As part of the GSA program, twice a year, the agency brings together all the “interns” (full time employees that are on a 2-3 year career track and rotate throughout the agency) for a week of professional development. All 80 or so individuals get together in a L’enfant Plaza Conference room and look forward to a week of lecture, interaction, and socialization away from the cube. I, for one, think this is a great experience. Each of us has the opportunity to network with employees, find out what others are currently doing in their rotations or tracks, discover previously unearthed information about the agency that you had no idea about, and gain leadership skills - all at the same time!
Mary Morrison
YGL Social Networking Chair
1 comment:
Wow! A whole week out of the office, that sounds great but not something our division would go for. Last year, all the communication folks had a retreat for a day and a half where we heard our peers present on the work they were doing, worked on some strategic planning and goals development and heard from 2 academics on what they were doing. I liked the format and would have liked to see a repeat this year but the budget did not allow. As a YGL, I would like to do more to encourage management to invest in these activities and make the case that younger workers like the opportunity to network and socialize while at the same time “working” even if it doesn’t fit with the historical definition of the word. I look forward to more comments and to hearing from other young feds as to how they network without the week long sessions.
In a related story, I just discovered that the system will let me check twitter from my work PC. I’m sure there is a networking opportunity there. Perhaps we could set #YGL to tag thoughts and share them to the blog? Just a thought.
DC
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