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By: FEDweek StaffThe Biden administration has selected an initial cadre of 38 fellows under the U.S. Digital Corps program it launched last year saying the experience revealed the value of several strategies for recruiting early-career technologists to work in the government.
“The USDC team knew that they would be competing in a crowded labor market with private-sector employers,” a posting on performance.gov says. However, it says that the program—which originally planned for just 30 placements—received more than 1,000 applications in just the first week and that of those hired, four-fifths are first-time federal employees.
“These results are notable considering the low percentage of young people in the federal workforce at large, which is especially the case in the federal technology workforce,” it said.
It cited strategies including offering a program-wide recruitment incentive; proactive outreach to nonprofit organizations, college and university student clubs, faculty, and staff and others in the technology community; hosting virtual information sessions to “share more about the program and to help demystify and humanize the work of government, as well as communicate clearly and transparently about the application and selection process”; and using subject matter experts in setting qualifications standards and assessing candidates.
It said that those chosen have been spread across 12 agencies to work on projects such as improving customer service and cybersecurity, and that the recruiting effort for the second class is to begin in the fall.
“Once again anticipating more qualified applicants than they are able to hire, the USDC team has been sharing recruiting best practices with other federal agencies and is exploring using shared job certificates so other agencies can directly bring on highly-qualified candidates that are not selected by the first hiring agency,” it said.
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