’ve also created a series of podcasts aimed at demystifying the FI Collective Agreement.

It’s a learning process for us so we started with things that were really just extensions of our core business operations. We already emailed updates to members; RSS was a logical next step. And our Labour Relations Advisors already help members interpret and apply the Collective Agreement over the phone; podcasts just make this advice more accessible.

As for the convergence with renewal, using web 2.0 technologies is all about reaching the increasingly tech-savvy and much younger FI Community. We see ourselves as stakeholders in the renewal process and it’s up to us to make sure our members understand our role in their working lives. Making the public service a better and more attractive place to work should be the goal of everyone; using 2.0 tools to reach our members is one way we’re contributing to that.


[CPSR]What has driven these efforts?

[JB] Our previous website was almost 10 years old; archaic in web terms. The introduction of web 2.0 tools was part of our broader effort to redevelop our online presence. It wasn’t so much that we set out to use shiny new tools on our website, but rather that when we looked at the best way to get the information out to our membership, these tools seemed to be the best fit.

Our efforts were also driven by our membership. While we were planning the new site we did a survey of our members to gauge their expectations. We learned a lot about their web habits and what they wanted out of the new site. This feedback was instrumental in deciding which features and tools to include.

Lastly, the FI Community is among the youngest groups in the public service. Not only did we need to play catch up when developing our new site, we needed to get out in front and anticipate the future expectations of a younger professional community. Building on an extendable platform like WordPress should leave us plenty of options on that front.


[CPSR]What have the results been?

[JB] It’s a bit early to gauge the results in any comprehensive way; the site launched just prior to the holiday season. However, anecdotally the reaction has been great. We unveiled the site during the Financial Management Institute’s professional development week in the National Capital Region – a popular event for our members – and the response was very positive. We’ll be doing a more thorough review in the coming months but, internally, we are really pleased with the results.


[CPSR]What are you planning for the future?

[JB] It will depend to a large extent on what our needs are going forward. By building the site with WordPress, we have left a lot of doors open for online collaboration and discussion within the FI Community. We’ve always consulted our members on things like collective bargaining proposals; the new site should allow us to do that online in a more collaborative way. We’re also in the process of drafting a white paper on employee engagement; we’re planning to invite comment from the Community and open this up to collaboration online.

We’re also considering the integration of more professional development and networking functionality, either by including services directly on the site or establishing an FI Community presence on other professional sites.

And since we’ve dipped our toes in the multimedia realm with the introduction of podcasts, we expect to carry this forward and introduce videos, more audio and other sharable elements, all in the name of fostering the sense of community among our members and facilitating the spread of information.


[CPSR]Have you read the series of articles we posted on the role of unions in public service renewal? What are your thoughts?

[JB] The posts hit on something that is very important to us going forward. Much of the thinking behind our new site focused on making our members more aware of the services we offer. Our Association does a lot more than collective bargaining – all public service bargaining agents do. It’s up to us, though, to ensure our members know that.

In a more general sense, bargaining agents bring a unique perspective to discussions on renewal. We offer our members a collective voice and we are familiar with the sorts of workplace issues that can have a major impact on how the public service is seen by potential employees of the future.

At ACFO, for example, we are pushing for the renewal of the qualification and classification standards for the FI Community to better reflect modern financial management standards. We are also drafting a white paper that analyzes existing research on the role of employee engagement in recruitment and retention. We are putting that research in a public sector context and will be inviting our members to share their personal experiences.

All of this serves to benefit not only our existing members but also those we hope to attract in the future as part of the renewal effort. It comes down to recognizing that all stakeholders have the same goal – creating a work environment that remains the career destination of choice for the best and brightest Canadians.

CPSRENEWAL.CA Weekly: An Interview with a GCPEDIA Wiki-gnome

As we mentioned earlier, we requested some information from the good people at Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) regarding GCPEDIA. Here are our questions [CPSR], followed by TBS's answers [Laura@TBS]

[CPSR]: How is GCPEDIA being used by people at TBS right now?

[Laura@TBS]: I cannot speak for the whole department but I can, however, give you some examples of how my group has used the wiki. I work in the Information Management Division, Chief Information Officer Branch (CIOB) at TBS so to start we have used the wiki to set up collaborative spaces for all of our committees (e.g. on Information Management Policy and Management Accountability Framework) as well as some of our discussion forums. We plan to use this tool as we collaborate on documentation and to foster discussions. This tool is enabling our committee and forum members to collaboratively comment and change documents on the most updated copy.

TBS has used its own departmental wiki as a proof of concept before moving forward with the larger scale government-wide wiki - GCPEDIA. Over the last year, we have used TBS Wiki to do some really awesome collaboration. For example, TBS is currently implementing a change initiative and we were able to use the TBS Wiki to foster an employee collaboration process. All employees were encouraged to use the TBS Wiki to post ideas and vote on potential options for how CIOB could change. The wiki also allowed everyone in CIOB to stay up-to-date on what the Change Group was doing.

But really, this is SO much more than just what TBS is doing on the wiki. We need to be talking about what everyone is doing (or could be doing) using GCPEDIA. This is a Government of Canada wiki so I think I would encourage every public servant to go and check out GCPEDIA - www.gcpedia.gc.ca and see what’s happening!

[CPSR]: How frequently is information being accessed?

[Laura@TBS]: It’s hard to say exactly how frequently the information is being accessed; a little less than a week ago Ken Cochrane spoke about GCPEDIA at GTEC 2008 and since then, the traffic has been growing exponentially. Right now we have 654 registered users (by the time I finish writing this message to you we will probably be at over 700 users). We have over 1,000 pages of content and it’s growing very quickly.

It’s so much more than how many “hits” we’ve received, how many people are visiting, or what information is being accessed. It’s about how many edits have been made, how many pages of content have been created, or more importantly is how are we are working together and collaborating.

[CPSR]: How has it affected internal communications and work place culture since its inception?

[Laura@TBS]: I think it’s way too early to tell. I like to think it’s starting to open things up. I love to believe that this is moving us from a culture of need to know to one of need to share. I have very high hopes!

How should users approach content generation, specifically in cases where information is already found on departmental intranet or internet sites. (e.g. departmental mandates, Acts of Parliament, etc.)

GCPEDIA should always link to information available at another location e.g. information that can be found on a departmental internet site. However if information is behind a firewall (i.e. intranet site) and you believe it could be of use to people outside your department, we strongly encourage you to put it on the wiki. That being said we are all responsible to consider security implications before posting information. We cannot post confidential material on internal sites that is above the security level of the site.

Although one of the coolest tools I’ve seen the Government of Canada come out with recently, GCPEDIA is not a replacement for a departmental Internet or Intranet site – more like a close partner.

It does one thing really well – wiki collaboration.

[CPSR]: How will GCPEDIA impact departmental intranet sites? (and other departmental Wiki's like NRCan)

[Laura@TBS]: GCPEDIA is an evolving platform for online collaboration and has the possibility to evolve into many different things. As we see how things evolve we will be in a better position to say how it will affect departmental intranet and wiki sites.

[CPSR]: How is GCPEDIA being marketed to public servants and encourage their participation?

[Laura@TBS]: Since this is a community-driven tool, we are using word of mouth as our primary marketing tool. We also have a base of people in TBS ready and willing to give presentations for those who are interested in what the wiki is and how they can use GCPEDIA.

I think it’s an idea with so much potential it might just sell itself!

[CPSR]: Thank you so much for your time.

CPSRENEWAL.CA Weekly: An Interview With a New Hire

In order to shed some light on the on-boarding process, one of the governments new post secondary recruits has agreed to participate in an interview with CSPRenewal.ca [CPSR]. It is my pleasure today to introduce you to New Hire [NH]. Hello NH, thanks for agreeing to speak with us, how are you today?

[NH] Good. Thanks for inviting me.

[CPSR]: Can you speak a little bit about how you wound up working for the federal government?

[NH]: In September ‘07 I was in my last semester of grad school at Carleton. I had just wrapped up a co-op term in the government and was disappointed by how things played out over the 4 months I spent working in the public service. But I decided to give it another go when the Post-Secondary Recruitment Campaigns started up again in late September.

[CPSR]: So, you applied to PSR?

[NH]: Yes, about 7 of the big guns were all conducting post-secondary recruitment campaigns, and all of them were promising challenging careers and the opportunity to “hit the ground running” in their new job.

[CPSR]: How was the recruitment process?

[NH]: It was a very busy time at school – my schedule was overloaded so I could finish my master's early and I was working part time. The online application process was way too time-consuming. I remember coming home from school at eleven o’clock at night and being bombarded with midnight deadlines. I tried to complete the applications, but they were ridiculously tedious. I realized quickly that I wouldn’t be able complete all of the separate applications, so I focused on a single process.

[CPSR]: And you were successful?

Yes, in November, I got an e-mail from the government – I had been screened in for an interview and I was to bring my transcripts and three letters of recommendation to the interview. Unfortunately I only had 4 business days to gather all the documents. This was no easy task given that even simple administrative requests take weeks at most Universities. I wondered how I would track down professors and past employers and lobby them for recommendation letters in such a short time frame. I did however manage to gather everything I needed for the interview. I was very nervous. I had never been interviewed for a position in government before. After completing the interview I was satisfied but unsure if the answers I had provided were the ones they were looking for.

[CPSR]: Were they?

[NH]: They were. In late December I was notified again by e-mail that I made it through the screening process and was invited to attend a two-day interviewing process. The itinerary was intimidating. The days started at 8 in the morning, and included breakfasts, lunches, dinners, receptions, meeting managers, meeting past recruits, interviews, and tours of the Parliament building.

[CPSR]: Sounds like a pretty full day.

[NH]: It was. The entire experience was absolutely overwhelming.

[CPSR]: How did it feel to be lumped in with the country’s ‘best and brightest’?

[NH]: I was proud that I had been selected from a group of seven thousand applicants. The recruiters telling me how much the public service needed me, and how our skills would help ensure that Canada’s public service remained one of the best in the world sure didn’t hurt either. Collectively the group was made to feel as though we would all find ourselves filling a specific niche in fast-paced working environments. There was also a lot of emphasis placed on our ability to quickly move through the ranks of the public service via the development program, and we were reassured multiple times that the entry level wages were just the tip of the financial iceberg.

[CPSR]: You had said earlier that you were disappointed with your first experience working as a co-op student, how did this experience change that?

[NH]: I was glad to see that the public service impressed me. The process was long and tiring but given the commitment shown in the recruitment process, I had my heart set on getting a position.

[CPSR]: And you got a position, didn’t you?

[NH]: By the middle of January I had received two separate offers from the same department. I was absolutely ecstatic and considered this to be one of my greatest achievements. My family, friends, professors and colleagues were all equally proud of me. I felt like all of my hard work had paid off, and I was eager to put myself to the test. I accepted the job of policy analyst and I couldn’t believe that it took only two months to transition from grad school into a wonderful new job in the public service.

[CPSR]: Congrats, it took me about 8 months to make the same jump. How was it when you started your work, did you ‘hit the ground running’ in a high-paced working environment?

[NH]: Despite coming in really pumped from the recruitment process, the first week on the job was very slow. My manager was away and the rest of the team generally kept to themselves. I spent the first week eating lunch alone.

[CPSR]: Your new colleagues ignored you altogether?

[NH]: No, they introduced themselves, but quickly went back to their cubicles without giving it a second thought. Later on another PSR started and despite our differences we got along smashingly. Having someone to relate to took a lot of the edge off.

[CPSR]: You said your manager was away when you started? How did you keep busy?

[NH]: I tried to navigate my new work environment the best I could. I tried to read as much as possible. I tried to stay positive, and remind myself that beginnings are always difficult. I was fully expecting things to pick up as soon as my manager came back from vacation. I figured she would be able to clarify my tasks and help me learn the ropes.

[CPSR]: Did things change when your manager returned?

[NH]: Sadly, not much changed. It took days before a “welcome to the team” e-mail was even sent out to our group and the rest of the directorate to introduce me and the other PSR. A senior team member introduced me around, but that was about as much interaction I had with my team.

[CPSR]: Did you meet with your manager to discuss what you were experiencing?

[NH]: No, for weeks, my manager seemed busy and distracted. We never sat down for an introduction, and I never got the opportunity to tell her who I was or how excited I was to be there. It quickly became apparent that there was no plan for me. I was assigned small tasks on an ad-hoc basis. I languished in my cubicle, even though my team appeared to be busy.

[CPSR]: In retrospect, how would you compare your expectation and your experience after having completed the PSR?

[NH]: The promises made to me during the recruitment process were absolutely false. I was not hired to fill a specific need nor was I working in a fast-paced environment. The development program had been on hold for over a year and was not accepting new candidates. I felt betrayed and desperate. I tried several times to talk to my manager, but for some reason we could never have an honest conversation. It seemed to me like she was more interested in making me feel thankful for what I did have, rather then addressing what was missing. I repeatedly struggled to find the right words to express my concerns, but I left every meeting feeling helpless.

[CPSR]: If things were that bad, why not just leave? You were successful once, you could do it again.

[NH]: I have a very strong sense of loyalty, I wanted her to know how grateful I was to have the job and that I was more then ready to work hard. I didn’t want to sullen my professional image. I was not looking for special treatment.

[CPSR]: What could she have done in order to help guide you through the situation?

[NH]: A simple informal meeting with my manager would have helped greatly. If she had sat down at the outset and said: “The beginning of your public service career will most likely be uneventful. Don’t expect to do a lot of high profile work during this time; you need to learn about the process first. But don’t worry I have a plan for you, over the next year I want you to immerse yourself in your file and become an expert on it. You need to practice these skills and abilities. Here are a handful of conferences that may be of interest. I am trying to set you up to be successful in the future. If you follow through with this then bigger things will inevitably come your way.”

[CPSR]: So having a game plan and a position is probably all you needed to make you feel better about the way things had turned out? Did you ever have that meeting?

[NH]: No, it never came, and I never found out exactly what was planned for me. I felt like little more then an office decoration. I remember attending a team meeting a few months after my start date and having literally NO idea what my team mates were talking about because I either wasn’t in the loop by accident or I was purposely kept out of the loop. I was reaching the boiling point, if I had not had a large student debt looming over my head, I would have quit.

[CPSR]: You aren’t still in that boat, are you? Withholding your resignation due to financial pressures?

[NH]: No, in May I attended the Orientation to the Public Service, a mandatory two-day training session offered by the Canada School of Public Service. While courses were somewhat useful, what the two-day training session offered was a chance to speak to other new public servants. Some of whom had been working for the Government for over a year and were willing and able to provide help and advice. I have kept in contact with some of them, and their helpful guidance has been a bright light at the end of the dark “new public servant” tunnel.

[CPSR]: Does anything in particular standout?

[NH]: One person in particular has encouraged me to get involved in the workplace. He taught me that nothing precludes you from trying to make your present work environment better, while looking for a better work environment to work in. Most importantly he has shown me that I am not alone in my struggles. He helped me discover that there are other intelligent and capable new hires who were not being used to their full potential but who refused to just resign themselves to that as a cold hard fact. His determination to affect change, even in the smallest modicum, is most encouraging.

[CPSR]: So things are getting better?

[NH]: Yes, my state of mind has definitely improved – I have gained the confidence to voice my honest concerns to my colleagues, and I have spoken to my manager about my needs. I am feverishly applying to positions all over the government and am already being screened into the processes. In short, I feel more at home in the public service. Given the opportunity for mobility within the public service, I feel confident that I will be able to find a position that gives me what I need as well as uses my full potential to the advantage of the organization.

[CPSR]: Do you have any final words of wisdom, or lessons to share with our readership?

[NH]: My one piece of advice to new public servants, especially those who are struggling, would be to get out and meet people. Despite its shortcomings, the public service is filled with knowledgeable and extremely friendly people who are willing to help you when you need it. Never hesitate to ask for help, and never turn down an opportunity to meet with a colleague. Often, a 15-minute coffee break can do more for your career development or morale than an entire day at your desk. Creating and maintaining networks is crucial, learning from them, paramount.

[CPSR]: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview, and good luck.


*** please note that NH is not actually pictured above ***