Doing Good, Doing Well

Here's Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, discussing the release yesterday of a survey his organization sponsored on college students' attitudes toward public service:

The JFK message of "ask not" is not good enough for this generation. What you really need is something that offers up the opportunity for doing good, but also doing well.

I can't prove this isn't true, but my sense is it's not. The young people in my office are much more strongly committed to volunteer service to others than my generation ever was. The defining moments for people coming out of college today are events like Sept. 11 and Katrina. It's hard for me to believe they can't be bothered to take jobs serving their fellow citizens unless they are offered some extra financial incentive.

I don't want to quote Stier out of context; in his other remarks he makes it clear that he's not just talking about pay and benefits, but about making sure young people know that federal jobs offer the opportunity to do interesting work and make a difference. But those things fall under the "ask not" category--and remain the most attractive elements of federal service. That's because government can't win the compensation competition. Private-sector salaries are always going to be higher, and government's nice health and retirement benefits aren't the kinds of things that attract your average college student to a job.