Ready to Serve
Serving America through a presidential appointment is a great honor and responsibility.
Given the power, influence and vast resources of the federal government, both in the united states and abroad, trust in the integrity of presidential appointees and their commitment to public service is paramount. Ready to Serve is a centralized resource that guides candidates through every step of the complex political appointment process. Get an early start.rnrnu003ciframe src=u0022https://www.youtube.com/embed/tgbNymZ7vqYu0022 width=u0022420u0022 height=u0022315u0022 data-mce-fragment=u00221u0022u003ernu003c/iframeu003e
Featured Resources
Trump’s Early Personnel Moves
A few weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, we can see the outlines of his personnel strategy taking shape. The transition got off to a hot start, with Trump naming all Cabinet nominees in record time, but after the first month, the pace of personnel announcements leveled off to match the speed of other recent presidents. …
Chief Human Capital Officers and Assistant Secretaries for Management: Start here!
As the Trump administration’s new political appointees assume their roles with big policy goals in mind, chief human capital officers and assistant secretaries for management will be essential partners in implementing the new agenda. Officials in these roles are responsible for their agency’s operations and their most important resource: the workforce. These jobs are never…
Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries: Start here!
New secretaries and deputy secretaries for the incoming Trump administration will be taking on staggeringly large responsibilities. With tasks so great, where should they start? The Partnership for Public Service publishes guides each transition cycle to support these leaders as they begin their new roles. As the top leaders of agencies, secretaries and deputy secretaries…
From Reagan to Trump: The History of Inaugurations
Every four years, Inauguration Day has served as a symbol of our country’s strong democracy and commitment to a smooth transfer of power. On Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in for the second time on the West Front Terrace of the Capitol, a tradition started over 30 years ago by President Ronald…
Confirming the Cabinet: Historical Trends of Cabinet Secretary Confirmations Across the Last Five Presidential Administrations
The president’s Cabinet secretaries are among the most important and public-facing leaders within any administration. Unlike White House staff members who can be appointed unilaterally by the president, Cabinet secretaries must go through the Senate confirmation process. President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretary nominees began their confirmation hearings this week. To understand historical precedents and how…
FAQs: The Partnership and Washington Post Trump Political Appointee Tracker
The Partnership for Public Service recently launched the Trump Political Appointee Tracker in collaboration with The Washington Post. This marks the third iteration of the tracker, which we first introduced in 2016. Presidents have the ability to fill the executive branch and independent agencies with roughly 4,000 political appointments—with more than 1,300 of these positions…
Personnel Opportunities and Challenges for Trump’s Second Term
Incoming presidents face a significant challenge and opportunity when entering office to fill more than 4,000 appointed roles across the executive branch. We recently reviewed President-elect Donald Trump’s record-setting pace for senior personnel announcements, but little will be known until Inauguration Day about the progress in hiring the largest group of political appointees: the roughly…
Recent Academic Research Confirms Detrimental Effects of Leadership Vacancies on Federal Agency Performance
One of the outcomes of an increasingly lengthy and challenging Senate confirmation process is that many Senate-confirmed federal leadership positions remain vacant for long periods of time. Our research has shown that many of these agency positions are persistently vacant and that 30% or more of the leadership jobs at Cabinet departments are without a confirmed…
To the Moon: Trump’s Record-setting Pace of Personnel Announcements
Politicians love to promise the moon, but when it comes time to deliver, they sometimes fail to launch. In at least one area of President-elect Donald Trump’s promises, however, the data shows he is operating at warp speed regarding personnel announcements. Just over one month since the presidential election, Trump has announced 101 appointments. That’s…
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