Last week, the Partnership for Public Service, a not-for-profit but publicly funded group devoted to improving the quality of the workforce in public agencies, kicked off a campaign to attract more college graduates to U.S. federal employment. The centerpiece of the campaign is its new report on student attitudes towards federal employment, which includes practical recommendations for agencies and institutions to increase the numbers and quality of new graduates to fill their professional ranks. The report's results suggest that getting more students to consider federal employment is achievable, but it won't be easy.
The big news for the audience of Science Careers is that many openings are expected in the federal workforce in the coming years, and these will include opportunities for engineers and scientists. The need for new blood in federal agencies is real and growing. The Partnership estimates that over the next 2 years, federal agencies will have 193,000 professional vacancies, including many scientific and technical positions. With less than 3% of the workforce under 25 years of age, they are eager to attract younger, accomplished candidates to match to these openings.
The group's report gives some results from surveys of students in 2005 and 2007 at five universities--Clark Atlanta University,The George Washington University, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, and Stanford University--on knowledge about and attitudes toward federal employment, participation in federal recruitment activities, and the role of federal employment in their career plans.
The 2005 survey showed that the biggest problem in recruiting new graduates was the lack of knowledge among students about opportunities at federal agencies. To meet this knowledge-gap problem, the Partnership conducted e-mail blasts to students at the five schools about federal job openings, brought more agency representatives to their campuses to talk about employment opportunities, and hosted career fairs to educate students and faculty alike. The visits by representatives from federal agencies, either in their classes or at career fairs, made it possible for students to see and hear real people doing real jobs often on critical policy issues.
Using the 2005 surveys as a baseline, the Partnership conducted follow-up surveys at the five schools in 2007, using the same students to gauge the impact of these outreach activities. In both years they also interviewed students at institutions beyond the five pilot schools as comparison groups. The Partnership was able to pinpoint changes in knowledge and attitudes occurring at the five pilot schools that were not reflected in the responses from students elsewhere.
The results showed that these recruiting steps can increase awareness of employment opportunities. At all five campuses, higher percentages of students in 2007 reported hearing of federal employment openings than in 2005. The comparison groups showed little or no change in that same period.
In the report the Partnership notes that simple and inexpensive methods, such as e-mails and campus visits, can be effective in raising awareness of federal employment opportunities. Also, the combination of personal and electronic methods, along with involving faculty members who serve as advisers and mentors to the students, increase the chance of getting the message across. And at three of the pilot schools, many of the students who learned about federal employment opportunities took the next step by following up to learn more about internships or full-time jobs.
Taking the next step after that -- actually applying for a federal job -- seems to have had a discouraging effect. Some 21% of the student participants in the project applied for an internship or full-time job at a federal agency. However, when asked if federal employment is part of their immediate career plans, only 4% answered "yes." The report attributed the disparity to the lengthy and often convoluted application process, which often includes a background security check that can take many months.
The report concludes that "The time for excuses regarding federal recruiting on campuses is over." The steps outlined in the survey, many of which are relatively easy and inexpensive, can improve awareness of federal employment opportunities. However, fixing the federal application and clearance process will likely take legislation, which is by no means certain nor will it happen any time soon. Also, news like this from last weekend, doesn't make federal employment sound any better.
