Entry-Level Hires Are Starting Later, Value Old-Fashioned Perks

People who take entry-level jobs are supposed to be young, inexperienced and just out of college.

But not in the government. The average age of new federal hires is 33.

That finding is in a report released by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which conducts studies of the civil service for the White House and Congress. The report, "Attracting the Next Generation," was prompted by concerns that Uncle Sam may not be able to compete for talent as baby boomers retire from government.

A spate of studies and polls have suggested that younger Americans are wary of working for the government and are turned off by its cumbersome hiring procedures, which can include filling out numerous employment forms and undergoing lengthy background investigations. Younger Americans often see nonprofit organizations and state and local governments as places where they can "make a difference," according to the studies.

The board's research found that the typical entry-level hire is surprisingly older than generally assumed, is highly motivated to land a federal job, and is interested in the same things that prior generations have valued: job stability, annual pay raises, vacation time and health insurance.

"The government is actually better at attracting new hires than some might think," the report concludes.

National workforce projections show that skilled employees, especially in the sciences and engineering, will be in high demand and short supply in coming years, and the Bush administration has urged agencies to prepare for a "war for talent," as it is called, with corporations, think tanks and other employers.

The merit board's findings should be encouraging to agencies, especially those that are ramping up recruitment efforts to fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs that will open in the next few years because of baby boomers' retirements.

Agencies can step up to the challenge, the report suggests, if they tout their job benefits while marketing themselves to the next generation of workers, if they make their hiring procedures as speedy as possible, and if they "avoid stereotyping applicants based on generational assumptions."

Part of the board's report is based on survey responses from 1,115 federal employees who were hired into full-time professional and administrative occupations in entry-level jobs, at General Schedule grades 5, 7 and 9. The survey was conducted from February to May 2006. Some of the findings were released by the board last year in agency newsletters.

In the survey, the board asked new hires, who earn from $26,000 to $52,000 in base pay, why they decided to work for the government.

The most important reason was job security. It was the top answer of 28 percent of the respondents, regardless of age.