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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Career-SES  for over a year. Just turned 40. I have 2 kid who are 5 and under. The culture of the agency matters as does the assignment. If you have good leadership skills and know how to effectively delegate, you'll be fine and you'll find a work/life balance. If you don't know how to trust your staff or delegate, you will always be working. Apply and see what happens. The hardest part of being an SES is the getting through the application and selection process. However, doing the application and preparing for the interviews helps you understand if it is truly what you want. But don't be the person you says they could have been an SES if they only they submitted an application. That is a cop out. [/quote]

+1. I’ve been career SES for 4 years now. It’s not sunshine and butterflies, but it doesn’t suck either. I trust my people and I employ a participatory approach to governance. I monitor for signs of burnout and push back when politicals come with craziness. But my pushbacks aren’t emotional. I use data and other information to make my case. Sure, I’ve had political (particularly under Trump) not be super happy with me, but they understood and we worked together to determine what was reasonable. I had one instance where the political insisted. Instead of forcing my people through that hell, I took it on to protect their sanity. Plus, I came up with a good workaround that really wasn’t too hard to execute once I figured out the path.  A good SES is strategic and politically savvy. Morale in my unit of 63 people is second highest (consistent mid 80 percentile) and My division EXCEEDED our all 5 of our key performance metrics. I regularly work 50 hour weeks, but I NEVER do more than 60 (ever). Last year I worked 60 hours 3 out of 52 weeks. And I was still able to take 22 days of annual leave. [/quote]

This sounds terrible.[/quote]

Not for SES.  It's called Senior Executive Service for a reason.  You're an executive leader, just like in the private sector, so you work executive hours.  As the poster indicated, you have to manage political leaders who change every 4 to 8 years, as well as strategic planning.[/quote]

All about ego[/quote]

Statements like this are dumb and often from folks who think they know it all.[/quote]

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