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This profile of Donna Shalala illustrates how it is possible to craft a career that moves along quite untraditional paths. Shalala was a political appointee who adopted characteristics that are usually associated with career public servants. Shalala's approach to career development can be useful to others who are thinking about a career development strategy. She did not ask whether she was qualified for a job but whether she was qualified to learn the job. At the same time, it is clear that she was able to apply experiences and lessons from diverse settings to new positions. Her career has been characterized not only by an in-and-out pattern but also by diversity within each of those settings. Her career pattern shows how Shalala was able to reinforce her personal strengths of being a problem solver and respond to unpredictable opportunities.
There are many ways to document the career of an exemplary public administrator. Traditionally, one would focus on the career progress of a public servant who chooses to stay within the confines of a public sector organization throughout his or her years of service. That individual might be a generalist administrator who moves between organizations employing a set of technical skills (such as personnel, budgeting, or information management). Alternatively, that individual might be a policy or program specialist who performs a variety of functions but always in a defined sector (such as education, transportation, or defense).
But there are other career paths as well. In an era when individuals are less likely to stay within a single organization for an entire career, some of the assumptions that we once made about public sector jobs have changed. A significant number of individuals who are beginning their careers with master's degrees in public administration or public policy are likely to move in and out of jobs without ever exiting the public sector, but at least some of them will also move between career public service jobs, jobs in the private sector, and other positions that might involve political appointments. The blurring of lines between the sectors has provided opportunities for individuals to call on skills that have not always been associated with public sector work.
Donna Shalala's career provides an example of a progression that might be...