Pros
FEMA has some seriously dedicated employees. If you have the right supervisor and working with the right people, given the FEMA mission, it can be an intrinsically rewarding place to work. However, if you end up in the “wrong” department and the cliques there decide to reject you, you are in in for a surprise.
Kontras
If you are studying human behavior in its ugliest form in a professional setting, the Human Capital Office of FEMA in Washington DC will provide you with an array of behaviors to study; bullying, lack of professionalism, lack of due process, disregard for rules and regulations; underachievers preventing you from doing your job, hijacking of paperwork, you name it. Please note that I am not talking about all of FEMA. The feedback I am providing today are based on what I have seen in the Human Capital Office under Corey Coleman. Corey Coleman, an ugly soul, but also super-smart; a man who has clearly perfected the game of politics/federal workplace in Washington DC. The man knows exactly what he can get away with and pushes the limits as far as he can, while “leadership” above him is standing by and doing nothing to stop him. The Human Capital Office was an extremely chaotic place to work. Performance was low, but expectations were very high; high, in an arbitrary way, because no one could tell you what to do or how things needed to be done, but they were quick to point out your mistakes; also, high expectations only applied to certain persons chosen to be destroyed or/and kicked out. If they liked you, low performance was not problem. Many people who worked in the Human Capital Office must have inherited their jobs, long time ago; they were clearly not qualified to do the job that they were doing. But overall, they fit well into the corrupt picture. If they like you, OCCHCO can be a paradise; you can just hang out there; on the other hand, if they decide that they have a problem with you, anything is possible; just like in pre-school.