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"A Day in the Life" of Adam Jones, General Services Administration
Video courtesy of Partnership for Public Service
Good morning, I'm Adam. Welcome to my home. I'm just getting ready for work. Come on in.
I'm a contracting officer, and I really like my job. What I do is procure (obtain or acquire) a variety of products and services on behalf of GSA (the General Services Administration) and all the other federal agencies.
(Melissa) Good morning!
The best thing about GSA is, of course, my lovely wife, Melissa. We met a couple years ago at GSA, and we still work in the same building there today.
What I really like about my job is the people, the opportunities that I've had, its challenges, and the work-life balance. I have a flexible schedule. I get the opportunity to telework (work from home) and that gives me a lot more time with my friends and family.
Recently, I've gotten into sustainable acquisition, which is essentially the government trying to pay attention more to what it's buying, buying more environmentally preferable services and products. And overall, I feel like I've had the opportunity to make a difference on people's lives and that means a lot to me.
One of the goals, here at GSA, is achieving a zero environmental footprint, which is not only minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, but actually offsetting them. It's a long-term goal, but it's really interesting work.
I've had the opportunity to work with a bunch of different agencies, like the Department of Education, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), so every day is really fresh and different. Not only that, I've made a bunch of great friends here. We go to movies, dinners, we play a lot of sports together, and it's a really great lifestyle. It's a young, energetic workforce. They're motivated to make a difference. The government provides the opportunity to join some really cool professional organizations. One of which I recently joined is Young Government Leaders, and that really provides the opportunity to meet young feds from other agencies, network with them and learn about what they're doing and really expand you're horizons.
So now I'm standing on top of an example of some of the work that we do here at GSA. It's not just about acquiring environmentally preferable products and services, but green buildings as well. Right now, I'm standing on top of the EPA building with a green roof. It's actually a gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building. So the plants here are drought resistant. They help absorb energy from the sun and actually reduce energy costs across the entire building. So it's actually pretty cool to have a tangible example of the work that you do.
As an undergrad at James Madison University, I took a lot of energy and environmental courses. My career has kind of come full circle in that I'm dealing with energy and environmental issues, all relating to greening the government. So it's been a really nice and pleasant surprise for me.
Well, thanks for spending the day with me. I'm going to head over to the gym right now, so I'll see ya later.
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