“What is your dream job?”
That was the question the Gallup Organization asked as part of its Public Service Recognition Week poll. The online poll was conducted on behalf of the Council for Excellence in Government’s Public Employees Roundtable and the Geico insurance company.
The 2,448 respondents, members of the Gallup Panel, were asked to indicate a preference for either a public sector job or its private sector equivalent. For instance, respondents were asked if they would rather be a federal judge rather than a senior partner at a law. Seventy-three percent indicated they would rather be a federal judge; 27% would rather be a senior partner.
Other poll comparisons included:
- A FBI agent (66 percent) rather than a private investigator (34 percent).
- A National Park Service ranger (75 percent) rather than an environmental activist (25 percent).
- A National Cancer Institute scientist (71 percent) rather than a biomedical company scientist (29 percent).
Overwhelmingly, the respondents chose public sector jobs over private sector jobs, with one glaring exception:
Respondents indicated it was better to be the chief executive at Microsoft (60 percent) than the U.S. president (41 percent).
I wasn’t particularly surprised by the responses, especially given the job options presented. My interest in this seemingly innocuous little poll is due to the opportunity it presents to discuss a related and more pressing issue–Why can’t the government attract new talent?
This is a particularly timely and relevant question given that 60% of the federal government’s rank and file workforce and 90% of the federal government’s top managers will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years.
For the purposes of this post I’ll skip the whole trust (or lack thereof) issue. I’ll also leave job content for another post. Instead, I’d like to focus on the recruiting and marketing of government jobs (both federal, state and local).
If you’ve ever tried to apply for a government job, you know that, at its best, it’s an exercise in patience and tolerance. The job announcements are too long, too wordy, too cumbersome, too many requirements, too many links to click to find out what you need to know about the job, and way too much information required pre-hire.
I understand that the government has a responsibility to ensure that every eligible worker has an opportunity to apply for vacant positions, and that all of the Uniform Employee Selection Guidelines and other employment laws. However, if the federal, state and local governments can allow private corporations to post job vacancies, recruit, interview and select applicants in the straightforward, easy-to-use-and-access manner in which they currently do via the major job boards, company websites, Craigslist, etc., why can’t the government?
The answer appears to be that the government can’t get out of its own way. Surely, they’ve heard of job boards and Craigslist. Surely, they can reason that more people, especially younger people, would apply if it were easier to do, if the jobs were presented more attractively and briefly, if they didn’t have to download forms and install weird plugins, and if the application process didn’t require that we give our social security numbers to the government over the Internet (Surely they’ve heard that they are arguably the weakest leak in the fight against identity theft).
Currently, the government uses USAJobs and a myriad of other poorly produced government websites to post job vacancies. The sites are filled with details of initiatives being undertaken to attract new talent. The trouble is that new talent would actually need to visit these sites to see it. And, most of the initiatives are a lot of talk and not nearly enough actually changes. There have been summits and workshops and town halls, all aimed at attracting the next generation of public service leaders. I think these initiatives are nice-to-haves, but fixing the process is a must-have.
I suggest that the government partner with other organizations to attract new talent. One, in particular, stands out to me. Spring4th Educational & Advisory Services of Berkeley, California provides some of the most engaging workshops for students and adult career changers. I’ve participated as a presenter and a student and found that their workshops really did advance the cause of attracting new talent. In addition to the classroom activities, they arranged access to some of the most interesting government projects, including a local government initiative to attract music and movie production companies and one to re-purpose a military base into a new city.
While that’s a bright spot, I’ll keep an eye out for actual changes to the process.
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