While I was a Congress, I spoke to staff from Human Resources and Social Development Canada‘s (HRSDC) Policy Research Directorate. My primary goal was to learn more about their Research Opportunities so that I could let my clients know about sources of funding for their projects. But as I reviewed the material I picked up from them, I realized that you might also be interested in knowing more about the Policy Research Directorate as a potential employer.
A research career outside academe
Perhaps you have become disillusioned with the university environment during your graduate studies. Or you are genuinely interested in policy research and have been wondering whether an academic career will value that focus.
If you aren’t interested in policy research, or if you are not interested in research careers in the federal government, you probably don’t want to read the rest of this post. I’ll write about something more relevant the next time.
The Policy Research Directorate produced a couple of leaflets for Congress. I have tried to figure out if there are online versions of these but have not been able to find any. If you have better internet search skills than I, and track these down, do let me know.
In the absence of handy links to point you to, I will quote relevant chunks of the “Who are We?” leaflet to give you a sense of the organization.
Who are the Policy Research Directorate?
(excerpted verbatim from the HRSDC pamphlet)
The Policy Research Directorate (PRD) is .. the lead HRSDC directorate in conducting policy research within HRSDC. … PRD has two primary roles. One is to produce primary research that supports the department’s wide policy mandate across a full range of labour market and skills and social policy issues. … PRD’s other primary role is to create a ‘community’ of policy research in HRSDC.
PRD’s philosophy is that all research produced should have a departmental client, be of the highest quality possible, and be effectively communicated to busy decision makers.
PRD is likely the largest research directorate in the Government of Canada, reflecting HRSDC’s long-standing commitment to supporting policy research. PRD has a budget of over $13 million and is targeting a staff of around 75 for 2008.
Research staff have graduate degrees, either Masters or PhDs in social science disciplines, often (but not exclusively) economics or sociology. Most have good skills at quantitative analysis … while others do work that is more qualitative in nature. Other staff are more oriented towards coordinating and networking with departmental clients or with external research providers … Others do program management of research funds or provide financial management or administrative HR support.
Research staff are encouraged to present their research at internal workshops and conferences and at academic or policy oriented public conferences and workshops. … Moreover, research work undertaken within the Directorate is also peer-reviewed, mostly by academics, to provide feedback to the authors and to produce products of the highest quality possible.
(end verbatim excerpts)
What this means for you?
Working for the federal government is very different from working in academe, even if you are doing policy research. The biggest difference is likely to be that you will write collaboratively. You won’t have control over the final product in the way you do in academe.
That said, you might find that way of working suits you much better. You will have clear goals and a defined audience for your research. Other team members will have experience and expertise to bring to the project. You will have deadlines.
And, as one friend of mine who works in government says, you will probably have much more influence over policy than you ever would as an academic. That said, compromise and pragmatism are central in government policy making. If you have lofty ideals, you may find this aspect of government research frustrating.
Does this sound interesting?
If the snippets I’ve presented here sound interesting to you, you should do more research about HRSDC and the Policy Research Directorate in particular.
Your short term goal is to find out as much as you can about what kind of place it is to work, what kind of work employees do, and what kinds of qualifications they usually look for.
Go to published sources first. The HRSDC website contains a wealth of information on the policy focus of the department as a whole. Further information about careers in the federal public service can be found on the Public Service Commission website. That website also allows you to search current job postings.
But before you start applying for posted jobs, make sure you have a good sense of the kinds of jobs you want and how to present your qualifications and experience in the best light. Informational interviewing is really helpful in getting more detailed information about potential careers and the application process of particular employers. If you aren’t sure what that is or how to do it, the book What Color Is Your Parachute?
Also talk to the careers centre at your university (alumni are usually entitled to use these resources, btw). It may be that they have important advice or know of internship opportunities that could give you a better sense of government research work.
Good luck.
If you are a graduate student who is thinking about what you might do once you get the dissertation written, you might also like this earlier post, What is a doctoral candidate to do?
