At the end of January, I had the opportunity to start a detail as a Program Support Specialist with the Budget, Performance, and Workforce Division (BPW) at the Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia. Coming into this fellowship, I had expressed my main interests in community engagement and habitat restoration, and, naturally, I was referred to Visitor Services and programs like it that focused on community operations. However, after having many opportunities to connect with a wide variety of people and asking about their paths to working for the Service, I picked up on a common piece of advice. Everyone emphasized that it was good to pick up a variety of skills, especially administrative skills, which you don’t normally think of when doing fieldwork. These skills are very useful in all positions, and generally make your life easier and yourself a better candidate. When this detail opportunity came up, I decided it was in my best interest to step into the world of BPW.
I am almost a month into my detail, and it has been an eye-opening experience. Starting out, I felt a bit out of my depth and ran into some obstacles stemming from limited access to systems that comes with not being an official employee. Nevertheless, I have an amazing team that has consistently given me the support and resources to do my job to the best of my abilities. They’re not only some of the most diligent and hardest working people I’ve met, but also some of the most lighthearted and humorous people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. From them I’ve been able to learn about the different systems used by BPW to ensure that all employees can do their jobs (and get paid), whether it’s their timesheets with QuickTime, expenses with Concur, or financial reports with the Financial and Business Management Systems (FBMS). I’ve also had the opportunity to participate in BPW meetings on topics and situations that had service-wide impacts, while witnessing effective and important collaboration happening amongst my team and leadership.
It’s interesting to see the work that goes into keeping the Service functioning at its capacity, and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from the people supporting it. This has been, and still is, a great learning experience and I’m excited to hone the skills I am developing to become a better public servant.
