Federal recruiters told to aim young

Federal recruiters need to start earlier -- while potential applicants are still in school -- to fill jobs vacated by baby boomers, several human capital officials said Wednesday.

Some of the skills needed for government jobs just aren't available in the candidate pool yet, they said.

"We're going to have to build a supply so we can hire," said Ron Sanders, chief human capital officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "We literally are going to have to control our own destiny."

In late October, the intelligence office announced the addition of six new schools to the intelligence community's Centers for Academic Excellence program. The schools are given grants worth between $250,000 to $750,000 a year to develop "curricula that address intelligence community workforce requirements, particularly in science, regional studies and foreign languages."

The 10 schools with ODNI grants are: California State University; Norfolk State University; University of Texas, El Paso; University of Texas, Pan American; University of Washington; Wayne State University; Trinity University; Clark Atlanta University; Florida International University; and Tennessee State University.

Sanders, who spoke at a breakfast sponsored by Government Executive, was joined in his call for earlier intervention by fellow panelists Jeff Pon, the Energy Department's chief human capital officer; Claudia Cross, Energy's deputy CHCO; and Robert Goodwin, the Air Force's deputy assistant secretary for force management integration.

Cross said the average age of physicists in the Energy Department is 60, and at some smaller labs it's 70.

"There's not a pipeline ready to be bought," Cross said.

Cross' partner, Pon, floated the idea of legislation similar to the GI Bill, only for scientists. Pon said petroleum engineers, for example, command around $100,000 a year starting salary in the private sector. The federal government pays entry-level petroleum engineers only about $48,000. Pon said funding their education from the start could make the difference, but it will take a 10- or 15-year commitment to work.

In the Air Force, Goodwin said the need for early recruitment pops up even in the most unexpected places.

"I'm concerned about Catholic chaplains," Goodwin said. "We're short. And they're not willing to give them to us because they have their own shortage."

Goodwin said he is working on a plan to offer shorter stints -- perhaps around five years -- to Catholic chaplains who can come in early in their careers and then claim a military retirement pension to supplement the church's retirement program.