When money talks, fewer walk

"I couldn't afford a college graduate. They were offering $30,000, $40,000 out there. We were offering them $21,000, $22,000," Popovich says. "They would laugh at us."

The agency sponsored two job fairs, advertising on rock radio stations and in giveaway job-hunter magazines, among other media. The ads prominently featured on-the-spot hiring-subject to security checks-and recruitment bonuses of up to 25 percent of salary. The effort netted some 2,400 walk-in applicants and more than 300 job offers, plus a list of prospects for future hiring.

For employees already on board, the agency began offering retention allowances of between 5 percent and 15 percent of salary, depending on the employee's educational credentials and technical certifications. "Fifteen percent is a pretty hefty raise. That's two promotions, or, in grade, it's five steps. That's not bad money. Plus the benefits, plus the tenure," Popovich says.

One result has been an increase in technical capabilities. Nearly 600 employees now qualify for allowances based on certain technical certifications, five times the number when the retention allowance program started in October 1999.

More employees are staying at the agency, and the recently approved IT special pay rates will help further. The vacancy rate is now down to about 10 percent, and the department is trying to push it lower through continued use of the bonuses and allowances.

"The good ones are staying with us now, the ones with the skills," says Popovich. "We don't have to go out and buy the skills. Now we're not desperate.

"It works. You just have to hit the right buttons, and you have to have the right tools," she says. "But you can't stop. You have to keep going."