Pros
-Agency has a good mission -If you stick around long enough, you can shape policy -Looks good on a resume -They have real scientists working here -Last administrator is gone
Kontras
Innovation comes here to die so don't arrive with ambition, this place will kill it. They BARELY hire enough help, ever. You'll always be way behind in workload. Heavy burden of paperwork! This agency kills so many trees because it refuses to evolve. Too many processes which are burdensome and cumbersome. The agency moves at the speed of continents. Favoritism: If you are in good with your BC, you can get away with doing nothing all day such as sleeping on the job which I've observed with someone I worked with closely. Lack of training/education; come in and learn on your own and learn the complexities. Antiquated computer systems, they might as well use TRS-80's to do the work. Antiquated processes: See above. We still use paper and shuffle paper and loose paper. We love jackets of paper and we love not going electronic. Bad management: from the director level all the way up to the administrator. TERM employees are treated badly and like 2nd class citizens while given empty promises of long term employment only to be shoved out the door. If you are considering a TERM position with the government, don't! You will not be valued. The only thing that is efficient here are the soda machines because they are privately owned. The EPA is just too big to function and can't get out of it's own way.