How did you land your federal job?

We’ve seen a number of comments on this site over past months concerning the existence of “good old boy” networks that influence new hires, promotions and all the other good stuff.

And we’ve also read posts detailing futile efforts to gain employment using the existing recruitment and job application tools.

With all the folks currently pounding on the door trying to get federal employment, this sets us to wondering just how the feds who read this blog actually got on the federal payroll.

Our own experience as a federal employee many years ago (it lasted only months) involved all the traditional steps, starting with the dreaded SF-171. In those pre-Internet days, one had to go to the library and squint at tiny job listings in some sort of periodical whose name escapes me. It was printed, if memory serves, on paper the same color as Monopoly $500 bills.

All in all, not a pleasant experience.

But truth be told, if I hadn’t known someone who knew someone, the whole exercise probably would have been fruitless.

So—how did you land your federal job?