The vast majority of graduates surveyed still believe that working for government is part of a public service career, even graduates who have spent their careers working solely outside of government. For now, however, the barrier between government and the private and nonprofit sectors remains nearly impenetrable. Recruitment does not end with the formal hiring process. Government has an obligation to provide challenging work and the opportunity for growth. Nothing is more irresponsible than recruiting a talented graduate and squandering that commitment in a dead-end job.
Career development is an ongoing organizational obligation.
But the government simply does not have the human resource expertise to design a recruitment, retention and career development process to fit the new public service. The government must start rebuilding the human resource function that has been decimated by a decade of downsizing. If the government does not want to be the employer of last resort in the talent war, it must become the recruiter of first approach. Federal recruiters can derive little comfort from having hundreds of names on their application lists if those names come from the bottom quarter of their graduating classes or if they are drawn to government solely for the security. The federal human capital crisis has been simmering for the better part of two decades and has been disguised by the massive downsizing that began with military base closings after the end of the Cold War.