Why Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Thrive in Public Administration

“What’s next?” If you’ve recently completed your time volunteering for the Peace Corps, this might be on your mind.

For the last several months (and maybe even years), you’ve spent your days serving your host community. And through the Peace Corps, you’ve gained valuable skills that make you a natural fit for a career in public administration.

Read on to learn some of the reasons why returned Peace Corps volunteers are ideal candidates for a Master of Public Administration.

You Possess Language Skills 

Before you began your Peace Corps service, you probably received language training to prepare for life in your host country. Then, the training continued throughout your service through interactions with your host family, the local community, Peace Corps tutors, and language partners.  

If you opt for a career in public administration, here are some of the ways these skills could come in handy: 

• Develop relationships with international colleagues. Your language skills can help you better communicate with colleagues or community members in international communities you work with. This helps you build stronger relationships and more effectively negotiate. 

• Understand multilingual resources. It’s easier for you to read and process resources you need to be successful in your role that aren’t in English, including international reports, foreign policy documents, and communications from international media outlets.

You Understand the Meaning of Resilience

As a volunteer, adapting to unfamiliar places and different cultures was a fact of life. You dealt with cultural misunderstandings, language barriers, and other challenges. All of these moments (and learning to cope with the stress) helped you develop a sense of resilience — or the ability to bounce back quickly from difficulties.  

Here’s how this sense of resilience can benefit you as earn your MPA and move into a career:

• Respond in a crisis. As a public administrator, managing situations like natural disasters, public health emergencies, and political challenges can be part of the job description. Your resilience can help you remain clear-headed during the chaos, and adapt and respond to changing conditions and situations.  
• Navigate red tape. Regardless of the culture, challenges with bureaucracy and politics are something that you dealt with in the Peace Corps, and you’ll deal with in your career. Your resilience will help you effectively (and calmly) navigate the red tape of government, so you can implement programs and policies to help the communities you serve.   

You’ve Developed Project Management Skills

From conducting a needs assessment of your new community to project planning and resource mobilization, the project management skills you developed as a Peace Corps volunteer are extensive. Here are some of the ways you’ll use these skills as an MPA graduate:

• Manage budgets and resources. Your experience in the Peace Corps taught you the basics of how to effectively budget, allocate resources, and manage expenses, which will be crucial skills to have if your career involves a role with budget oversight.   
• Evaluate and update. Volunteers routinely monitor and evaluate the impact of their projects, which enhances their analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. In your public administration role, you’ll also have to analyze data, assess program impact, identify program weaknesses, and make changes accordingly.  

You Have Cultural Competence

Living and volunteering in another country provides you with a unique perspective that allows you to better understand different cultures and societies. While volunteering, you were immersed in your local community and had a chance to learn about local culture and traditions, and hear from community members about their viewpoints and challenges.  

Here are some of the ways the cultural competence you developed will benefit you in your career: 

• Respect for local context. As we pointed out, during your volunteer experience, you became an honorary member of your host community and gained a deep understanding of local customs and social norms. You’ll be able to put this understanding to use in your public administration role when you need to design and implement programming that is culturally appropriate and fits a specific community’s needs.  
• Resolve conflict. Peace Corps volunteers often encounter interpersonal and intercultural conflicts, so you probably developed skills in conflict resolution and mediation. These skills will be used in your professional life, too, as managing conflicts among individuals or groups with different perspectives/interests is an inevitable part of a job in public administration.

Put Your Passion for the Peace Corps to Work: Earn a Master of Public Administration at Cornell

You joined the Peace Corps, because you wanted to make a positive impact — a passion that aligns perfectly with the mission of public administration. And the Master of Public Administration program at Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy is ready to welcome you. 

For years, Cornell’s MPA program has been a popular next step for returned peace corps volunteers. In addition to offering a variety of experiential opportunities and professional development resources, Cornell offers returned volunteers the Coverdell Fellowship. 

Check out our resource to learn more about this fellowship and why earning an MPA at Cornell could be a fit for you: