GAO Reviews

Pros

Friendly People. Secure Job. Nice Managers.

Cons

Lower pay than in private industry

Advice to Senior Management

Keep worders happy by expressing positive attitude.

Pros

Important work involving the most sensitive and urgent issues of the day. Really smart and politically astute people with regular and meaningful access to congressional and government leaders.
It's cool to chat with Senators and their staff.....

Cons

Despite long and good work, GAO has little real impact on the public agenda. The union has taken what little flexibility and nimbleness the agency had and crushed it under its petty concerns for trivial matters.

Advice to Senior Management

You have to find a way to lift the salary cap, because the brain drain will continue until there are few senior and knowledgable people left! Stand up to the Hill and tell them to embrace reality.

Pros

Getting to work with the Applied Research and Methods (ARM) Team - they are great and interesting people and willing to share and teach. Seek them out.
Free parking
Near Metro
Health clinic
Credit Union on site
Get to spend a long time delving into an interesting subject and become well grounded on topics that matter
Ability to telework
There is a range of short-term (testimony) and long-term assignments (full-blown projects).
Young people who are hired have great computer skills.
Professional Development Program brings in highly skilled young talent.
A union working to give employees same protections as other federal employees.

Cons

Analysts in charge, assistant directors and directors are very poorly trained on personnel matters.
It's not unusual to work for one who either have no children or no spouse and/or has never worked anywhere but GAO - these can be very difficult people to work with.
Many non-ARM managers have very limited computer skills - they don't know how to use spreadsheets or relational databases, skills that are becoming increasing necessary to understand information obtained in engagements.
There is no real oversight over how GAO management treats employees. Most people at GAO would be surprised to know some how often the union wins grievances because of the way management handled treated an employee.
Enormous amounts of time are spent on engagements that don't result in recommendations or break any new ground. Some engagements are just cobbled together from past reports and a new interview or two to improve an SESers' chance for a bonus. These kinds of engagements waste a huge amount of time for the agency that GAO is "auditing," and can lead to very tense encounters with agency officials.
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Advice to Senior Management

You need to reinvent yourself to field a more computer-savvy staff (and that includes management) who can more quickly produce relevant information in several formats. Stop counting products and find a way to measure relevance. Also, those complaints about abusive supervisors are not going away.

Pros

Experiences will vary, but GAO is a great place to begin a career or learn some new skills in areas you are unfamiliar - such as government, contracting, and policy. I highly recommend getting on one of the specialist teams such as the IT team as you get additional perks and funding for things like education. The people are what make the place and GAO has attracted a lot of smart ones, but I am not sure how ambitious or creative they are on certain teams.

Cons

The culture is a little too stagnant for real A-list individuals. You won't find that the timescale of their projects, which can last 8-10+ months for a single report is enough to meet the needs of any competent millennial.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to change the way you do business to shorten the project lifecycle so that you are more timely, responsive, and relevant. Congress asks for it and your talent that you drive away wants it to. I'd go back if you could.

Pros

You are always working on new topics so the work never gets stale. It is a truly non-partisan, objective work environment. Your work has real integrity and is highly respected in the Beltway.

Cons

Slow, process-driven organization. Union is too powerful and has gutted pay-for-performance. Hard to push the envelope. Independence last only as long as Congress decides to fund GAO.

Pros

security - Once in, it is hard to get you out.

Cons

Poor managemnt - senior managers are over paid.

Advice to Senior Management

Leave

Pros

Work life balance, job security/stability (except right now -- facing budget cuts and potential RIF!), issue areas we cover, intellectual freedom to conduct engagments best way we see fit

Cons

Very slow to change, too much red tape, very conservative agency, career advancement is slow, promotions are unfair (based on tenure not merit)

Advice to Senior Management

GAO leadership should encourage creativity and change, focus on modernizing is products and services, and should honor its policy of merit based promotion instead of rewarding tenure

Pros

for most people, constantly changing subject matter to investigate

Cons

too hierarchical -- most top managers have been in government 30 years or more and have fixed ideas about how things should proceed

Advice to Senior Management

retire

Pros

The best parts of working for the GAO were job Security, consistency, benefits, and knowing that you are helping the government not waste money.

Cons

The Directors were completely out of touch with the staff and there was not middle management leadership to encourage greater understanding between the two.

Advice to Senior Management

The Management needs to spend more time leading the staff and encouraging innovative as well as creative thinking, rather than doing what has been done in the past.

Pros

Challenging Work and potential to suceed

Cons

Bureacracy and givernemnt meddling are always an issue