WASHINGTON – The Partnership for Public Service announced plans Wednesday to expand its Making the Difference
initiative to steer talented young people to federal jobs – putting to
use the first ever market research conducted on campus recruiting. The
new programs will be funded by a three year, $3 million grant from the
Robertson Foundation.
“Because of our Making the Difference
research we now know what works best to recruit top talent to jobs in
government,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public
Service. “With this new grant, we can begin to help federal agencies
and universities do it.”
The Partnership launched the first phase of Making the Difference
on hundreds of university campuses in 2007. The initiative is the
culmination of two years of research the Partnership gleaned during the
Call to Serve Recruitment Initiative – a Congressionally-funded project
with the Office of Personnel Management to identify how federal
agencies can most effectively recruit top talent on college campuses.
According
to recent Partnership research, the federal government must fill
193,000 mission-critical jobs in the next two years alone. Despite high
interest in working for the federal government, students lack the
knowledge about how to find jobs.
The Partnership will
focus two of its new efforts on promoting internships as an entry point
for federal jobs. The initiatives set to launch include:
- A Federal Internship Center where
students will be matched and placed in internships. The center will
also provide programming support for university internship programs.
- A national “Student Corps” of on-campus recruiters.
A select group of students who complete federal internships will
receive training and a stipend to serve as ambassadors of federal
service on their campuses.
The Partnership
will also expand its efforts to educate student influencers –
professors, advisors and university career counselors about the range
of opportunities for different majors.
Workshops, regional
conferences and virtual training will be offered on topics ranging from
“how to find and apply for federal jobs” to “security clearances.” In
addition, grants will be available to help colleges and universities
implement the Making the Difference campaign on their campuses.
To
help federal agencies streamline their hiring process, the Partnership
will launch a pilot project to help agencies improve recruitment,
hiring and retention.
The Robertson Foundation was
established by Julian and Josie Robertson and their family in 1996. The
family-led foundation currently targets high impact grants in four
principal areas within the United States: education, environment,
medical research, and religion & spirituality. As opportunities
emerge, the foundation has provided grants in other areas of interest.
For more information about the Making the Difference initiative, go to www.ourpublicservice.org. In addition, visit www.makingthedifference.org, a Website for young job seekers.