Recruitment 411: Private industry tips for public agencies – Part II

This is the second part of a series inspired by Susan Ward’s article on About.com featuring “Ten tips for attracting employees.”

I am responding to Susan’s tips for business owners with my take about how government agencies can use them to promote their jobs.

6. Offer employees some way to move upwards.

It’s not that agencies need to start offering employees the chance for upward mobility – most already do. When recruiting, we can simply highlight the programs in place to support employees with their sights set on advancing upwards, and even into management.

7. Create an employee incentive program.

Most government agencies do award high-performers in some way.

Perhaps it’s an end-of-the-year bonus.

Maybe it’s the chance to act in a management role.

Whatever the incentives might be available in your organization, it’s likely they’re based on performance. When promoting your agency, you can also promote what rewards are reaped by successful employees.

8. Institute a profit sharing program.

Of all the tips offered in Susan’s article, this is the only one that is tough to link to government recruitment. That said, at the IRS, our employees have the opportunity to receive monetary awards, which are based on performance appraisals. We can’t get a slice of the pie, but we can be served a side of ice cream.

9. Sweeten the pot.

In this point, Susan talks about offering signing bonuses. As I understand it, most agencies generally don’t have the ability to offer up a tasty carrot on a stick. However, this is another place where simply highlighting existing benefits during the recruiting process might entice a qualified candidate.

10. Widen the scope of your advertising.

Naturally, this would include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GovLoop and other social media tools. How about also including other non-HR employees as informal ‘recruiters?’ At the IRS, we created a program called ‘Face of the IRS,’ which allows employees to attend recruiting events with our official recruiters. The employees talk to potential applicants about what it’s like to work at the IRS. After all, who better to talk about a specific job, than the person who does it day in and day out.

The bottom line: promoting your organization is easier than ever – from job boards and print ads to social media and traditional websites. Never leave any of them off the table.

What incentives does your agency promote during the recruitment process?

Recruitment 411 is the official blog of the IRS Recruitment Office.