OPM studies show heightened interest in federal careers
Two-thirds of respondents to one recent survey said they were more interested in government work today than a few years ago.
Office of Personnel Management Director Kay Coles James said Thursday that recent studies show the federal government is the employer of choice for "a large and talented pool of enthusiastic and well-educated people."
Her conclusion was based on surveys conducted among more than 300 finalists for positions with the Presidential Management Fellows program and more than 900 attendees at an April joint private- and public-sector job fair at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
At the job fair, respondents said that a federal career appealed to them more than one in the private sector by a ratio of 6 to 1. And nearly two-thirds of respondents said they were more interested in government work today than they were a few years ago.
Nearly 60 percent of the finalists in the Presidential Management Fellowships program--which places top students and promising early-career professionals in rotating agency assignments and provides training and development courses--said the main reason they wanted a federal career was to serve their country or to make an impact in people's lives. Eighty-five percent of the job fair respondents said "helping people and making a difference" made federal work appealing.
At the same time, 95 percent of the finalists said they found government pay and benefits competitive with private industry, while 79 percent of the job fair respondents said government pay and benefits appealed to them.
The Polling Company, a Washington-based firm, conducted the surveys for OPM.
"The supply is there, and the demand is there," said Doris Hausser, OPM's senior policy adviser, adding that the tough part is connecting the right applicants with the right jobs. Of the New York City respondents, 41 percent said it was a challenge to build the right skills for a federal job, and 39 percent said it was difficult to learn about job opportunities in the federal government.
OPM has held 11 recruitment fairs since last September in cities from Las Cruces, N.M., to Miami, with more than 40 agencies participating as exhibitors.