How do we attract talent to government jobs?
Project Summary
Recruiting and retaining younger talent in the public sector is a critical challenge, especially as a generation of public servants retire and early-career professionals report less interest in government jobs. In collaboration with Govern for America, we tested different framings of government jobs in recruitment materials to understand what drives interest in a two-year public sector fellowship program among college students. Our preliminary findings show that framing the government as the best place for effecting change was the most effective at increasing applications, particularly for Black students. However, it also attracted candidates with more negative views of public servants.
Why is this issue important?
Governments are struggling to recruit and retain talent, leading to a major operational crisis for the public sector as Baby Boomers continue to retire, and younger generations are not stepping in to fill these roles quickly enough. Though several fellowship programs aim to connect early-career professionals to jobs in government , little research exists on the best methods for recruiting people into these programs, especially when the types of skills that are currently needed in government are also in high demand in the private and non-profit sectors.
What are we doing?
In collaboration with Govern for America, we co-designed three recruitment ads that each highlighted different potential motivations for applying to a public sector fellowship program: building critical skills (“Challenge yourself”), joining efforts with other like-minded people (“Join the movement”), and effecting systemic change (“Change the system”). In a randomized experiment conducted over two years, we tested the impact of each framing on applications for the fellowship program and examined differences in effects by individual characteristics.
What have we learned?
Prospective applicants who received the “Change the system” recruitment message were 50% more likely to apply than those who received the “Challenge yourself” message and 35% more likely to apply than those receiving the “Join the movement” message. In follow-up years, results are not statistically significant, although both “Change the system” and “Join the movement” messages are more effective at attracting Black candidates.
What comes next?
This project, although ongoing, provides early evidence regarding the types of messages that may appeal most to early-career professionals. More research is needed to understand how recruitment messages change the composition of the applicant pool along important dimensions, such as underrepresented status and beliefs about working in government. We’re currently supplementing our findings with a survey experiment among a larger sample of college students and recent graduates.