US Department of Commerce Reviews

Pros

Great people, great work environment. Proud to show up every day to help improve the economy through trade promotion and advocacy.

Cons

The pay freezes and lack of openings at the lower levels make a long-term commitment somewhat scary. The Department could lose funding in the next couple years which will be detrimental to employees.

Pros

They pay very well for part-time.

Cons

Some of the ignorant people who get promoted.

Pros

-Smart colleges
-Get the opportunity to work on important issues
-Network with dynamic employees

Cons

-Some employees are incompetent
-Hiring Freeze

Advice to Senior Management

Retrain staff

Pros

Travel component that allows you to accrue comp time.

Cons

Specific to the Non-Market Economy Office (China):
No training
Learn as you go
May work weekends to finish short deadlines
Hard to save up comptime unless you travel on business
all analysts are introverted, quiet, and don't interact with one another

Advice to Senior Management

Management is not professional, in the heat of the moment will yell and put down employees
Little positive feedback given to employees
low moral among employees

Pros

You are able to help us companies thrive and expand operations internationally. The job can also turn into an overseas post.

Cons

In the current financial situation, there will be cuts and the Department wont take on many new people. Despite who is in the white house, the Department probably wont get any new funding to encourage hiring.

Pros

Due to the economy, the workforce was pretty well educated so training wasn't much of an issue. The work was interesting and didn't require a high level of complex computer experience. The office was safe and more than adequate parking was provided at no cost.

Cons

Procedures and deadlines changed excessively; sometimes by the hour. Some key information was not distributed to everyone between shifts which caused confusion.

Advice to Senior Management

Take more time to hire the right person for the job instead of hiring people randomly.

Pros

benefits, benefitsm benefitsm salary and benefits

Cons

term of contracts should be longer and permanent

Pros

They paid 50 cents per mile driven.

Cons

Temporary in absolutely every way.

Advice to Senior Management

Dont hire so many extra employees

Pros

great benefits, pay was about what you would expect for a government job, time off was generous, travel process was easy

Cons

Communication between departments was poor, often leaving middle managers without clear direction. Performance plans were poorly constructed and managers did not have say on what performance goals were included in official performance plan.

Advice to Senior Management

Managing from a manual is not effective and serves to only keep the status quo. It appeard to me that process and procedure were developed in an effort "not to fail" rather than in an effort "to exceed expectations". The taxpayers deserve a government that works to exceed expectations.

Pros

Good work/life balance, flexible scheduling

Cons

Bureaucracy, insufficient tools to do the job, needs more extensive training available for technical aspects of the job