A golden opportunity: recruiting baby boomers into government: millions of baby boomers who are looking for new opportunities and challenges are considering "encore careers" in government.

Robert Gomperts was a successful businessman for 40 years. When he reached age 59, though, he was done with the business world; no more mountains to climb, no desire to do more of the same. But traditional retirement didn't suit him--he had too much energy and too much curiosity Gomperts wanted to continue earning income, and he still felt a call to public service that he'd always wanted to act on. So he went looking for a job in the public sector.

The deck was stacked against him, but he got lucky The Virginia Department of Agriculture was looking for a marketing director with his skills and, amazingly, he got the job. Someone in the Virginia state government was willing to take a risk and hire a 60-year-old businessman with no public-sector experience.

It was a great match. Reflecting back on his entire career, Gomperts says his five years in Virginia state government were the most interesting, most challenging and most satisfying of his career.

Ann Vande Vanter was a certified public accountant with 30 years of experience in the private sector, including working as a senior executive in public accounting. Despite her success, Vande Vanter was appalled at the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals and how they had shaken her industry. She too wanted to do something different--something that would make a difference. So, she took her skills and experience to the Internal Revenue Service, where she works now.

Gomperts and Vande Vanter are baby boomers who were looking for new opportunities and challenges, and they found them in government. Recent research revealed that there are many more baby boomers like Gomperts and Vande Vanter who are interested in "encore careers" in government. (1) In fact, there are millions of them.

A recent article in Government Finance Review discussed why government must do a better job recruiting talent from college campuses. (2) But it also cautioned that there is no silver bullet guaranteeing success in the war for talent. Instead, what we need is silver buckshot--an integrated set of strategies for tapping into multiple pools of talent. That means also focusing on the opposite end of the age demographic from young college grads and considering the tens of millions of baby boomers, many of whom are looking for encore careers where they can make a difference

NEW APPROACHES NEEDED

While all organizations will lose talent as older workers begin to retire, government agencies are particularly vulnerable. That is because public-sector workers are older, on average, than their colleagues in the private sector. As the 78-million-strong baby boomer generation marches relentlessly toward retirement age, competition for talent will intensify. Unfortunately, the public sector's age demographics mean that government will be on the bleeding edge of this war for talent.

To address the exodus of retirement-eligible workers, government needs to recruit, hire, train, and mentor young employees. But government agencies must also plan for succession and knowledge transfer by grooming current staff for the higher-level jobs retirees will be leaving. Savvy government organizations are also focusing on retention incentives that encourage experienced workers with institutional knowledge and critical skills to stay on the job longer. All of these strategies, if implemented well, can go a long way toward addressing the looming brain drain--but not all the way,

Traditional approaches to talent acquisition, career management, and retirement planning need to be reexamined and re-tooled--including strategies to recruit older, experienced workers. The good news is that many baby boomers are keenly interested in continuing to work.

ENGAGING OLDER WORKERS

One strategy for meeting the growing workforce challenge is conducting research studies that reveal better ways for government to attract, develop, and retain talent. According to one such study, a national survey of workers aged 50-65, many baby boomers are interested in public-sector jobs. (3)

* Older, experienced workers plan to continue working ... and for quite a while. As shown in Exhibit 1, almost 30 percent of workers aged 55-59 plan to continue working beyond their 65th birthday And 16 percent of workers who are 60 or older plan to work for at least 11 more years.

* Older workers are interested in government. Of those surveyed, 57 percent said they are interested in state government; 53 percent are very interested in working in federal government; and 52 percent, local government.

* Older Americans seek interesting and challenging work, health benefits, a good salary, and a solid retirement plan. These are areas where government should be competitive, particularly in offering challenging work and good benefits.

One of the most attractive features about government service as postretirement employment is that there are opportunities in almost every occupation. Many people who are looking to change jobs in their 50s and 60s are not necessarily looking to change professions. Government offers work in hundreds of occupations, including accounting and financial management, which will not require retraining.

THE BARRIERS

Despite these encouraging survey results, increasing the flow of talented older workers into government will mean overcoming tough obstacles. (4) The key barriers are:

* Lack of knowledge. Just 11 percent of older Americans said they were knowledgeable about government job opportunities. This is in line with a 2007 survey of college students in which only 13 percent of juniors and seniors said they were knowledgeable about public-sector job opportunities? Young or old, there is a knowledge gap.

* Negative perceptions. Two out of three older Americans believe the federal government is ineffective. Those who believe the federal government is effective are twice as likely to be interested in government employment. Although the survey did not ask about state and local government effectiveness, there is no reason to believe it is any different at other levels of government.

* A broken hiring process. Fifty-seven percent of older Americans said the government application process is difficult, compared with that of other jobs. Older workers who reviewed a sample of vacancy announcements said they were too long, confusing, and not user-friendly--"way too bureaucratic," "totally confusing," and "extremely too long" As one person put it, "The overall feel of the job vacancy announcement is negative and heavy handed ... If the application is like this, what's it like to work there, and why would you want to?"

* Mutual skepticism. Some government managers said they doubt outside hires will understand "how things are done" in government. And some older workers agree, saying that government work is completely different from their private and nonprofit sector experiences.

OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS

While these barriers may seem daunting, there are ways to overcome them.

Aggressively recruit from all talent pools, including older workers. This means opening more jobs to the public, even mid- and upper-level jobs that have traditionally been filled from inside.

Improve outreach and marketing of government jobs to experienced workers. Hiring experienced talent requires different recruiting strategies than hiring younger workers. Unlike college students, older Americans have no career services networks that government recruiters can tap into. In addition, while many younger workers do not know what to expect when looking for a job, older workers have clear expectations about acceptable workplace conditions and application procedures. Requirements for recruiting older workers include the following:

* Personalize agency missions and jobs. Profile real people (especially older workers) in real jobs.

* Prominently feature the advantages and benefits of government employment that resonate strongly with experienced workers. Highlight exciting missions; interesting and challenging work; and excellent health, life insurance, and retirement plans.

* Form partnerships. Organizations such as AARP; professional networks, societies and associations; trade journals; state employment agencies; and the military are some of the groups that can reach experienced workers.

* Contract with recruitment and employment services firms. This is especially important for higher-level positions and jobs requiring hard-to-find competencies.

* Expand entry-level recruitment. Older workers can also be good candidates for these jobs.

Make hiring more timely, efficient and user-friendly. One government manager provided brutal insight from both sides of the hiring process, calling it "the most awful thing I've ever gone through--as both an applicant and

later as a hiring official." Much remains to be done to demystify government hiring and make the procedure more welcoming, understandable, and efficient. Some suggestions include:

* Improve vacancy announcements. Make them shorter and less threatening, use less bureaucratic language, and provide easy-to-follow instructions on how to apply, where to get questions answered, and how to get status information. Do not make job qualification requirements so vague or restrictive that they discourage qualified applicants.

* Allow candidates to submit college transcripts, military service documentation, and other supplemental application materials after the deadline, instead of requiring applicants to submit this material at the beginning of the process. Requiring this information up front creates a disadvantage for external candidates, particularly older workers, who may not have this kind of documentation at their fingertips.

* Let applicants know where they stand. E-mail and other automated notification methods are helpful here.

Create orientation processes that recognize the unique needs of outside hires, including older workers. Mentoring, shadowing, and other on-the-job learning techniques help new employees make the transition into agency missions and cultures. Bringing an older, experienced worker on board is a different proposition from integrating a new recruit right out of college, and the orientation process for experienced workers should reflect those differences.

Be flexible. Agencies that are recruiting experienced talent should use approaches such as recruitment and relocation bonuses, hiring above minimum salary levels, direct hiring, temporary appointments, eliminating restrictive certification rules, and increasing annual leave for experienced outside hires. Government should also adopt flexible work arrangements that appeal to mature workers, including part-time and alternative work schedules, job sharing, short-term assignments, telework, and family and medical leave programs.

CONCLUSION

Some people argue that hiring older "outsiders" into government could reduce advancement opportunities for current employees and limit opportunities for young people to enter public service. But the search for talent in government is not a zero-sum proposition. Government should look first to its current employees, helping them develop and grow. The future offers plenty of opportunities for existing employees to advance, for young people to enter government, and for trained public administrators to lead. And there will also be plenty of opportunities for baby boomers to join government. The choice is not about which talent pools to access. Government must attract and develop talent from all sources, including stepping up efforts to attract outside talent, ranging from new college grads to experienced older workers.

Notes

(1.) A Golden Opportunity: Recruiting Baby Boomers into Government (Washington, D.C.: Partnership for Public Service, 2008).

(2.) Bob Lavigna, "Tapping the Talent on College Campuses--the Future is Now!" Government Finance Review, February 2008, 49.

(3.) A Golden Opportunity

(4.) A Golden Opportunity

(5.) Making the Difference: A Blueprint for Matching University Students with Federal Opportunities (Washington, D.C.: Partnership for Public Service, 2007).

BOB LAVIGNA is vice president of research for the Partnership for Public Service, a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to increasing interest in working for government and transforming the way government works. Before joining the Partnership, Lavigna served for more than 30 years in federal, state, and local government. Contact him at [e-mail]. To download the full report, A Golden Opportunity: Attracting Bay Boomers to Government, go to www.ourpublicservice.org.

Exhibit 1: Not Necessarily Retiring Soon

Responses from the 55-59 age group to the question, "How many
more years will it be until you consider yourself fully retired
and would not consider working in any capacity?"

[] Already Retired 4 percent
[] Not Sure 5 percent
[] Less than 3 Years 3 percent
[] 3 to 5 Years 17 percent
[] 6 to 10 Years 42 percent
[] 11 Years or More 29 percent

Note: Table made from pie chart.