When Josh Gregor, the creator of “Josh’s Job Search”, landed a permanent job with the city of Portland, we launched a nationwide search for another unemployed person named Josh. It took a while but we have found our Josh. Josh Halladay will take the reigns of the feature and will hopefully be as successful as Josh Gregor. To refresh your memory, the original Josh’s Job Search centered around informational interviews with key regional leaders including: Rob Drake, Cornelius City Manager, Stephanie Betteridge, OHSU, State Rep. Tobias Read, Jonathan Eames, Jonathan Eames Consulting, Chris Fick, League of Oregon Cities, Teri Bankhead, City of Milwaukie, and Olivia Clark, TriMet.
So what are we in for with Josh’s Job Search 2.0? We turn it over to Josh Halladay to give you the details.
Josh’s Job Search Returns (Sort of)
Current Job: Americorps VISTA at United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra
Future Job: That’s where you come into play.
Work Experience: Policy Research and Outreach Associate, Charlie Hales for Mayor, Residential Counselor, St. Mary’s Home for Boys and Intern, Sam Adams Campaign for Mayor
Summary: Get stuff done person with skills and experience in outreach, communication, management, analysis, research, databases, and policy implementation. Pursuing a Masters of Public Administration while serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA for a year.
Connect: LinkedIn
Allow Me to Introduce Myself….Myself
To all of you who may have felt concern upon seeing this column reinstalled: Do not fear! Josh Gregor has not returned to the ranks of the unemployed.
I am Josh Halladay, a current USC MPA student finishing a year of AmeriCorps. Some of you may have read my other column “MPA from my Apt.” (For all you who read the column, do not worry, I will still continue to record my adventures that range from unmotivated teammates to professors disappearing in the middle of class (sort of like Hogwarts)).
I graduated from University of Oregon in the spring of 2012, spent three months working as a Residential Counselor at the St. Mary’s Home for Boys before becoming the primary policy researcher for the Charlie Hales Campaign for Portland Mayor. I left the campaign in September to perform a year of AmeriCorps VISTA service in Reno, where my primary duties included recruiting and managing volunteers to tutor struggling elementary school students. As the end of the year of service nears, my attention has started shifting towards future employment, aka the notorious job search.
My Interests Are Long Walks on the Beach and……
I recently took a vacation back to Portland where I consulted a few professionals I have done some work with in the past, most notably Kirsten and Kent Wyatt and Josh Alpert in the Portland Mayor’s office. With all three offering to help, I will embark on a series of informational interviews that I hope will eventually lead to a job, preferably sooner rather than later.
My search will focus on local government organizations and nonprofits. I have many possible interests. I like working with policy and the analysis aspect that comes with it. I also like management and think that it is a skill a professional cannot have enough experience in. I would like to get as much relevant experience as I can, developing skills I will use throughout my career. In general, I am passionate about helping people, most notably in terms of equity, poverty, and youth at risk of going down the wrong path. My ideal position will have potential for upward or lateral mobility, or at the very least, one where I will not be pigeonholed into a very specific role. (Wow, that is one random, stream of thought criteria.)
Like my predecessor, Josh.1 (Josh-point-one), I will be posting blog articles after every informational interview; however, the style of Josh.2 will be different. While I am not sure how Josh.1 managed to record paragraph long responses (I imagine he used a tape recorder then transcribed it), I feel like I would not enjoy copying his style and would prefer to personalize the column. I will speak as much about the experience of each one (as I am still relatively new to networking) as I will the content, and I will interpret the content before posting it. I believe putting the content in my own words, which will remove the interviewee by a step, creating the possibility for a critique of my interpretations, contradictory opinions, and possibly even a dialogue. I would like to encourage opinions other than those given by the interviewee so myself and other up and coming MPA students can get as much info as possible.
Also, in each of the following posts, I will pose a general question about networking and job-hunting, as I am just a lowly MPA student trying to absorb as much advice as you successful professionals can offer. Please help me and my fellow students out by participating!
And if our paths cross I hope you like coffee.
And Now I Give the Mic Back to ELGL
Send us your women and children, ok maybe we won’t ask that of you, but here’s what you can to do to make Josh’s journey a meaningful for you and yourself.
- Email Josh (jhallada@gmail.com) with at least one recommendation for someone he should meet with for an informational interview.
- Meet Josh (on or off the record) for coffee.
- Share Josh’s journey with a friend, or enemy if you consider his work torture.
Supplemental Reading