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Overview
According to Paul C. Light's controversial new book, The New Public Service, this January's 4.8 percent federal pay increase will do little to compensate for what potential employees think is currently missing from federal careers. Talented Americans are not saying "show me the money" but "show me the job." And federal jobs just do not show well.All job offers being equal, Light argues that the pay increase would matter. But all offers are not equal. Light's research on what graduates of the top public policy and administration graduate programs want indicates that the federal government is usually so far behind its private and nonprofit competitors that pay never comes into play.
Light argues that the federal government is losing the talent war on three fronts. First, its hiring system for recruiting talent, top to bottom, underwhelms at almost every task it undertakes. Second, its annual performance appraisal system is so inflated that federal employees are not only all above average, they are well on their way to outstanding. Third and most importantly, the federal government is so clogged with needless layers and convoluted career paths that it cannot deliver the kind of challenging work that talented Americans expect.
Light concludes his book by offering the federal government a simple choice: It can either ignore the new public service and troll further and further down the class lists for new recruits, while hoping that a tiny pay increase will help, or it can start building the kind of careers that talented Americans want.
Synopsis
In this profile of the public service profession, Paul C. Light examines two decades of change in the career patterns and motivations of America's top public servants. Drawing upon interviews with graduates of the nation's top public policy and administration graduate schools, Light argues that the nation's young professionals have changed little in their basic desire to make a difference through public service, but they no longer imagine thirty-year careers in government as the only way to have an impact on national and local issues. They are just as likely to start their public service careers in the nonprofit or private sectors, and intend to switch back and forth during their careers.. "By letting top graduates speak in their own voices, this book offers a clear agenda that can help government make its invitation to service more meaningful and more attractive.
Booknews
Light (governmental studies and public service, Brookings Institution) examines two decades of change in the career patterns and motivations of America's top public servants. Drawing on interviews with graduates of the nation's top public policy and administration graduate schools, he argues that the nation's young professionals have changed little in their basic desire to make a difference through public service, but they no longer imagine 30-year careers in government as the only way to have an impact on national and local issues. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)