How to Apply for a Job with Obama-Biden

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 11:26:48 AM EST
Tags: Barack Obama, Transition (all tags)

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President Elect Barack Obama has launched a new website, Change.Gov. It will provide news from his transition team. It also has information about where to apply for a job in Obama-Biden Administration.

Applicants for any of these non-career positions - whether in the White House or in any Federal Department, Agency or Commission - should use this website, as applying on-line is the fastest and most accurate way to get your information to us. (If you are interested instead in a career, civil service position with the federal government, you should proceed to the Office of Personnel Management website here .)

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On a related note, Obama is serious about his community service/sacrifice program:

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start. (my emphasis.)

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How to Apply for a Job with Obama-Biden | 37 comments (37 topical)

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I love the community service stuff (5.00 / 0) (#1)
by kmonster on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 11:34:34 AM EST

A lot of people are already pretty engaged, but more is better. And having that kind of service under the umbrella of a strong national commitment is exciting. That is true patriotism.

I don't like... (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 11:46:28 AM EST

making community service mandatory though, I prefer voluntary. Incentives are fine, my catholic high school let you do community service in lieu of taking a religion class, but mandatory service is too much like slavery for my taste.

I believe the right to be a selfish pr*ck is unalienable.


Can't even imagine kdog in a Catholic (5.00 / 0) (#3)
by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 11:49:30 AM EST

high school!

Private high schools here require community service. My tutoring organization gained a tutor who was in high school and just graduated from Standford. Great tutor, kept his kid on task, good role model for the kids. A plus, his Dad also tutored and still does.


: Ha. It's exactly Catholic education (5.00 / 0) (#15)
by Cream City on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:10:12 PM EST

that turned so many of us into rebels -- ever questioning authority.:-)

So what qualifies? (none / 0) (#4)
by Fabian on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:01:22 PM EST

Because I see a golden opportunity for a local business or organization to cash in. Need your lawn mowed, landscaping mulched, other menial tasks done? Call it "community service" and get free labor!

50 hours per kid, multiplied by hundreds of kids => a lot of hours!


Not to mention... (none / 0) (#5)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:22:39 PM EST

one person's "community service" is another's "community disservice". What happens when kids object to a certain assignment? Do they get fined? jailed?

I sure as hell would not want to be forced to serve the local police dept. or prosecutors office.


Presumably (5.00 / 0) (#6)
by Steve M on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:30:51 PM EST

it would be a graduation requirement or something.

I know the righty blogs completely freak out about this and claim that Obama wants a little army of Brownshirts or something.

There obviously is a freedom argument, which I don't discount, but I seem to remember there were a lot of rules as a kid and that was just sorta the way things were. You had to take a certain number of math and science courses to graduate. You had to take gym. The state government forced everyone to take a civics class. I think that if kids were required to do a little community service (we're talking what? an hour a week?) it would be seen as normal, just one more of those things you gotta do. I never expected to have total autonomy as a kid.


I see your point.... (none / 0) (#7)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:37:16 PM EST

I just hate to think that a kid who refuses to pick up trash, or do filing for the DA, would be denied his/her diploma. Doesn't seem right. Where a kid who refuses to go to math class being denied their diploma seems right as rain.

I guess I see a distinction between being forced to complete math/gym/civics courses to graduate and being forced to do manual or clerical labor outside of the school enviroment in order to graduate.

Volunteer basis with incentives is a better way to go, imo.


I'm interested to know (none / 0) (#10)
by SM on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:57:47 PM EST

what the distinction is apart from one is on school property, and the other isn't.


You don't see a difference between... (none / 0) (#24)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:04:09 PM EST

math class and manual labor?


You say that like manual labour is degrading. (none / 0) (#32)
by SM on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:54:29 PM EST

If it's the manual-ness that's in question - what about gym?

Unless you're saying there's no advantage to the student from serving the community?


: Not at all... (5.00 / 1) (#34)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 03:06:32 PM EST

nothing degrading about manual labor...when you are compensated for it. Without the compensation, it can be degrading...sure.
Don't get me wrong, there is definitely value in volunteering to serve your community... I just question if the state should have the right or the power to mandate it by law. Part if not most of it's value comes from the choice to volunteer your time for the greater good.
I know the satisfaction I get from a selfless act is in that I chose to do it...I didn't have to do it, I wanted to. If I was forced by law to give every beggar I see a dollar, as opposed to choosing too...I might not get the same joy out of it, in fact I'd probably just get angry at they tyranny of being forced against my will.

The programs I've heard of requiring (none / 0) (#18)
by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:22:10 PM EST

high school students to do volunteer work leave it up to the kid to decide what volunteer work to do, with some suggestions available through the school.


: I seem to recall (none / 0) (#23)
by Steve M on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:28:25 PM EST

that we were encouraged to do community service in one of my classes, and I ended up doing a little volunteer work for a local Republican candidate. As it happens, he was a nice, moderate Republican, so I guess it was okay.
I personally would try to keep any political element out of a mandatory community service program, because I wouldn't want to create the notion that the government is conscripting you to serve the government, as opposed to serving the community. Then again, if it's just one on a big menu of choices, maybe it doesn't matter.

LOL. Kids get denied diplomas for worse (none / 0) (#35)
by coigue on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 04:56:54 PM EST

things...like not turning in enough dittos.


Or religious groups. (none / 0) (#11)
by Fabian on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:59:34 PM EST

I'm not concerned. I know where to get fairly neutral volunteer hours at my local arboretum. No religion. No politics.


it's inalienable (none / 0) (#9)
by scribe on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:56:07 PM EST

not unalienable.

We selfish pr*cks know.


: Actually... (none / 0) (#25)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:07:21 PM EST

I believe they are synonyms. I always thought it was inalienble too, then I saw unalienable somehwhere.
freedictionary

I applied for a job (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by Paladin on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:08:44 PM EST

just for the heck of it. I work with HR staffs, so I'm curious to see how this process works.

Are you from Chicago? (none / 0) (#14)
by Cream City on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:09:32 PM EST

It seems to help. :-)


Nope (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by Paladin on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:11:41 PM EST

I live in the Los Angeles area. Well, I just received an email confirmation from them:

Thank you for your interest in joining the Obama-Biden Administration. Within a few days, you will receive an email with a link to the more complete on-line application. Please be patient, as we are trying to respond promptly to the large number of people who are interested in working in the Administration.


Do they have a disclaimer (none / 0) (#17)
by Fabian on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:17:22 PM EST

about what the information will be used for?

I'm not sure why I'm so suspicious, but I hate to give out information anymore. My personal data. Mine, mine, mine!


: The first part of this process (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by Paladin on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:26:54 PM EST

was simply providing basic info like name, address, current position and email address. I'm assuming the second part will be much more comprehensive. I'm also assuming they'll be screening out a ton of people based on their job titles and location - I'll probably be among that group.

The government jobs (5.00 / 0) (#26)
by mg7505 on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:07:59 PM EST

initiative is actually pretty cool. I'm secretly hoping this will involve into a new-age WPA.

I am NOT a fan (none / 0) (#8)
by Dalton Hoffine on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 12:45:11 PM EST

Of the required community service bit. I think true service has to be voluntary, or else it's not really service.

Kids shouldn't have to do required community service, especially those whose service includes taking care of their defunct parents or siblings when the parents are both working. Kids have enough work as it is to do in school right now as is. It's great if kids who can do community service--I did some in high school, and it's a very rewarding experience. It would've been a lot less rewarding if I had been forced into it, though.

In retrospect (none / 0) (#12)
by Dalton Hoffine on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:07:39 PM EST

That was the worst comment I've ever written. I hope you guys can get the gist at least.


Ha. (none / 0) (#20)
by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:24:01 PM EST

Interesting, as it doesn't seem like very many high schoolers have part time jobs now. Lots of homework, if they bother to do it. Probably don't walk through knee-deep snow to school either.


And extra-curricular activities... (none / 0) (#27)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:20:56 PM EST

my niece is a senior this year...between the drama club and the school paper she leaves at 6 am and doesn't get home till 8 pm sometimes. Then she does her homework. It's more than a full-time job if you are involved in a lot of extra-curricular stuff.

Do we want a student like that to have to quit the school paper or drama so she can do community service? That can't be good.


In the modern world (5.00 / 0) (#29)
by Steve M on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:28:44 PM EST

a lot of schools have had to severely curtail their extracurricular activities for budgetary reasons. Your niece is fortunate. By the time my kids are starting school, will they have access to music, art, or even phys ed? It's sad.


: Catholic School... (none / 0) (#30)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:39:46 PM EST

for her as well, full academic scholarship...we're all so proud of her:) Good thing too because tuition is more than state college.

Doesn't she realize those college (none / 0) (#28)
by oculus on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:23:43 PM EST

applications should tout some community service efforts too?


She does the paper... (none / 0) (#31)
by kdog on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:44:14 PM EST

and the drama out of passion, not to impress colleges.

It would be wrong for the state to take away her passions by a mandate for community service. Besides, the plays the drama club puts on at her school are really good, I never miss it....isn't that a community service?


: True (none / 0) (#33)
by SM on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 02:57:18 PM EST

I get your point - maybe community service could be re-defined to include extra-curriculars that benefit the community in some way.

I agree. (none / 0) (#19)
by liminal on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:23:13 PM EST

I'd love to see a renewed committment to volunteerism - (and not just, uh, the "charity golf tournament" "volunteerism" that passes for it) - in society, but I'm not a fan of mandatory community service.

I'll reiterate several of yours reasons, and add transporation concerns could be huge for middle and high school students in rural areas. We've engaged in pretty extensive school consolidation in WV, and in many rural areas kids routine travel long distances to and from school. There are kids in Monroe County who spend 4 hours a day on the school bus. My bus trip in middle/high school was about 35 minutes, though I was practically the last person picked up on the bus run.

I suspect that this is true in rural communities around the country, where schools have been consolidated as the rural population has declined. And of course, without any sort of public transportation available, less affluent folks could have trouble covering the extra transporation costs involved with ferrying kids back and forth.

On the other hand, if you gave kids the opportunity to volunteer (esp. high school kids) through the school, at school - that would be great, but it would require more than a top-down, unfunded mandate to get it to really work.

I volunteered quite a bit in high school - but only after I got my driver's license and inherited an old car. I could walk/ride a bike around my neighborhood, but that was it, more or less. There were no sidewalks, nor crosswalks, on the main road, and traffic was pretty heavy. We had no public transportation in the area. The library wasn't far away - but it was across the interstate, via a busy truck route.


Against community service... (none / 0) (#21)
by jerry on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 01:26:18 PM EST

I actually favor universal military or americorp service for high school or college grads, but I'm against the community service plans for middle school/high school students.

The jobs of these kids should be to be kids. And to study.

There already is too much competition over meaningless internships and volunteer activities.

And though I am not a libertarian, I think I agree with the libertarians that the process of choosing what is community service and what is not will either be problematical and biased, or a process that renders community service valueless.

It's not about me but Hillary should (none / 0) (#36)
by nulee on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 05:42:00 PM EST

be offered any role in health care reform she wants, including Senate Committee Chairs or being Harry Reid's successor and I hope Obama supports that!

Community Service (none / 0) (#37)
by ggb on Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 10:01:37 PM EST

in high school in Ontario (Canada) is compulsory (not sure about the other provinces). The students must complete 40 hours of community service or they cannot graduate. Some of the private schools require the students to serve 40 hours for each of the 4 years of high school. Many kids leave it to their graduating year and then panic. Others put in well above what they are required and it is all recorded on their transcript. It bodes well when it comes down to a university making decisions on who to accept - often the community service tilts the decision in their favour. It's a win-win requirement.