Hannah August once served as former First Lady Michelle Obama‘s White House press secretary. She’s worked in the government’s big leagues and the fast-paced private sector. Her story inspires anyone in the government to think about switching to the private world of work.
Hannah started back in 2006 as a press assistant in the U.S. Senate. Before you know it, she was climbing the ladder and became the deputy communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Hannah got her break when then-President Barack Obama‘s team asked her to join as the Department of Justice press secretary.
In 2010, she moved to the White House. She worked as a regional communications director there before landing her dream job as Michelle Obama’s press secretary in 2011. During her time there, she headed projects like “Let’s Move!” and had to handle all the media buzz for fancy events like state dinners and music shows.
But even though she loved the excitement of her job, after five years, the long hours and nonstop pressure started to wear her down. She said to the Business Insider, “The payoff stopped feeling worth it.”
She talked about how any little mistake could become a huge deal because everyone watched her so closely. Plus, she had to travel a lot, which affected her personal life.
Even with all that pressure, she’s honest about how much she valued her time in public service. Being able actually to make a difference in people’s lives was something she didn’t take for granted. But in the end, she knew she needed a better balance between her work and her personal life. So, she opened up about the challenging parts of government work, like dealing with stress and never really getting a break. It’s a tough gig, but she’s learned much from it.
Making the jump to the private industry wasn’t a piece of cake for August. She had to put in some serious legwork, meeting various people from various fields over casual coffee dates to figure out what might be a good fit. Her first private gig came about through a stroke of luck and her connections. She worked with National Geographic Kids, an incredible opportunity she’d never thought of alone.
Updating her resume was huge. She had to learn how to make her government background appealing to companies. Thanks to some wise mentors, like Maria Cristina González Noguera, she discovered that calling her work “executive communications” was a good way to explain what she did with big names like Eric Holder and Michelle Obama—credentials that didn’t have a fancy title in her old job.
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Networking was everything. August got good at keeping in touch with the right people without being a pest. She’d say, “Stay on their radar without hounding them.”
When she made the switch, she found that some companies had more red tape than the government she left behind. But she also enjoyed the higher pay and better work-life balance that came with it. “You couldn’t pay me to go back,” she says, although she still gets a kick from her work at Jellyfish Strategies, her consulting firm.
August has some excellent advice for anyone from the government looking to go corporate: Know what you want—a challenge, a stable job, a better work-life balance, or more cash.
Make sure your skills sound good to companies by using language they understand. Don’t be shy about using your buddies or mutual friends to make connections and follow up with them.
Sometimes, you might need to move to a new place or try a different job because what’s important to you can change. And if the private sector isn’t your jam, local government gigs can be impressive, too.
One thing that’s always stuck with her is something Michelle Obama said: “At different life stages, you’ll need different things—challenge, stability, balance, or money.”
With that in mind, Hannah August is convinced that federal employees can rock it in the private sector if they play their cards right.
