August 2010

By Steve Ressler (at right)  and Andrew Krzmarzick

Over the next several years, the U.S. government “will experience the largest unplanned exodus of middle and senior management talent” in its history. That was the conclusion of a recent report, Net Generation: Preparing for Change in the Federal Information Technology Workforce, produced by the U.S. Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council.

This impending departure of Baby Boomers is inevitable, but there is still time to counteract the trend. In fact, smart government organizations are already working on ways to capture the attention of the younger generation — the fast-moving, job-hopping group of 20- and 30-somethings who demand flexibility and rapid growth potential. The CIO Council’s report offers at least two dozen ideas that government organizations can use to effectively recruit, retain and train younger workers for IT positions. While the programs are U.S.-based, the ideas can be adopted worldwide.

What follows is an abbreviated version of the report’s findings and some recommendations for CIOs facing hiring challenges. We offer these suggestions as the founder and community manager of GovLoop.com — a social networking site that has attracted more than 33,000 government innovators—and also as members of the Net Generation ourselves. Addressing these key points may well have a significant impact on your organization:

1. Get with the Program!

Young people have high self-esteem and want to advance quickly. A number of programs are cited in the report that will enable our generation to test out government work-life, grow in a structured way, and gain a sense of both progress and purpose. They may serve as models for your department or agency. For instance:

• Federal Cyber-Service: Scholarship for Service is a federal scholarship program, co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security. NSF funds the final two years of study in information assurance (IA)—commonly known as IT risk management-- academic programs at select colleges and universities across the U.S. Then, scholarship recipients must serve at a federal agency in an IA position for a period equivalent to the length of the scholarship or one year (whichever is longer). More than 30 academic institutions participate in the program, which accommodates approximately 100 candidates each year.

• Information Assurance Scholarship Program was created to increase the number of individuals in the U.S. Department of Defense who possess key IA and IT skill sets. DoD works with universities across the U.S., known as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance, to offer programs of study for future IA professionals. Each year, the program develops well-educated military and civilian personnel to protect critical IA and IT management and infrastructure. The federal hiring process is notorious for being a lengthy process, often taking months from the moment a person applies for a job to the issuance of a job offer. These programs are one way that government agencies can give the rising generation of IT professionals exposure to their organizations and increase the likelihood of making faster hiring decisions.

2. Communicate Your Vision, But Be Flexible

In a famous scene in the movie, “The 10 Commandments,” actor Charlton Heston as Moses descends from the mountain to present the stone-etched laws to his community. Well, we don’t recommend doing that. The Net Generation wants to know the “why” behind work mandates, and they respond more readily when it’s apparent that their work is meaningful and makes a difference. Moreover, they want to be part of the planning process.

So, before you escape to a remote mountaintop retreat with other senior executives to hammer out a strategic plan, consider investing in an ideation tool that enables employees to share, comment and vote on ideas. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched IdeaHub in August as an online platform, encouraging the agency’s 55,000 employees to generate ideas that could improve mission-critical activities. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood explains in his blog:

A federal Aviation Administration employee in Alaska can offer suggestions about an idea by a federal Transit Administration worker in Atlanta or vote on an idea by a federal Highways Administration employee in Arizona. Once an idea is posted, our employee community can vote it up or down. As ideas attract votes and generate activity and comments, they advance to DOT's IdeaHub liaisons and Innovation Council, where they are evaluated and may be put into practice.

The best practice to follow is this: Trust younger workers to help drive innovation. It can be an advantage that they have not been in the same boardroom for 20 years; they bring a novel perspective. Plus, they’ll be much more enthusiastic about implementing a set of crowd-sourced ideas that respect and reflect their perspective.

3. Leverage Social Media as a Productivity Tool
By now, most companies know where to find the Net Generation: Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. For example, did you know the U.S. Agency for International Development is advertising its job openings on Facebook? The problem, however, is that when new hires arrive, they soon learn that they are granted only limited, if any, access to those same websites at many agencies and companies. In short, don’t block social media. It’s not a productivity zapper. Rather, it’s a powerful tool that can be used adroitly to tap into a vast network that extends far beyond the boundaries of your organization’s walls. As the Net Gen report states:

"Social media has the ability to expand network circles. The larger and more diverse the circle of contacts, the better, since meeting individuals from different industries and organizations, with different levels of expertise, creates more potential for innovation.”

For example, when a young leader is tasked with creating a new IT strategy or leading a SharePoint implementation, he or she could look only to their co-workers for advice or instead seek answers on GovLoop.com for more robust and valuable collaboration.

As you may have seen, the Net Generation is neither quiet nor short on ideas. They are passionate and energetic — and want to help improve government performance.

Just as on those commercials where someone shows up to help a customer along with hundreds, if not thousands, of assistants, young workers are ready and eager to share its ideas — and its expansive professional networks — to improve the organization. And think of the return on investment when you leverage 2,000 minds for the price of one.

Steve Ressler is founder and Andrew Krzmarzick is community manager of GovLoop.com, a social network for government employees.

Steve Ressler founded GovLoop.com in 2008 as a “Facebook for government,” and now serves as its preisdent.  The social media community currently has more than 30,000 members. Before that, Steve co-founded Young Government Leaders, a professional group connecting over 2,000 federal employees across the U.S.

He has also written articles for Nature Magazine and Federal Times, been quoted often, and has presented at  forums such as the Harvard Kennedy School, Brookings Institute, and on MSNBC. He speaks about recruiting/retaining Gen Y employees, Gov 2.0, Web 2.0, and social media. Steve holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he received the Department of Homeland Security Fellowship.

Andrew Krzmarzick is Director of Community Engagement at GovLoop. Previously, he was involved in non-profit development and fundraising.