I’ll be honest. I never made a formal decision to get into government communications. Would you believe that I was actually a forensic science major for my first two years of school? Yep. I wanted to be CSI before David Caruso inexplicably made it seem cool. Now, how David Caruso and “cool” found their way into the same sentence is a subject for another time. Suffice it to say, I’m a bit of a nerd at heart.
It was a combination of life experience, timely opportunities and great mentors that guided me to where I am today, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. So here’s my first bit of advice: create your own opportunities, but don’t get so focused that you fail to see the new, unexpected ones that present themselves along the way.
I joke that I was “infected” with the public service mindset. I blame my parents. My father was a career law enforcement officer and police chief, and my mother was an emergency room nurse. The first “marketing” I ever did professionally was working at the city pool, getting families to show up for “Dive-In Movies”…in between fits of whistle-blowing and telling kids to “walk, not run” on the pool deck.
So, after an epiphany while sitting in Applied Calculus II (another interesting, albeit off-topic story), I left class and changed my major to advertising and public relations. I secured my first internship as a sophomore doing marketing and events for the county recreation department. (Another aside here: get as much job experience as you can before you graduate–it’s the single best thing you can do to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other job-hunting graduates entering the work force.)
I continued that work until graduation, with a short stint in between studying in London and interning with Fleishman-Hillard. It was during this venture into corporate public relations that I had my second epiphany. The assignments were interesting enough, and the people were great, but I had trouble finding satisfaction with the work I was doing. For me, there was a satisfaction and fulfillment that I got from serving the public that I didn’t get when serving a client or a private industry.
That’s something I love most about this career: the absence of a traditional “target market.” Sure, you’ll always have specific audiences for specific programs, but government service is a great equalizer. After all, everyone needs their garbage picked up, right? And every one of you expects the lights and sirens to arrive when you call 911.
There’s also unbelievable variety in what our team does. I mentioned garbage collection and public safety, but we also do engineering. We do public health. We manage parks. We build roads. The work we do truly touches the lives of everyone who lives here in Austin and I get to be a part of that. We help people understand, appreciate and connect with the products and services they have invested in as taxpayers. We help make good government.
In my role, I get to be both the PR pro and the media pro. We run an in-house agency, with teams spanning media relations, Web development, employee communications, project management, community engagement, marketing, events and interactive media. We have our own television station and graphic design shop. The opportunities for learning and development are limited only by your desire and willingness to expand your horizons. The work environment is what you make of it: there is more space to try new things and take risks than you might think!
We do, though, have to talk about the other side of that coin. When you sign up as a public servant, you do so with the understanding that virtually everything you do is public. The work you do belongs to the taxpayers, and they can be a fickle and demanding audience. Likewise, there’s always an undercurrent of politics. Ultimately, my boss (the city manager) works for seven elected officials, so you can’t escape it. You can, though, maintain a distinct line between political and professional communication.
If it sounds interesting, you can start by looking for internships in your local jurisdiction. I learned as much interning with Orange County Parks & Recreation as I did in four years of coursework. Get involved with the International City/County Managers Association or the City/County Communications and Marketing Association. Look into public administration and public affairs courses as a supplement to your normal coursework.
The work might not be for everyone, but for someone with the passion to serve, a love for the art of governing, and the willingness to wear virtually every hat in the haberdashery (or millinery), there’s not a better job on the planet.
Doug Matthews is an 18-year veteran of local government communications, currently serving as the chief communications director for the City of Austin, Texas. He served similar roles for the Florida cities of Largo and Clearwater before becoming an adopted Texan in 2009. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of South Florida.
