After the wildly popular Josh’s Job Search and Josh’s Job Search 2.0 we looked around for another Josh who wanted to work in local government and do informational interviews but we came up empty. However, fear not! We found a Portland State MPA Student who is willing to continue the Josh legacy, his name is just Chris. So with some rebranding we bring you, The Job Search with Chris Mckee.
Chris McKee
CIP Intern, City of Sherwood, OR
Besides taking blurry photos of himself our latest Job Search columnist Chris McKee is working toward his Masters in Public Administration at Portland State University and interning for the City of Sherwood. We’ll let Chris talk more about himself below but to give a little more background he graduated from the University of Oregon with a Public Relations & Political Science degree.
Since then he’s worked for Start Making a Reader Today (SMART), Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s office, and even took minutes for the City Club of Portland. But enough of us talking about Chris let him introduce himself and connect with him so you can get to know him.
Connect with Chris: LinkedIn and Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMfUXol3hnI
And Now a Man Who Needs No Introduction…
Thank you! I am Chris McKee, a current MPA candidate at Portland State University. Currently I am working on a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) project with the City of Sherwood. However, like those who came before me, I am looking for a paid job in local government. This blog will document the job-hunting, network-building process in all of its moderately filtered glory.
I graduated from the University of Oregon in the fall of 2012, with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism/Public Relations and Political Science. During my last term as an undergraduate I was accepted into the Portland Senior Experience internship program. Through this program I served as the communications intern for Start Making A Reader Today (SMART).
After graduating I left SMART and accepted an administrative internship at the Office of Congressman Earl Blumenauer. My duties included coordinating constituents’ requests, providing legislative research, and providing student outreach at District events. It was while working here that I decided I wanted to work in government administration. (But not the federal government, of course. Do they even get anything done?) In order to open current and future opportunities for myself, I decided to go back to school and job hunt in the meantime. And here I am!
As with past iterations of this blog, I will write primarily about my informational interviews and other career-related events. The people I interview will be key players in Portland metropolitan area governments, such as city managers, county administrators, and employees at TriMet, Metro, and PBOT. My interest is in transportation, sustainability, and urban development policy. Hopefully I will get to work a job related to these interests, but I am also keeping an open mind. I will also write about important developments related to my current work with the City of Sherwood.
Any advice you’d like to share with me would be much appreciated. As an MPA student I am willing to try anything. Well, almost anything.