TOPICS
TOPICS
New campaign targets college students for federal jobs
This fall, students at 574 colleges and universities will return to campus and to a recruitment campaign designed to entice them into federal service.
The campaign will feature personal stories of young federal employees and will take shape in posters, college newspaper ads and a new Web site where students can exchange e-mail with the featured workers. It is funded and designed by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to attract young people to government service.
A spring survey of students on six campuses provided the impetus for the campaign. The partnership's study found that college-age students had a high level of interest in federal jobs but didn't know enough about specific opportunities and agencies to pursue them.
"That's really a huge wake-up call to all of us," said Tim McManus, the partnership's new vice president for education and outreach. "The age-old question with young college grads is 'I'm not a political science major, I'm not a government major, therefore there is not a job for me in government.' That's exactly wrong. More than anything, government needs engineers; government needs people in the health care field."
The survey showed that interest in federal service was nearly as high as that in private sector companies, and slightly higher than that for nonprofit jobs. But only 13 percent of the almost 3,000 students surveyed said they felt extremely or very knowledgeable about federal jobs.
The campaign, which is a new addition to the partnership's four-year-old Call to Serve initiative, also will include two-day job fairs at Louisiana State University and The Ohio State University.
"It's not really [a situation where we] send somebody from agency X, Y or Z to stand at a table for six hours," McManus said.
The fairs instead will include sessions on how to find federal jobs as well as workshops on federally geared resumes and interview skills. It will also help students navigate specific federal opportunities by major.
One problem the campaign hopes to tackle is students' perception of government as too bureaucratic.
"We need to put a face on government," McManus said. "That face can't be what many of these students saw as a reason not to work for government -- the bureaucratic face -- but ... a face that's going to resonate with them."
The partnership's campaign will start a few months after the Office of Personnel Management unveiled the first television campaign aimed at recruiting new workers into the civil service. Both campaigns aim to fill the slots of baby boomers who are expected retire in large numbers in the coming years.
OPM's ads -- which have so far run in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.; Greenville, S.C.; Flint, Mich.; Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island-Moline, Ill. -- also feature personal glimpses of federal employees on the job.
COMMENTS
- I've been laid off from my civilian job and I kick myself today for not working for the government when I got out of the Air Force, which would've been 27 years. I have worked in the civilian job and my last employer is a good example of "age discrimination" - but, after being laid off for almost two months now, I've been trying and trying to get a job with the feds and I know I am qualified to do the jobs that I have been applying for (the number of federal jobs I've applied for number over 300 to this day) and I have been rejected because someone else was more qualified or I did not fall in the group of highest candidates. I believe it's my age (55 years) and also since I'm not already working for the government that's two strikes against me. Yes, I'm a veteran, but 5 points doesn't seem to help although my scores go over 100 with the extra 5 points in some cases, but as you can see, I am writing this email so I did not get the job. I think when they see that date of birth, everything else goes blank and they cannot see anything else so we get set aside and they tell us we didn't qualify. I can do the work and I am a very hard worker giving my 90% plus for the good of the company. My last civy employer did not appreciate my efforts (oh yes, she used me to the tee, but did not appreciate me - no raise in over three years). I can recall many years ago when I was first out in the work force, trying to get a job but was told "no experience", I finally had enough (didn't have the brains to keep my mouth shut) and told them "how can I get experience if no one will let me even try?" Lil Meals Posted November 1, 2007 8:10 PM
- I beleive that we need to attract younder people into federal positions but landing one is quite difficult since the first priority goes to a vet. This is the case at Camp Lejeune where the work is aging but not young person who is a vet is hired. Kathy Posted September 18, 2007 12:55 PM
- I think this is a wonderful idea. We all know that government programs are from the 30s and 40s and have been underfunded, poorly staffed and underperforming. But why just younger people? What about older people many who would have loved to see things like schools, neighborhoods and public services do a better job? Government service should attract social reformers and those not afraid to speak out against the waste, underfunding. This country needs a large public training program to heal the underclass and disenfranchised. The GI bill after WW11 lifted so many people into middle class but these ranks are thinning and that talent needs to be replaced. Patricia Navadomskis Posted January 11, 2007 11:03 AM
