What Is Public Service?

Public service can refer to any type of service available to the public in any given community that is backed by the local, state or federal government. These services are funded in part or in full by taxpayer dollars. The public service definition as a career field refers to the vast range of public sector careers that work in service to the people of a municipality, state or nation.

When considering a career or potential career advancement, future students may decide they want to pursue a degree that will provide the skills necessary to serve their community. Similarly, working professionals who are looking to change their career may decide to return to school to gain the skills necessary to pursue a career they may find more fulfilling and meaningful. If either of these resonate with you, you might consider earning a degree that can prepare you to pursue a career in public service.

What is public service? And why is public service important? This article explains what current students and working professionals need to know.

Grand Canyon University aims to provide higher education with a mission, encouraging our students to fuse their passion with purpose for the future. If you aspire to serve the interests of the public, you may be interested in enrolling in the Bachelor of Arts in Government with an Emphasis in Public Administration degree program. Alternatively, consider earning a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement Advancement degree. 

There are so many career opportunities available for aspiring public servants. Some of the possibilities include the following:

• Grant writer: A grant writer working for a local, state or federal government agency develops grant applications that are sent to foundations, other government agencies and trusts in order to secure funding for their work.
• Development director: A development director works closely with grant writers to develop, implement and oversee the strategies for raising the funds that are necessary for the agency to carry out its mission.
• Social worker: Social workers may work for public, private or nonprofit organizations.³ They seek to advocate for and empower marginalized populations and to protect vulnerable individuals from abuse and neglect.
• Teacher: A teacher at a public school helps children learn while also providing personal growth opportunities.
• Wildlands firefighter: A wildlands firefighter is deployed to public and private lands to fight wildfires.

A public servant is a person who works for the public sector, which is comprised of local, state and federal government agencies, programs and other entities. A public servant may be an elected or appointed official, such as a town mayor, city manager, an agency head or a judge, or a public servant may be a hired employee, also called a civil servant. 

No matter their occupation or the entity they work for, all public servants are expected to serve the best interests of the public as a whole and to uphold the principles of the U.S. Constitution. As the U.S. Department of the Interior puts it, “Public service is a public trust.”¹

In other words, public servants, whether elected, appointed or hired, are expected to adhere to high ethical standards, leading with loyalty to the U.S. Constitution and ethical principles above personal gain. Other principles that all public servants are expected to adhere to in service to the public include:¹

• Not holding financial interests that conflict with your public duty
• Not accepting or soliciting a personal gift from any person or entity that seeks any sort of interaction with your office
• Disclosing evidence or suspicions of corruption promptly
• Not giving preferential treatment to any private entity or individual during the course of executing your public duties
• Adhering strictly to laws providing equal opportunities to all Americans regardless of their protected classes, including race, sex, pregnancy status, national origin or political affiliation, etc.

Differences Between Nonprofit Workers and Public Servants

Nonprofit workers are similar to public servants in that they serve the public, whether on a local, state-wide or national level. Like a government agency, a private nonprofit may have a specific purpose, such as to connect unhoused Veterans to housing services or to provide mental healthcare to children in need. 

However, unlike public servants, nonprofit workers:

• Are employed by a private entity, not a government entity
• Have their work funded by donations and grants rather than taxpayer dollars
• Are not elected by the public nor appointed by an elected official
• Are subject to the code of ethics of their nonprofit organization rather than the public servant’s code of ethics

Why Is Public Service Important?

There is a long list of reasons why public service is important, and these reasons can vary greatly depending on which specific public services are being considered. In general, however, a professional might decide to pursue a career in public service for the following reasons:

• To help save lives – Such as by becoming a firefighter, emergency medical technician or police officer
• To improve quality of life – To include ensuring that communities have access to clean drinking water and quality healthcare, among other necessities
• To work toward societal change – Such as by shaping the policies that combat systemic racism (e.g., housing discrimination)
• To give the next generation better opportunities – Such as by preserving and safeguarding public lands like the National Parks for future generations or by creating public workforce programs that offer employment opportunities

In short, according to the former U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, public service is “a chance to make peoples’ lives better and their futures brighter… (and to) build a better future for our nation and our world.”²

Now that you know the importance of public service, you may be wondering what it looks like in action. What are some public service examples that show how everyday people benefit from the hard work of civil servants? Consider a fictitious individual, Diego, in the following example.

After work, Diego hops on a bus to go to the library. He checks out a few books and then gets on the subway to go home. He discovers that his home is engulfed in flames, and the shock causes him to have a heart attack. Diego is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance while firefighters douse the flames.

Diego has used multiple public services in a single day. He has taken public transportation twice, borrowed books from a publicly funded library, had his house fire put out by publicly funded firefighters and was taken to the hospital by a public ambulance corps funded by both patient fees and taxpayer dollars.

This example demonstrates the critical importance of public services in daily life and the significant reliance of individuals on those services. It’s often taken for granted that a firetruck will be dispatched when needed or that a police officer will respond promptly to reports of an altercation. Yet, without the intricate infrastructure of public services, these things wouldn’t be possible.

Unlike private businesses, public services aren’t run on a for-profit business model. Nonprofits are, by definition, operated without the intention to create a profit.