Federal Recruiters Fear 'FEMA Face'

Pam Coltharp, director of the Call to Serve program at Louisiana State University--a partnership of OPM and the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service to improve federal recruiting efforts--has a name for the way engineering students react to the prospect of federal employment these days. She calls it the "FEMA Face," Federal Computer Week reports. It's clear that post-Katrina, agencies have an even bigger hill to climb in convincing college students that they can actually make a difference by working in government.

I'll have a full Outlook column on this subject in the June 1 issue of Government Executive.