Many private sector employers like McKinsey, Bain, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank or Google actively seek out students with info sessions, employment perks and high salaries. Inevitably, these firms will snatch many capable and keen seniors before the end of fall semester. There are many reasons why students choose to enter this job market, but perhaps there is a more compelling alternative, one which is not as often discussed on this campus.
In between Goldman Sachs and grad school there is another "g" that might be worth thinking about: the government. Public service often pays less, recruits less, carries negative stereotypes and has very complicated application processes. This often turns bright students away from government service. Thus students from this country's top universities don't end up in the State Department, Commerce Department or the Department of Defense, and end up instead on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley.
Those are great jobs for smart people, but it's hard to make a difference from the private sector. We all have policies we take issue with, problems with how the country is run and ideas about how to make things better. With a government job, in the myriad of agencies ranging from environmental policy to health, education or foreign policy, one can actually play a part in making and changing those policies.
I do not mean to exclude the noble and effective work of NGOs like Teach For America and other firms that serve the public good through private means, only to present an alternative. Often, NGOs only have limited effects because of resource constraints and legal and political roadblocks to change. If one wants to make a difference - something those who choose NGOs over the private sector presumably want to do - one can best do that with the resources at government disposal. With positions in government, students with language skills can help on immigrant issues, students with science backgrounds can engage in cutting edge cancer research, students with policy and politics skills can play a part in negotiating and outlining the alliances and treaties of the next century, and students with math backgrounds can create technologies to save lives in conflict zones across the world.
More importantly though, both in terms of benefit for students and needs of the nation as a whole, more federal workers will retire in the next few years than there are people to fill their vacancies. While the private-sector economy and job market are weak, the government is unwillingly thinning down and looking for bright young minds to fill the shoes of retiring baby boomers. It is expected that nearly 530,000 federal employees will retire in the next four years, leaving critical gaps in all levels of the government across dozens of agencies. For students this means faster upward mobility and a chance to put skills learned in school into practice in the real world. That is, if they take the opportunity to apply, enter the federal service, serve the country and make a difference.
After all, our motto is "Princeton in the Nation's service and in the service of all nations." An inspiring motto, one that pays testament to role this University has played in this nation's history as a temporary home to our nation's capital, a home to former presidents and an educator of national leaders, supreme court justices and potential first ladies. This is a call to students in all majors; it's what the University stands for, a noble call to make this country a better place. America is at a crossroads, an important election looms, and the economic problems and international crises we face make this an important time to take up the challenge. If students here at Princeton don't take on these challenges, who will? The great education this University affords its students should inspire us beyond the road to Wall Street, to something bigger, better and more valuable.
Emily Norris is a senior and can be reached at enorris@princeton.edu.
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