Increased Need for Public Servants – Org. Reaching Out to Co-Eds
By Mindy Finn
WASHINGTON – In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, several University of Connecticut juniors interning on Capitol Hill this fall, say their experience here thus far has not altered their level of interest in government service. Their unshakable perceptions of public service careers, despite the increased threat of terrorism to the U.S., is indicative of a looming problem for the federal workforce, according to a group that is making recruitment of young people to public service its mission.
“We apparently appreciate government workers-but we still don’t want to be them,” said Max Stier, the president of the Partnership for Public Service, a new non-profit organization created to reinvigorate interest in public service. Former Justice Department attorney and Westport, Conn. native, Samuel Heyman has pledged $25 million to launch the Partnership.
“The need for public servants to be involved in government is greater than it has been in a very, very long timeá We are seeing a true crisis in the public workforce,” Stier said in a recent interview. Stier said the only agency that has seen a significant increase in applicants since Sept. 11 is the CIA.
Emily Graner, a junior from the University of Connecticut majoring in both political science and Spanish, said she thinks there is very little recruitment of college students to government service. Graner, who lives in Ledyard, Conn., has been interning in Connecticut Senator Joseph I. Lieberman’s Washington office this semester. Graner says she may want to join the Peace Corps after she graduates, but she had to go out and seek information about the program on her own.
Mat Jasinski, a junior political science major at UConn who lives in Ridgefield, Conn., said until time in Washington, “I didn’t realize that there were so many public service options out there.” Jasinski, an intern in the office of Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, said he never thought about the fact that government workers design highways, keep the air clean and control the water quality.
Lisa Schwartz, a junior business major at UConn from South Windsor, Conn., who is an intern for Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. this semester, said she is determined to work in the private sector. “It is more of an issue of money than anything else. If you pay more, you will get more qualified people,” Schwartz said. “That’s just a given.”
Schwartz said a friend of hers, a fellow UConn business student, received $35, 000 from Price Waterhouse Cooper to pay for her education in her last two years. After graduation, she was required to work for the company for two years at $45,000. “If you work at the GAO, you would get almost half of that,” asserted Schwartz. “How are you supposed to live in D.C. on $23,000 a year?” Schwartz asked.
In fact, a spokesperson for the GAO said an entry level financial analyst position at the agency in Washington would pay $30,868 and an entry level auditing position would pay $36,965.
Stier said that studies have shown that lack of information is the one of the main reasons students are not interested in government service. “Government has not been active or proactive in informing people about these opportunities.” Stier said any career that students are seeking in the private sector, “you name it, the government has it.”
Stier cites four major reasons that stand in the way of young people seeking and procuring employment in government service, the first being lack of information. Also, young people don’t know how to go about getting a job with the government. If they do apply, the process is not easy, efficient, or quick. Finally, the job itself and the pay received are not rewarding enough, he said.
Stier said over 50% of the federal workforce will be eligible to retire over the next three years, including more than 70% of its senior managers, leaving a potential gaping hole in the federal workforce. However, he thinks the situation is not hopeless.
“There is an appetite for this now and if we do our job right and other groups do their job right then we’ll have a generation of people that are interested in giving back,” he said. “The door is open, but the sale has not been made.”
Stier said his organization plans to collaborate with leaders from various communities such as the business, university and youth sectors of the population. The Partnership is a catalyst in trying to solve this problem said Stier. “We alone can’t be the recruiter for the federal government, the government is going to have to do the job for itself.”
Jasinski, who has always been interested in public service, specifically becoming a lawmaker, said he thinks it’s up to the agencies to do their recruiting. “I don’t think the school is duty-bound,” he said. “The career center’s credibility would be impaired if they tried to funnel people off to work for the government.”
He added that, “of course, government agencies should be given equal opportunity to recruit on campus.”
The Partnership for Public Service has already drafted two pieces of legislation that it plans to push. One would require each agency to appoint a chief human resources officer. The other would make the money students receive from government to pay off their student loans tax-free. The group also plans to do extensive research to learn the challenges the government faces in seeking talented workers.
The Partnership has developed a five-point plan to rekindle interest in public service including improving the perception of government service, launching an education and outreach effort to inform talented students and mid-career workers about government employment options and working with federal agencies to help create a more supportive public work environment that focuses on performance, more like the private sector.
Heyman, who made his fortune as a Connecticut real estate businessman, not only donated the funds to start the Partnership for Public Service, but also helped draw together members of Congress and representatives from the public and private sectors. This board of governors that includes such well-known names such as Senate Governmental Affairs committee chairman, Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn, and committee member George Voinovich, R-Ohio, Senate candidate, Elizabeth Dole, and Disney Co. Chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner.
Lieberman joined the board of governors of the Partnership for Public Service because he chairs the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that has jurisdiction over the civil service, said the committee’s director of communications, Leslie Phillips. He also wanted to join because he believes the human capital crisis is a serious concern for the government and wants to be part of the solution to the problem, she said. Lieberman’s released his book, In Praise of Public Service, last year. Phillips said that the outpouring of patriotism the Sept. 11 attacks has inspired in the American people heartens the Senator. He believes one way to harness the patriotism is through national service.
