October 2004 · Volume 86 · Number 9

The Retirement Epidemic: Recruiting Young People into Public Service
by Zachariah Friend
Local government management is at a crossroads. States and localities are troubled by the high number of retiring managers and the relatively low number of young professionals looking to take their places. 
Many top-level people are opting for early retirement. In fact, the General Accounting Office reports that 53 percent of middle and upper public sector managers nationwide will qualify for retirement sometime this year.
A lot of young professionals and recent graduates, however, are eager to break into the public sector. Why the paradox?
Public sector employers—specifically, local and state governments—are not as aggressive at pursuing and recruiting these talented prospects as their counterparts in the private sector. Could it be that these talented candidates are missing out on management careers simply because they are unaware that the opportunity exists?
There is some good news. According to a sampling of five member universities of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) in Washington, D.C., students are applying to public administration, public policy, and public affairs programs at significantly higher rates than in the past. A recent survey of college seniors made on behalf of the Center for Public Service at The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., found that 19 percent of the seniors had given serious consideration to a job in state or local government.
Joe Ferrara, a professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., believes that local governments are missing the boat by not aggressively reaching out to young men and women interested in public service. “Local governments need to take action on several fronts to recruit the next generation of public managers,” he says.
Professor Ferrara believes that local governments should “establish a positive and energetic presence at campus job fairs” while “streamlining the application and hiring process.” The professor believes that prevailing opinions of the government hiring process may dissuade students from even considering public service. The Center for Public Service found similar information in its survey (see the accompany table). A recent review of on-campus recruiters at the University of Michigan and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., found that the vast majority were from the private sector. No local governments were represented. Jane Miller, director of student affairs at Michigan State’s School of Public Policy, suggests that many localities rely on their Web sites to advertise postings.
The private sector, however, dedicates recruiting and marketing positions to reaching students. While the majority of graduates from the public policy programs at Michigan State and the University of Michigan enter the public sector, nearly all of them bypass local government.
How can local governments change this trend and attract their fair share of graduating students? One answer is to start early. Laura Hogan, a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Affairs, believes her interest in government came from early exposure to the benefits of public service. “You cannot start early enough introducing children to the wonders of government,” she says.
“We live in a society that welcomes citizen participation,” she adds, “and we need to empower children to celebrate the duties of citizenship and fully partake in our government.” She believes that the easiest way to do this at the local level is to invite students to council meetings and to visit local schools.
Another technique is to work more closely with local universities to encourage the teaching of a local government curriculum. Alexandra Michael, a graduate student at George Washington University’s School of Business and Public Management, claims that most graduate programs do not focus enough on local government management. “Graduate programs, working in conjunction with local governments, could incorporate local issues into policy realms where they interact, such as budgeting and environmental issues. It would be helpful to have more professors, guest lecturers, and recruiters from local governments to help bridge the knowledge gap.” 
Keeping the key concept of outreach in mind, local governments can easily replace retiring managers with the next generation of public employees.
Placing front-line city officials in the classroom is integral to addressing the dearth of local issues taught by most public administration and public policy programs. Wendy Kaserman, of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, believes that it is critical to include practitioners in these programs to build a local government curriculum. “The theory is important, but the work that city and county managers do requires skill sets that I feel are best taught by people working in the field, versus academicians,” she says. 
Bo Ferguson, assistant to the city manager in Rockville, Maryland, says that local governments could do more outreach to students in public administration. “The media will continue to cover the more sensational aspects of government and its shortcomings. So we have to try harder at the local government level to tell the good stories about the great job that local government is doing everyday. Public administration students should be exposed to the people and organizations that they will soon work for and someday lead.” 
This is something that is successfully being done in Arizona. Wendy Kaserman claims, “The professors in the public administration programs frequently invite city and town management staff to come speak to classes on a variety of issues affecting local government.” However, while she feels that Arizona localities have been successful in outreach to public administration students, outreach efforts should be broadened to include students of all academic pursuits. “Not only will we need more city and county managers in the future, [but] we will also need people to fill management positions at the department level.” 
The localities that do actively recruit young people have ended up recruiting full-time employees. David Moore, manager of the community development program for the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, came back to work for his hometown after obtaining his degree. “I was lucky enough to be given a chance by a manager who understood the importance of reaching out to young people interested in the field. Managers and administrators can play a huge part in encouraging individuals to commit to this rewarding career.”
Now, as a young professional, he has found young people to be extremely receptive to a career in public service. “I have always been encouraged by the reaction I have received when I speak with school-aged kids about what goes into running cities and towns. They really do grasp the necessity and utility of government. For many kids, it is exciting to learn about who maintains, creates, and plans for the institutions that shape their childhood.”
Some communities might be fearful of the costs, in staff time and direct outlays, associated with beginning an internship program. However, Michael Young, city manager of Rockford, Michigan, believes that these costs are negligible in the bigger picture. “I would contend that the costs associated with paying an intern are minimal compared to the benefits that a community can receive. I would also say that the benefit to a community in placing an intern far outweighs the time in developing the internship structure. If done correctly, the development of an internship is a one-time expenditure of energy, which then simply needs to be tweaked and modified, year in and year out.”
If your local government wants to recruit the next generation of bright, creative candidates, it should consider taking some simple steps.
Seven Steps
Here are seven simple solutions to recruiting young managers:
1. Use outreach! Public managers need to actively recruit students. They can attend school job fairs, guest-lecture in classes, and send job postings to university career representatives.
2. Work with local universities to offer fellowships, weekend academies, or training certificates. Some cities, such as Long Beach, California, and Phoenix, Arizona, have successfully established fellowship programs that recruit and retain top-level young professionals.
There is some good news. According to a sampling of five member universities of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), students are applying to public administration, public policy, and public affairs programs at significantly higher rates than in the past.
3. Offer internships. Work with local universities and high schools to offer credit-based internship programs for students. Results from the Center for Public Service study show that students who have participated in a local government volunteer or intern program are significantly more likely to consider local government careers.
4. Offer job shadowing and mentor programs for high school students. Starting early to reach students is essential. Many high school students are beginning to formulate their career paths and would welcome the active recruitment of local governments.
5. Appoint a student task force. Encourage local university and high school students to provide input on city and county issues that directly affect them. Allow students to participate actively in community meetings and in policy formulation for issues they care about.
6. Work with state officials to develop partial tuition-reimbursement incentives. Commonly, the private sector provides graduate tuition in exchange for a certain number of years of service to a company. The arrival of this idea in the public sector is long overdue.
7. Use existing resources. ICMA offers to local governments an Internship Toolkit that gives an overview of how to start a meaningful internship program. Conventions and local government forums like the ICMA annual conference are excellent ways to introduce young professionals to the benefits of public service. And localities would benefit from participating in establishing such fellowship initiatives as the Local Management Fellowship Program sponsored by NASPAA, ICMA, NFBPA, and the Hispanic Network.
The burdens soon to be caused by the departure of so many of retiring managers can be turned into opportunities. Keeping the key concept of outreach in mind, local governments can more easily replace retiring managers with the next generation of public employees. As City Manager Michael Young points out, “Most managers are passionate about the profession, and as such, we must be engaged to develop and foster the managers of the future. If we are to continue the high level of ethical, moral, and [career] professionalism within our ranks, we must also be committed to the managers of the future.”
Zachariah Friend is a 2004 graduate of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (zf7@georgetown.edu), and has worked as a management assistant for two local governments and for ICMA, Washington, D.C.
This article was originally published in the March/April 2004 issue of the Michigan Municipal Review published by the Michigan Municipal League.