PODCAST: Ray Bjorklund, Chief Knowledge Officer at Deltek, Discusses Business Transformation Through Acquisition and Much More

Over the past 18-20 months, Deltek has taken innovative steps to transform its core business by acquiring three leading providers of information, teaming and software solutions designed to help companies compete more effectively for federal, state and local government business. By successfully merging INPUT, FedSources, and GovWin under one unified brand, the company is aRead… Read more »

I work in HR at the Department of Global Competitiveness.

Could this be you? Keep reading. In an effort to streamline government, the White House announced Friday their intent to consolidate federal agencies and offices with interconnected missions, including: Department of Commerce’s business and trade functions Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Small Business Administration Export-Import Bank Overseas Private Investment Corporation U.S. Trade and DevelopmentRead… Read more »

To Whom It May Concern: Give me something better!

How to address a cover letter has been a heated debate in career circles for a long time. In fact, I was adamantly opposed to “To Whom It May Concern” for years until about a year or two ago. It was then that I decided that TWIMC was better than all the other salutations outRead… Read more »

Where Did You Start in Government (or Business)?

Hey everyone. We all started somewhere, and got that first opportunity that set our career path. I’m not talking necessarily about the first job you’ve had (though every job is a step on the ladder of your career, even that summer you spent bicycling a newspaper delivery route), but the one that helped you makeRead… Read more »

Recruitment 411: Communicating With Color

A colleague recently sent me an article about how color impacts other people’s perceptions of you when it comes to your work wardrobe. You know that saying; “Don’t judge a book by its cover?” I’m glad I didn’t judge this article by the title, or I never would have read it. Wearing the Right ColorRead… Read more »

Everyone Wants to Manage Us but No One Wants to Work Here!

According to the January 16th article in FedSmith titled Debating the Cost of Federal Employees, “Recent reports in the media … have sparked a debate about whether or not federal employees are overpaid at a time when the federal deficit is soaring. Federal employee unions contend that federal employees are substantially underpaid, whereas others argueRead… Read more »

Building the Better Burger: Cover Letters

We’ve done all the necessary preparation and have our philosophy of building the better burger. Here’s the structure I suggest for your cover letter (and I like using block paragraph format–saves space and looks cleaner): Your street address (notice your name is not here) Your City, State and Zip [one space] Date [one space] ContactsRead… Read more »

Navigating the New GovLoop Redesign

If you have been on GovLoop recently (or even if you haven’t), you have probably noticed a few changes around the site. We appreciated your patience as we rolled out the seven new community pages last week, but the fun doesn’t end there! In addition to the launch of the newly focused GovLoop community pages,Read… Read more »

Do You Have To Be Narcissistic To Be An Elected Official?

Don Hambrick Professor of Management at the Smeal College of Business at Penn State has studied how damaging Narcissistic CEOs can be to their companies. Hambrick defines a narcissist as someone showing the following four personality characteristics: (1) Exploitativeness/Entitlement –> I insist upon getting the respect that is due to me; (2) Leadership/Authority –> IRead… Read more »

Purchasing preferences for veteran-owned businesses on the rise

Deltek Sr. Analyst Kyle Ridley reports. As the unemployment rate for Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans continues to climb, more states and localities are establishing purchasing preferences for veteran-owned businesses (VOBs). Current-war veteran unemployment is more than four percentage points higher than the national average of 8.5 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13.1Read… Read more »

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