RECRUITING TRENDS
FEDS GET INNOVATIVE WITH HIRING TOOLS
WASHINGTON D.C. – With the Another non-traditional avenue that And it’s not just the army or air force
upcoming mass retirement of a huge the government is focusing on is the use any more. Many different government
portion of the baby boomer generation, of the Internet as a recruiting tool. An departments such as homeland security,
many businesses are left with gaping holes increased presence on many “traditional” the CIA, FBI and many others make a
to fill when it comes to personnel. But websites like CNN.com and FoxNews. concerted effort to dazzle and impress
maybe the biggest vacancies will be found com, as well as a presence on sites visited during college and university job fairs.
within our own government, with tens of heavily by younger, more computer-afflu- And that doesn’t even include direct
thousands of jobs becoming available over ent young people, like YouTube, MySpace mailings to on-campus college housing,
the next five to ten years. and pop-culture sites like eBaum’s World as well as informational stands that might
and CollegeHumor.com. There has also be set up at different times of the semester
So how is the government planning on been a major increase in government around campus, to raise awareness of that
handling this potential job crisis? They are recruiting on many popular job and ca- particular job.
getting innovative in the way they recruit reer websites like CareerBuilder.com and
potential new hires. Monster.com.
Another non-tradi-
Recruiting via television has been a popu-
These days, giant
lar choice for military and government
tional avenue that the
jobs for decades, but with the continued
displays featuring
fragmentation of the television audience
government is focus-
due to an ever-increasing amount of
computer presenta-
choices, advertisers have had to scale back
ing on is the use of
their broadcast network ads in favour of
tions and profession-
more obscure stations that bring in the
the Internet as a
most desired younger demographic. One
ally made videos that
of the largest advertisers on Spike TV,
recruiting tool.
formally The Nashville Network, is the
highlight the best
United States Military. With program- With the increase in job specialization
ming like professional wrestling and affecting almost every aspect of the job
aspects of a job are
action films, Spike focuses on the young, market, many high schoolers and recent
male aggressive demographic, which is college grads aren’t even considering
common. And it’s not
exactly the same as the military. Thirty working for the federal government.
years ago, if the government wanted to
just the army or air
recruit on TV, they only had three But thanks to innovative and fresh
networks to choose from. Today, not only marketing and recruiting techniques, the
force any more.
would you need to analyze demographic government is making sure they are heard
data, but also the makeup of the age loud and clear alongside private sector
groups that view each particular station. efforts. It remains to be seen how well
Maybe the best example of this is a recent they work.
move by the Central Intelligence Agency Finally, government recruiting has in-
to begin advertising during movie pre- creased on a massive scale on college and
views. Not only will this technique raise university campuses around the country.
awareness of the fact that there are jobs It used to be on job fair day that the local
waiting for people within the CIA, but it ROTC chapter would have a small table
will disproportionately target the 15-35 set up, with some pamphlets and a few
age demographic that was raised on excit- cadets in uniform. Times have changed
ing Hollywood stories about heroic secret dramatically. These days, giant displays
agents saving the world from terrorists featuring computer presentations and
and madmen around the world. professionally made videos that highlight
the best aspects of a job are common.
http:www.blackengineer.com
USBE & Information Technology I January/February 2007 43
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68