Working for a Local Government

By: Lily Qi

I often come across people who wonder why I chose to work for a local government. After all, the Washington, DC region is the seat of the federal government, which offers better-paying jobs and greater latitude for professional development and career advancement to move up and around. In addition, a local government’s functions, jurisdictional reach and budget size can be limiting in your level of exposure and responsibilities compared to the federal or even the state government.
In spite of these limiting factors, I love working for a local government. More than a job, my work is a reflection of who I am and what I care about. For me, the most gratifying factors are the ability to influence public policies, see the fruit of your labor, and directly connect with the people you serve.
A local government is where the rubber meets the road. At the local level, decisions directly impact everyday lives of our residents, who in turn have much greater influence on their government and its decisions. From funding for schools construction and new transit lines, to removing snow and planting trees, from supporting small businesses to building and operating public libraries, most of the government services we rely on to conduct everyday business are delivered by the local, not the federal, government. Whether on the policy side or the implementation side, working for a local government allows you to see the impact of your ideas and hard work.
When I started working for Montgomery County government, I was surprised to see “residents” placed on top of “County Executive” in the organizational chart. Come to think about it, it makes perfect sense since we the residents elected the County Executive and he works for all of us taxpayers. Such mindset, coupled with community engagement mechanisms, allow local government to effectively govern and serve.
Working for a local government can also be exciting because what’s local is global these days, and vise versa. Communities with large immigrant populations, especially those from emerging markets, have a natural advantage in global connections. In Montgomery County, Maryland, where I work, about one third of our residents are immigrants. Among the largest ethnicities are Chinese, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese, which offer their local communities a competitive advantage in exploring global partnerships on multiple fronts. As I am writing this article, County Executive Ike Leggett and I have just completed leading a 10-day, 4-city, 86-people delegation visit to China, which brought a $1.4 million investment to Montgomery County to facilitate effective commercialization of biomedical research. Our success is directly tied to our effective and years of community engagement.
In my conversations with friends who grew up in other countries and my dealings with foreign delegations visiting Montgomery County, I realized that there are several misperceptions about government or working for government.
First, unlike in other countries, the governments of different levels in the U.S. do not have reporting relationships. In other words, a county government does not report to the state government or the federal government. Each level of government is independent and has its own elected leaders, taxing authority and laws governing that jurisdiction.
Second, the concept of a county in this country is very different from that in many other countries. In the U.S., a county is equivalent to a city in most other countries. For example, Montgomery County is at the same jurisdictional level as the city of Baltimore. Within the County, there are cities and towns, some of which are incorporated municipalities with their own elected governments such as the City of Gaithersburg and the City of Rockville.
Finally, I often hear people say “working for government must be easy–you have a lot of holidays and you can go home on time.” Well, maybe for some. Not for me. I am a firm believer that how much you get out of each job depends on how much you invest your mind and heart into your job. You can practically make any job exciting and gratifying if you internalize the values and significance of what you do, actively identify opportunities for improvement, sell your ideas to those whose support you need and take initiatives to make things happen.
If you are interested in making a positive impact on people’s lives while building a career where you can make things happen much more quickly and with fewer layers and red tape, please visit your local government web site’s career page to get started.
Lily Qi can be reached at qulturematters@gmail.com. To read her past articles for this column, go to www.qulturematters.com.