I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give a bit more info around my motivation for asking. I am a dual citizen US/UK but currently live in UK. I am young, single (at least for now!) and am quite open to moving to the US. I even have some family over there, so overall it wouldn’t be too stressful/difficult to move.
If I were eligible for good government roles in the US, I would just make that a priority. However, rather unfortunately, I never signed up for the US Selective Service (essentially their military draft) which you have to do before age 26 (I realised this when I was 26) and not having signed up to this makes you ineligible for many US federal jobs. Living in the UK I basically never even heard about this, and I know I’m not the only one this has happened to.
So now I want to think about if I should still go to the US for another type of role, or to go into policy in UK (these aren’t the only two options I am considering but for the purposes of this question I am narrowing it to these). I think what you’re saying is that, if I would go for policy roles in the US, then I may as well go for them in the UK as well (provided I have decent personal fit for policy). Is that fair?
Would you be able to at least say become a staffer or something even if you couldn’t become a senior civil servant?
Good point. I need to look into this further and figure out what I may still be able to do from a policy/government focus in the US even without having signed up for the selective service.
I know very little about the UK and its influence but I would imagine it to have diminished considerably since leaving the EU
Another good point that I surprisingly have not really considered much. It seems plausible that Brexit could have significant implications for the potential to do good in the UK. Perhaps this is something that should be discussed more.
Thanks for your comment, you’ve given me some things to think about!
I think that is fair, though as your situation is prety much exactly the unusual one I described I’d rather you asked someone with better knowledge, as in your case personal fit seems much less likely to dominate.
Thanks for this Alex, that certainly makes sense.
I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give a bit more info around my motivation for asking. I am a dual citizen US/UK but currently live in UK. I am young, single (at least for now!) and am quite open to moving to the US. I even have some family over there, so overall it wouldn’t be too stressful/difficult to move.
If I were eligible for good government roles in the US, I would just make that a priority. However, rather unfortunately, I never signed up for the US Selective Service (essentially their military draft) which you have to do before age 26 (I realised this when I was 26) and not having signed up to this makes you ineligible for many US federal jobs. Living in the UK I basically never even heard about this, and I know I’m not the only one this has happened to.
So now I want to think about if I should still go to the US for another type of role, or to go into policy in UK (these aren’t the only two options I am considering but for the purposes of this question I am narrowing it to these). I think what you’re saying is that, if I would go for policy roles in the US, then I may as well go for them in the UK as well (provided I have decent personal fit for policy). Is that fair?
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Good point. I need to look into this further and figure out what I may still be able to do from a policy/government focus in the US even without having signed up for the selective service.
Another good point that I surprisingly have not really considered much. It seems plausible that Brexit could have significant implications for the potential to do good in the UK. Perhaps this is something that should be discussed more.
Thanks for your comment, you’ve given me some things to think about!
I think that is fair, though as your situation is prety much exactly the unusual one I described I’d rather you asked someone with better knowledge, as in your case personal fit seems much less likely to dominate.
Yep fair enough. I probably should have given my personal situation up front.
Thanks for your thoughts though, still helpful.
I’m somewhat glad you didn’t, as I think your broader question is still a good one. Best of luck with your specific situation though!