Employer Type: Government - Federal (United States)

Keep your head up and think of customers as your best friend.

I have more responsibilities than most do and have found out I'm a lot lower on the scale than people with less responsibities. I have been a Real Estate Analyst for 19 years and make $38,500 and have an excellent performance appraisal; the highest you can get.

I'm 55 years old and nearing retirement with a Federal Agency. 6 years ago I read Dave Ramsey's Book, "Total Money Makeover." At that time, I was in so much debt that I truly believed that I could never retire. After reading the book I realized that I needed to get control of my spending. To make a long story short, I paid off all my debt, including the house, in 3 1/2 years and I can't tell you how great it feels to not owe anyone any money. So, if you want to feel truly free, get out of debt. You will find that you enjoy your job quite a bit more if you know that you don't really have to keep working forever.

There's stable amount of engineering work around Hampton Roads due to the presence of the Navy base, the shipyards, Siemmens VDO, NASA, STIHL, and various government contractor temp agencies. All the above companies are still hiring during the recession.

The best way to describe Social Services is to teaching; meaning, if you're entering this field thinking you're going to make 'mega' money, your entering the wrong field. Social services is a gratifying career if you like helping people help themselves. It involves long hours and 'on call' weekends for a week which one has to be available for 24/7 with no extra pay. There's 70% of court work and court appearances involvement; you have to see the children and families assigned to your case load every month sometimes every week depending on their safety risks; you have to assure clients will follow through with provider recommendations which is sometimes very hard for the clients to do. It's not a 9 to 5 job like most. Even if you're not on call, clients may have a 'crisis' and you have to be on top of it especially if the child is with that parent. For me, the greatest gratification is to be able to successfully reunify the family.

Do your job, focus on your career. If you have been in a job for 3 or more years, it has become your career. Want a different career? You must make choices to spend time and money to progress. Wishing, hoping, talking, thinking are not achieving any goals. Get educated. Volunteer. Do more with less. Always be improving. Be self-motivated. Bring something positive to work everyday if only a smile.

The only way to survive as a social worker is to work for the federal govt. In Boston you can start out at close to 50k and go up to 60k once you get your LICSW. They match your 401k up to 5%, give you decent vacation time and you get a pension. Where can you beat that? nowhere.

It is pretty self-explanatory really. I am currently trying to break into human services with focus on social work, after years of being an "office clerk" or "data entry clerk" through various companies. One of the opportunities that has just arisen is a volunteer position focusing on literacy, specifically geared toward children whose siblings/parents have been incarcerated. The least amount of time I will have to spend on this is one hour per week (though I will most likely spend more). I would personally recommend to anyone out there trying to better themselves in their own field, or attempting to break into another one, to get involved with their community. Volunteerism can also count toward college credits.

If you have children and spouse (or live-in boy/girl-friend), I would suggest involving them in volunteering as well. No matter how busy we think we are, we can make time for family - even if its just on the weekends.

Our salaries depend on the volume of mail delivered by the postal service. Every year mail count determines what we will be paid, one does not know from year to year what their salary will be.(Rural carrier, city carriers are paid an hourly rate) Rural is paid route evaluation. We either ride the financial roller coaster or find another job. There is no good advice for this job.

First I would like to say that coming from the rank and file it was a big eye opener when I took this job. I was in another position as a maintainance Planner and I had left a job as a Senior Operator that I had for 12 years. What I learned as a planner I took back as a Supervisor and things I learned as a operator I also included them in how I treat the team that I supervise.

First all Pray every morning that God keeps you humble, because the first thing that happens to new managers is being impressed with ones self. You need to know that if you don't produce results you won't last long.

Second Dress for the job you want to have look good, smell good and be well groomed. Even though I work in a enviroment that is very relaxed in the dress, I still try and look my best everyday.

Now I have left this for last but not because its of lower priority than the two above but because it will be what makes or breaks you. I took over a team that had a bad rep. Lots of personalities on this team and I was asked to see what I could do. Now I got alot of advice from the supervisor that was leaving but I truily wanted to make up my own mind. When I came in I gave them my expectations of what I wanted and needed from them. Next I told them what they could expect of me and what I know that I could do for them. I used lots of words like respect,credit,and honesty. I let them know about what was being said about them, how I wasn't listening to any of it that they was going to make my mind up for me.

I let them know that I needed to learn as well, I didn't know anything more than they did, just that I had a desire to be the best at what I was undertaking. If I looked good I promised to make it known how and why I was where I was. Six months later bcecause of them I received the highest rating among the 5 of us on our staff. Respect and how you treat people, saying thanks and please goes a long ways. Just some advice from someone that learns something new everyday. Lastly know your people, say someting kind, ask with meaning how they are doing and be able relate to them on some level.