By Hensley Carrasco
On April 17, Harvard Kennedy School’s Office of Career Advancement (OCA), in partnership with the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, and Project on Indigenous Governance and Development, hosted the second annual Harvard State and Local Government Career Expo.
Launched in response to growing interest in public service at the state and local levels, the expo highlighted the range of career paths available in state and local government and the vital role these jobs play in communities. This year's expo brought together nearly 200 students and alumni and 40 employers from across the country.
“During the pandemic, governors and mayors became highly visible leaders and household names, demonstrating just how critical state and local government work is to people’s daily lives,” says Paula Koczera, OCA senior associate director, who helped coordinate the expo. “That work is complex, impactful, and requires talented public servants.”
Interest in state and local government careers continued to grow this year. Attendance at the expo increased 33 percent from last year’s inaugural event, and 92 percent of surveyed attendees said they found it to be a worthwhile experience.
When deciding which employers to invite, Koczera says the team focused on a few key groups: the top destinations for Harvard graduates in the United States, places experiencing population growth and hiring demand, and state and local governments already connected to HKS or other Harvard centers. Those existing relationships helped OCA identify employers whose opportunities aligned with the kinds of roles Harvard graduates are looking for.
“Because this event was open to all Harvard students, we tried to find opportunities that reflected the diverse skillsets and interests across the various schools,” Koczera says, noting that some state and local governments may be navigating transitions under new administrations and still assessing their hiring needs, which can affect who attends.
“As federal hiring became more limited after the pandemic, Harvard was simultaneously deepening its engagement in state and local government through our Centers and initiatives.”
For Amy Mahler, the director of government engagement for the Taubman Center, one of the goals of the expo was to show students how many different paths exist in state and local government.
“I hope our students saw the depth and breadth of state and local government careers across the country,” Mahler says, noting HKS students are entering the field at a time when governments are grappling with rising costs, federal funding cuts, and other pressures that students have been preparing to address in the classroom.
“These employers are hungry for hard-working and ambitious talent, and our students are excited for the chance to make change,” Mahler says. “Let’s see what we can do together.”
Students who attended the expo spoke about that same sense of possibility, describing the event as a chance to explore new career paths, meet employers directly, and think more concretely about how they could put the skills they learned at HKS to work.
We spoke to a few who shared their experience.
Sonja Marrett MC/MPA 2026
I came because I’m considering returning to a career in state or local government, and I wanted to see what positions are available and make contacts in agencies I hadn’t engaged with before. The people I met reinforced how important state and local governments are in supporting communities in need. It piqued my interest in going back. I’ve never seen the impact of my work more clearly than I did working in local government.
Nidhi Nair MPA 2026
I came primarily to connect with state and local employers from across the country and get a broader sense of what opportunities exist beyond my immediate geography. I was particularly curious about roles that were in the pipeline but not yet publicly posted. Those conversations are hard to have anywhere else, and the expo gave me a chance to have them.
My main goal was to get in front of the people who are actually making hiring decisions, instead of just applying through a job board. But beyond the job search, I was hoping to find people working on government modernization, AI adoption, and more efficient public sector operations. I was glad to find that a lot of folks at the expo could point me directly to people in their cities leading that work.
I left more committed to state and local government than when I walked in. Hearing people talk about the tangible impact of their work on the communities they serve reminded me why I’m drawn to this sector. I also came away with a deeper appreciation for how HKS’s research centers can serve as connectors in the job search. Many of the alumni I spoke with had history with them, which made introductions feel more substantive. And the clearest takeaway for me was that relationship-building is central to navigating a career in this space. The connections you make open doors that a job listing never would.
Ilana Shapiro MPA 2027
I first heard about the State and Local Career Expo at New Admit Day, before I even enrolled. OCA mentioned that the event had been organized partly in response to the federal hiring freeze, and it stuck with me. I was excited to come to a place that felt so intentional about placing graduates in jobs where they could make an impact and responding in real time to changes in the job market. It made me feel like HKS would have my back, both during and after my degree.
I’m not looking for a full-time role yet, but I wanted to learn more about the types of organizations hiring HKS graduates and practice networking so next year feels less daunting. I’m interested in returning to the D.C. area, so I focused on employers in that region. I had great conversations with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation, connected with several people on LinkedIn, and came away with contacts I plan to follow up with.
The fair was also just genuinely energizing. Across the room, I met people who were excited about their work and the communities they serve. I realized that networking at a career fair doesn’t have to feel forced or transactional. I spent the afternoon having real conversations about interesting, fulfilling careers, and that was fun.
Paige Swem MC/MPA 2026
As a lifelong Michigander, I came specifically hoping to connect with folks from Michigan. I’ve always known I want to return home after graduation, so it meant a lot to see the City of Detroit represented at the expo. I’m grateful to OCA for bringing Detroit to campus. It felt like a meaningful investment in students like me who want to build careers in public service back home but have a hard time getting there during the busy school year.
I was hoping to learn more about job opportunities and get a sense of organizational culture. I was able to have some thoughtful conversations that gave me clearer insight into potential roles and a better feel for the people and values behind the work. I’m walking away feeling grateful for the connections and motivated to keep pursuing a path that brings me back home.
“The expo felt like a meaningful investment in students like me who want to build careers in public service back home but have a hard time getting there during the busy school year.”
Theo Zhang MPP 2026
I’m very interested in working in local and state government, so the expo was the perfect opportunity. I also attended last year as a Transition Term alum, so I wasn’t going to miss it.
I was hoping to learn about different opportunities, particularly special projects different cities are working on and recruiting for. It’s hard to track those across different job platforms and boards. The expo exposed me to cities and states that weren’t already on my radar and gave me the chance to connect with people from different local governments to learn about their journeys and work.
This year reinforced my passion and, honestly, my hope about working in state and local government. As an international student, it’s refreshing to find out that many places still sponsor work visas and are genuinely welcoming to international candidates. I really appreciated that this year’s expo had a clear column indicating whether an employer accepts international applicants. It made my experience much better.
From the expo, I’m taking away three things:
- Despite the national trend against immigrant workers, many cities and states are still open to international students, and that gives me hope.
- Cities are making real, positive changes every day that affect millions of people. When national change feels hard, local change is still happening.
- All politics are local and relational. The power of state and local government rests on trust built with communities. That’s the kind of work I want to do.
Photography by Steph Stevens and Hensley Carrasco
