Pilot School Case Studies
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Back to School: Rethinking Federal Recruiting on College Campuses
This report reveals the findings indicating that in order to attract the talent the federal government needs, it must do a better job of recruiting and educating students.
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Making the Difference: A Blueprint for Matching University Students with Federal Opportunities
This report includes a series of recommendations for federal agencies, universities and Congress outlining how each of these groups can help to ensure our federal government has the talent it needs. Each of these groups has a keen interest in increasing the number of talented young people entering government service.
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Call to Serve Recruitment Initiative
The Call to Serve Recruitment Initiative kicked off in fall 2005 and stemmed from previous collaboration between the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Partnership on the Call to Serve program. The Initiative, which received a $600,000 allocation from Congress, is a more intense effort to study cost effective and sustainable ways for federal agencies to inspire and educate college students toward federal service. A first-of-its-kind, the Initiative is a parallel to the extensive investments that the military makes in recruitment and marketing. The findings from this study will provide the basis to engage the larger network and empower them to take a more proactive role in promoting federal public service as an employer of choice for their students.
Six schools were chosen to participate in this pilot project based on their interest, leadership support and diversity (both geographic and student demographic): Clark Atlanta University, The George Washington University; Louisiana State University, The Ohio State University, Stanford University and University of New Mexico. Prior to the program launch, faculty and students on each campus completed surveys to create a set of baseline data that will be compared to the results of a tracking conducted this spring. During the course of this two-year pilot, these institutions took part in the Initiative through a number of activities including but are not limited to:
- Federal search and apply sessions
- Tours of federal offices
- Speakers from federal agencies
- Creation of student organizations around public service
- Hosting federal career fairs
- Creating university staff positions dedicated to promoting federal public service
- Hosting receptions for university alumni in public service
Through this Initiative we have learned much about how agencies – and colleges – can improve the outreach and recruitment enterprise, including:
- Students are interested in federal public service; they just lack the knowledge to find the opportunities available to them.
- Top-level university administration support can be extremely helpful in making federal public service an institutional priority and driving engagement from an entire campus.
- Students look to faculty for career advice, and faculty members must be a part of the educational process.
- Tailoring outreach and opportunities by academic discipline can make a big difference in creating first and lasting impressions.
The Partnership for Public Service works to revitalize our federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming the way government works.
