help- fed looking for a detail outside of my agency

[Anonymous]

I am a Presidential Management Fellow looking for a rotational detail outside of my agency. I am interested in doing a rotation related to Alternative Dispute Resolution, and I emailed a former professor from Grad school who does the type of work I want to do. But she hasn't gotten back to me. I am thinking that maybe I will have to email contacts from webpages- people who don't know me. What is a good approach to contact someone about something like this? Just explain that I am a Presidential Management Fellow who is very interested in their work?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm a former PMF. You should start by networking. Do informational interviews with people, and ask each one of them for 3 connections. Then ask each of those people for 3 connections until you find what you're looking for. Eventually you'll find something or at least gain more information that will help you figure out a plan. If you don't know where to start, just start somewhere. You never know who goes to church with who, or whose brother-in-law does such and such. Former PMFs tend to go out of their way to help other PMFs. You could also try using LinkedIn to see who you already know who is connected to someone you want to meet. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Might want to post to the PMF listserv to see if you can make connections.

[Anonymous]

Alternative dispute resolution... I know that the OGIS FOIA office does that. They're trained in it.