This is the third post in our GovLoop May Blog series, exploring how to break down silos in government. Our first post focused on the “trusted leader” and the traits required for leadership across government. Our second post explored collaboration strategies on your team. This week, we’ll look out to the future, and how to recruit the next generation of public servants.
On GovLoop, there is quite a bit of information about careers, career advancement and recruitment. I’ve looked through some of the more recent posts, and found the list below to be some common themes and strategies as to how to best recruit the next generation of public sector employees:
1 – Make it Easy
One of the big challenges to recruitment is that in order to get a job in government, the process is long, tiresome and often ambiguous. Far too often applications are sent in, there is no follow up and impossible to track the status of your application. With stiff competition from the non-profit and private sector, government needs to have a very easy and intuitive application process.
2 – Use Multiple Channels
There are a lot of great examples of agencies using creative methods to recruit employees to government service. A solid web presence is critical, and use multiple channels across the web. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are all critical to recruitment strategies, and important to attract talent. Since people are out searching for information about agencies, agencies need to be sure people are finding the right message. One federal agency that often comes to mind is the IRS. Take a look at IRS Recruiter Julie’s blog, as she often acknowledges all the different recruitment programs the IRS has to offer.
3 – Incentives
To attract the next generation, government is going to be forced to think differently about incentives for employees. This is not just through monetary incentives, but also about the kinds of opportunities government can offer to employees. This includes everything from mentorship programs, continuing education, leadership opportunities, and clear tracks for advancement. Take a look a post I wrote a few months ago on ways agencies can attract and retain top talent.
4 – Offer Flexibility
Flexibility will be key for the next workforce, providing employees with the right tools and needs to help employees work where they want to work. Telework opportunities will allow government to attract more talent, and a flexible schedule will entice people to consider public sector employment.
5 – Use New and Emerging Tech
There is a lot of emerging tools that students are now accustomed too, especially with cloud and collaborative tools. The next generation of employees will expect these services to be available to them within the workplace, so it is critical that government continue to update and upgrade systems to help recruit talent into government.
Working for the government provides some great opportunities to do incredible work for your community, and in order to recruit a talented workforce of the future, government will have to adapt.
What are some of the ways government can help recruit talent into government? What are some of the challenges?