Your Career in Public Service

State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks and her guest, Kelly Frump, director of Human Resources at Michigan Department of Treasury, talk about hiring trends, interview tips, and why a career in public service might be a good fit for YOU.

RESOURCES

• Treasury Careers
• State Employment (michigan.gov)
• Employee Benefits (michigan.gov)

Transcript

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Your Career in Public Service

Welcome to Treasury talk, a podcast featuring timely tips and information for Michigan taxpayers, hosted by State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks. Listen for takeaways from our subject matter experts that will support you, your family and your business.

00:17

Hello to our listeners. I'm Rachael Eubanks, and this is Treasury talk. Our guest today is Kelly Frump, our very own director of Human Resources at the Michigan Department of Treasury. Welcome, Kelly.

00:28

Thank you, Treasurer.

00:29

So we're talking about careers in public service, and specifically, careers at Treasury. But before we dive in, can you tell our listeners a little bit about how you ended up working for the state of Michigan. 

00:41

Of course, I was introduced in my career in public service through an internship with the Eaton County prosecutor's office where I worked as a victim rights advocate in high school. After high school, I began to explore opportunities with the state of Michigan and landed in the Secretary of State's Bureau of Legal Services. While working full time, I continued my education and earned my bachelor's and master’s in human resources administration, and through those degree programs and work experience, I found my passion for human resources and ultimately started my career doing workforce planning for the Secretary of State. Since that time, I've had the privilege of working for the Department of Health and Human Services and now as the Treasury Human Resources director.

01:21

So I I really appreciate those of you who have dedicated your years of schooling and your careers to human resources. I know this can be a very challenging area, but a very rewarding area as well. I really appreciate all of you who have chosen this educational path. But specifically, can we talk a little bit about what we're seeing today in terms of hiring trends? You know, what do you think brings people to government work?

01:52

Yes, of course. Attraction to public policy-making is one of the biggest things that we're seeing. We have individuals that have a commitment to public interest. This can come from their own experiences, or that of a family member, maybe who worked in the public sector, and then a civic duty to their values, beliefs and attitudes that go beyond self-interest and for-profit interests.

02:13

I get that, and really resonating with me is the family portion of it. I think, I can't remember if I've talked about this on this podcast or not, but my first exposure to Treasury was as a kid. My mom worked for Treasury in the late 80s and early 90s, and really demonstrated to me what a career in public service could look like. And as I've gone through my career, when I was in the private sector, my business was really helping individuals and organizations in the in the public sector. And then, of course, I came in directly to do that sort of work directly for state government. So I completely get that appeal, and glad to hear that that's still something that others see as they're coming into the workforce. So can we talk a little bit about this perception of private sector and public sector? I think there's always some thoughts about the private versus public sector, which may or may not be true, and how we compare. 

03:03

Of course. At our recent “One Treasury” event, the lieutenant governor said something that really moved me, and that is that every Treasury employee affects every Michigan taxpayer. In addition to that public service component, we also offer work-life balance and stability. Within the state of Michigan, we pride ourselves on positioning ourselves as an organization that you would want to work for. Aside from compensation and benefits, and I love that Treasury has created a culture of continuous improvement. Every employee's empowered to provide their own insight and suggestions. 

03:37

Do you think this is a change in mentality? Do people have a different mentality coming into the corporate sector versus the public sector?

03:43

I think they are attracted to their work because of their commitment to public values and finding a way that they can create a better government for everyone. A lot of times, we see that individuals believe in transparent communication and making sure that their actions contribute to the perception of government, and then making sure that they're attracted for doing good for all, rather than one corporation or entity.

04:05

And those attitudes are important. But also, I think, the quality of work and the type of work that you walk in the door doing right away at Treasury, coming from my experience in the private sector where you often are given small assignments, and you work yourself way up to the larger clients and assignments, but really, on day one, when you come to state government, you could be working on something really big and impactful, and working on the field that you absolutely loved, whether or not you are actually a finance major. So are there any options at Treasury where you see you know that as being more of an option than others?

04:36

Absolutely, we have so many options at Treasury. You could choose to work at local government. You could work in school services, the Michigan infrastructure Council. We have programs like the MET (the Michigan Education Trust), the Michigan Education Savings Program, and the MiABLE program that helps persons with disabilities. In addition to those, we have offices that contribute to our communications efforts, our outreach efforts, investments, taxes, accounting, field, auditing, all of those different specialties. 

05:10

And one thing that people usually think about when it comes to careers in public service is the quality of benefits. And I think those things are still absolutely true. I mean, sure, maybe there's not a pension offered anymore. But there's all kinds of different, you know, benefits that they may receive, things like tuition assistance, our 401K plan, annual leave. I mean, I'm sure there's lots of things you could touch on

05:31

Yes, and we've made improvements to some of those programs recently. For instance, tuition assistance for NERE employees was increased in 2022 to where they can get 60% of eligible expenses up to $2,000. We also have a very generous 401K and a 457 plan through Voya financial and also includes an additional contribution towards retiree health care for our newer employees.

05:58

And also, you know, live organ donation has been something that's come up recently. 

06:03

Yes, absolutely. And this program's goal is to eliminate any economic disincentives to donating and ensure that we can support those that are waiting for life-altering donations. We also provide 12 weeks of paid parental leave, so that's fairly new within the last couple of years, and that's all in addition to our longevity pay, our health and dental vision plans, our life insurance, long term disability, flex spending and numerous other voluntary benefits that are in addition to the compensation packages we offer.

06:30

As a new mom myself, I can certainly appreciate that 12 weeks of paid parental leave, which was really critically important to bonding with our new family. So how do we attract new employees? Are there recruitment efforts out there? Do we have individuals that focus on that?

06:44

Treasury has a very active recruitment team. They're out there seeking individuals every year through career fairs and engaging with external stakeholders and organizations. They're making sure that they're emphasizing our commitment to work-life balance and making sure that our employees have a healthy lifestyle. They're also promoting that we offer hybrid and remote work options, that we have great compensation packages, professional development opportunities and great leave and benefits.

07:12

So are there certain personality types who are drawn to public service? Is there some any sort of test, Myers, Briggs, perhaps that may identify individuals who could be well suited for this work?

07:24

This is a great question, and actually, I did a little bit of research to see what state employees typically align with. And while we found that there's a preference for the sensing preference and the thinking preference, we did find that there is value in recognizing that any of these personality assessment programs have benefits in that everybody is different, everybody works together differently, everybody collaborates differently, and everybody brings unique perspectives to the table. I was recently involved with some DISC assessments and a cold learning style assessment, and overall, the end result is that we recognize and appreciate everybody's differences. 

08:05

That was really well stated. Where are we seeing the most vacancies? What are the top three to five jobs that we're looking to fill right now?

08:15

Of course, before I get into that, I wanted to share with you that just before this podcast, I went out and looked at our vacancy list, and what was most important to me is that I saw such a variety. We have everything from a student assistant, so individuals that are working on their college education, to those that maybe don't have a degree, all the way up to leadership opportunities, like an assistant administrator that's posted right now. As far as our long-term recruitment, we recognize that we often have needs for financial analysts and accountants. There's a strong need in that market right now, and also auditors. We are offering incentives and signing bonuses for those classifications, so I'd encourage anybody with that experience to go out and look at those positions. Also,  Treasury customer service representatives, those are our individuals that are on the front lines talking with our taxpayers, and those are where we need individuals who are committed to customer service and making sure that they provide the best service that they can for those in need. 

09:15

I always like to think about our customer service representatives, or CSRs as sort of the front door to working in Treasury. You've got so many great options and career paths that you could have after coming in but understanding frontline experience, I think contributes so nicely to the rest of our career paths here. So what does the application review process look like? Is there any way that we can access via website or other ways that we can see job postings,

09:43

Yes, and we'll include the link with this podcast, but there is a Treasury Careers web page where we link you to all the necessary information that you need to look for jobs and to explore all the benefits that I've mentioned today. We talk about our work-life balance, our culture of engagement and continuous improvement. Prospective employees can also share their contact information specific to their career goals, so that we can reach out to them when we have opportunities available.

10:08

One of the things I'm particularly proud of that we've accomplished at the department is becoming a Gold-level Veteran-friendly employer. What are those special considerations that we can now offer to veterans because of that designation? 

10:20

Great question. Civil Service Rule Three does allow Veterans with 90 days of active duty, service and honorable discharge to receive preference during the job selections process. What that might look like is, due to a unique skill set that we recognize and appreciate, we want those individuals to get to that interview stage and be able to show us their value and be able to do those jobs. We also support military leaves and offer supplemental pay for those in the armed forces, and also five years of service credit for those that have served.

10:55

Excellent and I always like to ask our veterans out there to think about how we can work together in identifying their best work strengths. One time, I was interviewing a Veteran, and I asked her what she did in the army, and she said, Well, I just made sure the Humvees had gas in them. And I thought, that's an interesting answer, and my mind is just literally putting the gas pump into the car. I was like, well, maybe let me probe that a little bit. I said, Can you tell me more about this? Well, it turns out she was running a multi-continent supply chain, an enterprise basically for precious fuels to make it into areas of conflict. It's difficult to run supply chains, and she had to make sure it was everything was arriving on time and necessary or else that had real impact to those individuals and troops on the front lines. I think it's really up to all of us to make sure that we're asking those additional questions, and hopefully the Veterans that are listening -- maybe be a little less modest, tell us what you're really doing, and so that we can make sure to line you up with the best type of career path at Treasury. So in closing, are there any tips that you might give to somebody who's interested in working for the Department? 

12:04

What I would emphasize most is that when somebody reads the job description, make sure that the job is something that fits them. We want to make sure that you thoroughly answer all of your supplemental questions. Those questions are what we use to determine who is the best fit and who we're going to interview. So make sure you provide all the experience that you've had that's applicable to that job through those supplemental questions. That can be really a critical part in making your break and getting an interview in the department.

12:27

So those are some great tips. Kelly, anything else? Any final words of wisdom for our listeners?

12:35

More than anything, I want to commend the Treasury leadership and the culture that's intentionally created every day. The emphasis on employee engagement, promoting a culture of service and continuous improvement is evident in Treasury's day to day operations and strategic planning initiatives.

12:51

Thank you so much for that discussion, which prospective employees should find very helpful. And listeners, if you feel you are a great fit for a career at Treasury, we'd love to have you apply. You can find resources and the online links in the show's podcast notes.