EM 38: Who Should Choose a Civil Service Career? (1946)
By Henry Reining, Jr.
Educational Director, National Institute of Public Affairs
Revised by Civil Service Commission
(Published January 1946)
Why Do We Have a Merit System?
- But what about Congress?
- Jacksonian democracy
- What did Lincoln do?
- General Grant’s reforms
- Even Guiteau couldn’t do it alone
- What were the provisions of the Pendleton Act?
What Is Federal Civil Service Like Today?
- How does the retirement system work?
- What is position-classification?
- What is the pay for federal jobs?
- Are all government jobs under civil service?
- Should all government jobs be under civil service?
- What about the foreign service and TVA?
- Can a civil servant run for elective office?
- Must public employees pay political assessments?
- What is personnel administration?
How Does One Get a Job in Civil Service?
- What kinds of jobs are available in civil service?
- But aren’t most government jobs clerical?
- How do you get a government job?
Are Veterans Preferred in Civil Service?
- Who is entitled to veterans preference?
- Is it “cricket” to claim veterans preference?
What Kind of People Take Civil Service Jobs?
- What’s all this talk about bureaucrats?
- Can a government worker be fired?
- Can government employees join a union?
- What personal qualities should one have?
- Government is public service
- How can civil service be discussed?
- Questions to stimulate discussion
Primary source documents from 1944–46