We're live blogging Human Capital Institute's 2010 Government Talent Management Summit. Up next: Innovations in Cyber Security moderated by Jeff Akin, Principal, Strategy & Organization, Booz Allen Hamilton; presented by Dr. Jane Homeyer, Deputy Associate Director of National Intelligence for Human Capital, ODNI and Shawn Flinn, Director, Human Capital Policy and Programs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
October is Cyber Awareness month.
A top human capital priority is to create a safe, secure, and resilient cyber environment, and promote cyber security knowledge and innovation. This requires a focus on recruiting, hiring, developing and retaining both experienced and entry-level cyber security professionals, scientists, and technologists.
What is unique about the cyber security workforce?
Jane: The workforce we need going forward looks different than the one we have in the past. The workplaces in the federal government have embraced the new generation coming in. We need to be more flexible in the IT field than we currently are to attract and retain the younger generations.
Shawn: One of the things he has learned is that the workforce they are tracking may not want to be in government as a career but only temporarily with the option to come back. Making him realize they need to allow for mobility. Currently they expect employees to stay for their career.
Let’s talk about recruiting:
Jane: One initiative with great potential piloted this year by the NSA is to create a virtual career fair with a café and booths. 40,000 students per day submitted their resumes and visited the booths. The cost was significantly less than having a live conference. This also attracted the more tech-savvy candidates and put a more modern brand on federal jobs.
Shawn: They did something similar; they had a virtual job fair and followed up in person with a hiring fair. They held the fair on the weekend, showing flexibility in an attempt to attract the same type of candidate.
What are the components you’re finding that are key in attracting a cyber professional to your organization?
Jane: Right now because of the state of the economy we are seeing a lot of top talent. Mid-career professionals with deep expertise are looking towards government jobs for stability. When the economy picks up we will have a hard time retaining the talent we’ve acquired so we need to start thinking about our strategies for retention now.
Shawn: we need to focus on our missions (all agencies) and communicate out what exactly your agency does. That will continue to attract candidates to the government and what they can do that the private sector can’t.
Are there nuances you are seeing on front-line leadership that could affect retention?
Jane: To do what we’re talking about takes leaders who are willing to stand up and say “we need to do something different” and who will do something about it. Leaders that are putting forth ideas in a single agency that maybe we can use for the whole community. Leaders are being forced to be creative because of the changing workforce.
Shawn: We need to ensure that the leaders we choose are comfortable operating in this balancing act of a workforce with the public and private sectors. We need the jointness. We need to instill the leaders that yes, they are working for their agency now but you need to work with people outside of government.
Q&A from the audience:
What about the ratio of public versus private sector workers within the federal sector?
Shawn: We rely a lot on private sector consultants but we need to focus more on the public sector. We need to build up the federal sector competencies and focus on the government employees.