Web site hopes to attract new federal employees

A new partnership between a Washington-based advocacy group and online career site Monster.com aims to overcome a potential personnel crisis in the federal workplace by making government jobs more accessible to job seekers.

Monster.com and the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group focused on improving the government's recruitment and retention record, are launching a new site that will allow job seekers to more easily access federal job openings.

Partnership President and CEO Max Stier announced the new venture Wednesday with Monster.com's founder and chairman, Jeff Taylor. A roundtable discussion on recruitment challenges in the federal government followed the announcement.

"This is the opportunity to build an information pavilion on the Internet that will describe for young people the benefits of working for the federal government," Stier said. "Young people have a desire for civic engagement."

At least 53 percent of the federal workforce will become eligible to retire in the next five years and, according to Taylor, his company's new site will help fill that gap by connecting job seekers with federal job listings and providing information about the federal workplace and the benefits of public service.

According to Taylor, nearly 50,000 of those who responded to a survey on his site said they would consider government jobs. Another recent survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a Washington-based polling firm, found that 75 percent of college students had a somewhat, or very favorable opinion of the federal government as an employer. The key, Taylor and Stier said, is telling those people about jobs that are available in the federal government.

"We have to make this an attractive and viable option and it is essential that the federal government employ 21st century methods," Taylor said. "This can make it quick and efficient for government agencies to hire."

But agencies need to adjust their recruiting methods as well, Stier said, because many of the people showing interest in public service today are looking for career-building opportunities, not just jobs.

"Government needs to design its pitch to make people feel they are building a career and not simply there for the long haul," Stier said.

The hiring cycle is too long when compared with that of the private sector, Taylor said, and federal job announcements are often not easy to understand.

"I believe we have an opportunity to foster a new sense of government service in the wake of Sept. 11," Stier said.