Guest Column                                                   

Top college students have no respect for, or interest in state government careers By SAMUEL K. GOVE

From what college students say about jobs and careers, one might think they would prefer a job in organized crime over one with state government. Mobsters may be "rude" and "abusive," two words college students use to describe state workers, but nobody accuses mobsters of being "lazy" and "incompetent," two other descriptors college students use when talking about state workers.

The college students quoted were speaking their minds in focus groups arranged by IBM for the Governor's Human Resources Advisory Council, and they weren't shy about expressing their opinions about government. The college students, predominantly graduating seniors, were from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois-Chicago. One group consisted of Parkland Community College (Urbana) nursing students.

They said government isn't competitive with private industry in areas they consider important in planning their careers: being innovative, leading their industries, recognizing the contributions of their employees, and providing growth and advancement opportunities. They said the state does not maintain high standards in hiring, does not screen or train employees well, does not give employees enough direct responsibility or accountability and does not provide incentives to perform efficiently, much less to excel.

They said they didn't know if the state even offered positions that used their particular skills, which was especially troublesome to hear since the very careers these students are studying for — engineering, nursing, computer programming and accounting — are those for which the state tries to recruit.

Even if the students would have been interested in information on government, they had no idea how to go about getting a job with government, or they assumed that you had to be politically connected to obtain such jobs. These perceptions of state employment are no surprise to the Governor's Human Resources Advisory Council, a 23-member blue-ribbon body made up of individuals in business, labor, government and academia appointed in September 1991 by Gov. Jim Edgar. Edgar asked them to recommend ways to improve the management of state government and the quality of its work force. The council is headed by John Thompson, vice president and general manager of the IBM Midwestern Area. Cochair is Sally Jackson, president and CEO of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, and vice chair is J. Michael Houston, senior vice president of Bank One of Springfield.

The quality of people working in government is as important as the quality of people working for the companies that make soap, shirts or corn chips

Four years ago, a federal commission on public service in the federal government headed by Paul Volcker came to conclusions similar to these Illinois college students'. In its findings it said: "The public service thus seems to be doubly damned, both unattractive and impermeable to the best and the brightest."

The federal commission also found that even the federal employees themselves were singing a variation of the country-western tune, "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys." The employees said they would not recommend public service to their children.

This stereotyping and reluctance to work in government is worrisome for our future. We talk in generalities about the need to have quality people in our public work force. Today's jobs are changing from work focused on musclepower to jobs that depend on brainpower. Whereas the machines of the industrial revolution extended the musclepower of that era, computers today are extending the brainpower. The success or failure of enterprises, both in the public and private sectors, now hinges on the brainpower each has on its team.

The quality of people working in government is as important as the quality of people working for the companies that make soap, shirts or corn chips. But what are the rewards that make the choice of government as attractive as working for private enterprise? It certainly isn't public esteem, nor is it money.

An August 1992 news article in the Joliet Herald-News began:

"For all the jokes made about cushy-government jobs, some of the most unpleasant work you can imagine is on the public payroll. Cleaning sewers, guarding imprisoned killers, fighting fires, investigating sexual abuse of children, caring for mentally ill patients, stopping a riot, and even fighting a war in Iraq are all government jobs. None of them have a reputation for high pay."

Government is no place for "milquetoasts." Politics, for all the bad press it gets, is essentially the art of resolving conflicts in the framework of government. Government can be the place for people who are intellectually challenged by solving complex problems in a multi-player environment, all under the watchful eye of an ever vigilant (and cynical) media. It's a place where expertise and ability must be valued.

The Governor's Human Resources Advisory Council will be issuing its report soon, and state government should wake up to its shortcomings or miss entire generations of top young people ever helping to serve it. Illinois government needs to concentrate on:

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• providing a culture that is attractive to workers of all ages, races and genders;

• restoring pride to public service;    and

• projecting a more realistic and optimistic image of government.

It must also find new ways to communicate with the public, the media and potential employees that service in government can be rewarding and that individuals who work in government can have meaningful careers in jobs that make a difference in people's lives. *

Samuel K. Gove chairs the Image Subcommittee of the Governor's Human Resources Advisory Council. He is director emeritus of the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs and a charter member of the Illinois Issues Board.

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