This year, the Agency’s Asian Pacific American Organization (APAO) resource group is celebrating its 30th anniversary of supporting officers and enriching our workplace.
A small group of officers started APAO in 1990, the same year President George H. W. Bush signed the bill that officially designated May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. In its early years, APAO helped connect officers of Asian Pacific American background to one another and spearheaded cultural activities for the workforce.
Since 1990, the numbers of Asian Pacific American officers in the workforce have increased, and so has APAO membership. Today, APAO activities encompass professional development and workforce diversity initiatives that support the Agency’s diversity and inclusion strategy. Examples of recent activities include matching officers with mentors, helping officers prepare for job interviews, and collaborating with other resource groups on educational programs with diversity and inclusion thought leaders. Foreign language activities to help officers develop or maintain skills in languages that include Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Khmer, and Tagalog. APAO members who organize these activities get a chance to use skills that they may not use in their regular jobs and explore topics of interest to them.
APAO members also support the Agency’s recruitment activities, working with organizations such as the Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership, the National Association of Asian American Professionals, Mid-Atlantic Union of Vietnamese Student Associations, and the Council of Korean Americans. Members share their professional stories with job seekers so that more people in the Asian American community know about Agency career opportunities.
Like all the Agency’s resource groups, APAO is open to all officers. Members of APAO’s current leadership team were born in South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, and are all naturalized US citizens.
To explore job opportunities at the Agency, visit the Careers section.