There are two avenues to serving in the Executive Branch — through a career position or through a non-career position, which are available through Presidential Appointments or approved by the Presidential Personnel Office.
Career positions are civil service positions that have a more traditional application process, listings for these positions can be found at: usajobs.gov
Four Types of Presidential Appointments
These are top-level, senior positions that include the heads of most major agencies This includes Cabinet Secretaries, agency leadership at the Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary, and Assistant Secretary levels, the heads of most independent agencies, ambassadors, and U.S. Attorneys. Some positions within the Executive Office of the President, including the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, also fall in this category. These positions require a confirmation vote by the U.S. Senate, which is generally proceeded by a congressional hearing.
This category includes hundreds of positions, including most positions within the Executive Office of the President. These includes most senior White House aides and advisors as well as their deputies and key assistants. These appointments do not require a Senate hearing or vote.
Members of the SES serve in key positions just below the top presidential appointees. Designed to be a corps of executives charged with running the Federal Government, these positions include senior management positions within most federal agencies and serve as the major link between top political appointees and the rest of the federal workforce. While the SES largely consists of career officials, up to 10%, or (as of 2016) 680 positions, can be political appointees. Unlike the presidential appointments, the non-career SES appointments tend to be made within each agency and then approved by the Office of Personnel Management and the Presidential Personnel Office.
These positions consist of political appointees in policymaking positions or positions that require a close working relationship with the incumbent officeholder or key political officials. Schedule C positions may be designated by the Office of Personnel Management or the Executive Office of the President at the request of an agency.
The Plum Book
The United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, or Plum Book, is used to identify Presidentially appointed positions within the Federal Government. It lists the over 9,000 potential civil service leadership and
support positions in the Legislative and Executive Branches of the Federal Government that may be subject to political appointments.
View the Plum Book
Here are a few tips to understand the Plum Book, which is critical to the Presidential appointments process.
Step 1
Many, but not all, positions are highly dependent on subject matter expertise. You can start your examination of the positions in the Plum Book with agencies that deal with matters in your field of expertise.Step 2
There are several types of roles that are common across agencies. Your skills and background may be suited to a type of role as opposed to subject matter expertise.- For example, nearly every agency has an office of the General Counsel and an office of the Inspector General.
- Similarly, most agencies have White House and Congressional Liaison offices.
- A vast majority of presidentially appointed positions are based in the Washington D.C. area (apart from U.S. Attorney positions), but not all of them.
- Presidential appointments are not limited to senior level positions. If you are early in your career, look closely at the Schedule C appointments for positions best suited to your level of experience.
- There are plenty of opportunities to serve. The plum book can be used to review opportunities for second careers or to support public service in retirement.
