From a federal recruiting standpoint, gaining traction as an attractive employee among young graduates will be much simpler. Young people will seek out careers within the government, but since it is unclear whether or not this realignment of career objective will be permanent or only last until jobs in the private sector become more abundant. To make this public sector hiring advantage become the long-term standard, government agencies must focus on making themselves attractive employers to young people in order to retain valuable employees.

Agencies should continue to brand themselves as employers that offer the ability to serve one’s community, which appeals to millennials. The New York Times quotes Max Stier, “the president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that advises government recruiting efforts,” as saying “The millennial generation is a generation that is just more interested in making a difference than making a dollar.”

Social media is the most effective tool for spreading this brand message. Washington, D.C., the Mecca of young government workers, was recently named the most socially networked city in the United States by Men’s Health Magazine. The result was based on the number of Facebook and LinkedIn users, Twitterers, and use of other major social networks. It also considered the percentage of households that check out chat rooms and blogs. Therefore, effective agency branding, which will generate results by recruiting and retaining more top talent, must start online. Agencies should use their websites and other social networks to show employees and potential recruits the different public service opportunities their agency can offer through videos, blog entries and community building. USAID’s Impact Blog and NASA’s Twitter Feed are two examples of agencies using social media to highlight their most innovative and effective programs.

Unfortunately there are not a large number of jobs available in the area to accommodate all of the newly unemployed.  Monster has partnered with the SWWDB Board to help take a more regional approach.  By looking outside of the immediate community and investigating job opportunities just a short commute away, there has been success in finding more Janesville residents work:

Ed has an optimistic outlook for 2011. Although Michigan has been a victim of several mass manufacturing job layoffs, Ed says that a lot of hiring is happening in his region. Michigan Works is focusing on the hiring need of their state, rather than the unemployment problem, and staying very busy:

In the town of 9,000 people, with 4.5% unemployment (the national average is 9.0%), projected growth numbers estimate that 1,000 new jobs will be created in 2011. Mike faces a major recruiting challenge in drawing people living outside Northwestern Minnesota into the area, even though their burgeoning tech industry offers plentiful jobs and great benefits.

The Workforce Board of Thief River Falls, Minn., has partnered with the local community college, to offer technology training in order to equip job seekers in the area with the skills needed for available jobs, but Mike also has had major success with a recruiting strategy he explains in the video:

Lamar has been combating the high unemployment rate in Macon-Gibb that resulted from major layoffs in the manufacturing sector. Many of these adults do not have the skills or education to be competitive for job openings in other industries, so Lamar and the Macon-Bibb County Workforce Investment Board have been training job seekers in skills that will be attractive to growing industries.

As the NAWB Forum brings private and public sectors together, Lamar expresses hope that the Government and the private sector will continue to build on “a cooperative, collaborative effort to work towards training and educating our workforce.” Take a look at our interview with Lamar and leave your thoughts about his program, or suggestions to help get these people back to work.

We also chatted with Ron Painter, CEO of the NAWB, about what he’s seen and heard from local workforce boards while traveling around the nation and talking to attendees of the conference. Ron noted that the focal point of the conference for the majority of attendees has been discussions of how to harness technology to understand the labor market or different ways to use social media to get the message out about jobs or trainings.

You can watch his video interview on the wide range of challenges, successes and programs that workforce boards across the nation are experiencing, and why he thinks it’s an exciting time to be in the business of getting Americans back to work:

The NAWB Forum not only spread ideas by bringing together people from across the nation to have a conversation, but also through three days of workshops on various topics. Representatives of the Monster Public Sector and Education also participated in three workshop panels, talking about subjects such as reaching out to young people to engage them in the workforce, how to deliver local workshops and trainings that have a big impact, and how to drive development and programs with real-time labor market data.

To slow down losses, the Indiana State Legislature formed the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority (RDA) in 2006 to invest in economic development throughout the region. This was welcome news to Cimcor CEO Robert Johnson, who had been working diligently to create a pool of qualified and experienced candidates for his company for many years.

Johnson grew up in Indiana, went to Purdue University, and wanted to stay in the general area. His background imbued him with a strong work ethic that he knew was held by the employment pool in the area.

“I like the work ethic in the Midwest,” said Johnson. “Midwesterners are hardworking people who do a job until it’s done right. The people who move from blue to white collars are highly dedicated, highly productive and very proud of their work.

In 1997, Johnson co-founded Cimcor, a company that develops innovative IT security and integrity software solutions that protect corporate, government and military computer networks from unauthorized access. The company required employees that were high-level thinkers and experts in technology systems.

“The area was shifting away from manufacturing, and those jobs were going away, leaving people needing jobs without the right skill base for those jobs,” Johnson continued. “I wanted to be a catalyst for change in Northwest Indiana and to help begin to create a technology-oriented economy. It certainly would have been easier in a place like San Francisco, but I wanted to stay here.”

Through his active work in the community and with Purdue University, he knew he could initiate programs that would help prepare a workforce for the future. Working with other board members from a handful of programs and associations, he brainstormed ways to develop ways to prepare the workforce for the future.

“Purdue listened to our ideas and requirements,” said Johnson. “We identified skill gaps of candidates in the area and critical needs for our company and others like it. Purdue was very responsive and proactive. They actually modified their curriculum to help close those gaps.”

Since 1998, Johnson has worked with Purdue to recruit from its great pool of talented graduates. Today, 90 percent of Cimcor employees are Purdue graduates, including Johnson himself.

Johnson’s loyalty to Northwest Indiana and education has paid off in terms of Cimcor’s success and employee loyalty. Turnover at Cimcor is low for a tech company, and many of the employees have been with the company for five to 10 years.

Johnson’s hard work towards transitioning the Northwest Indiana workforce away from manufacturing and into high-tech jobs may have helped his company, but it has also had long-term positive repercussions in the region. By identifying the skills and abilities needed for the Indiana workforce to compete for high-tech jobs, working to educate them in those areas and placing them with compatible high-tech jobs, Johnson and Purdue University have created what we at Unleash the Monster call a high-performance workforce.

A high-performance workforce is one in which the local employee base has been trained in the unique skills and abilities needed to perform in the jobs available in the region. With a high-performance workforce in place in Northwest Indiana, the region can now work to attract other companies in the high-tech growth markets. The end result is the growth of a new market in Northwest Indiana, and a subsequently thriving and improving economy.

“As a pure software developer, we’re the leader in this area, but we are seeing others come here,” Johnson continued. “We welcome them.”

We applaud Robert Johnson’s work and dedication to the Northwest Indiana region. With the programs he worked to start with Purdue University and an increasingly qualified high-tech workforce, the region’s economy is primed for continued growth and success today and into the future.

By embracing a high-performance workforce, local governments and stakeholders can ensure that they have a workforce that can lure companies in growth industries into the region, and keep them there.

Huntsville’s recent embrace of cyber security is an incredible example of a city working towards a high-performance workforce.

With the knowledge that the battlefield of the future is in cyberspace, the city is looking to become a nationally recognized hub of expertise in cyber security, research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, experimentation and life cycle management.

The Mayor recently used the 13th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference at the city’s Von Braun Center as a launching pad for a new initiative that will include the construction of a multi-story “Cyber Systems Innovation and Security Center.” The focus of this center would be securing weapons systems and the technology supporting them against computer attacks.

While the city begins its march towards growing the cyber security industry within its borders, the city’s education institutions are doing their part on the backend to ensure that the workforce is prepared with the skills and knowledge it will need to flourish in the industry.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville has established a new master’s program in cyber security that focuses on protecting information systems from attack. The Master of Science in Information Assurance and Security (MSIAS) is designed to emulate the real world challenges of engineers, managers, and scientists who must work together to resolve their IT security challenges.

Essentially, Huntsville is working to draw in a hot growth industry to the city that will provide jobs while simultaneously training the workforce that this industry will need to thrive. Huntsville is working to create a high-performance workforce in an industry that is not only emerging, but will have a positive economic impact over time. The end result will ensure that the city continues to be an example of economic and population growth even in the country’s ongoing economic downturn.

How could your region benefit from working towards a high-performance workforce?

During his speech (embedded below), Obama took the opportunity to not only deliver a pep-talk, but also to discuss the importance of education on future success. He discussed how, despite the hard times and the strain it is putting on families, it is more important now than ever to achieve academic success to open doors in the future.

He also added that the increasingly competitive global economy is putting pressure on American students to work harder to get ahead.

It’s almost like he’s been reading Unleash the Monster!

We clearly agree. The global economy is making our students work harder than ever. Unfortunately, not all students are like the students at Masterman. Many urban and “high poverty” school districts are struggling to get their students motivated and working toward academic achievement today, and career success in the future.

This is why we created iSucceed, a solution for local schools, regions and economic and workforce development boards designed to get students motivated and looking towards their future. The program also provides the keys for success that many students in “high poverty” regions lack: mentors, soft skills and career exploration opportunities. It’s designed to prepare our students for future careers, and create an American workforce than can compete with the rest of the globe.

If you’re interested in learning more about the iSucceed Program, we’ll be holding a Webinar on September 15, 2010 at 2PM ET to introduce the program and ways that it can help your region. Registration for the Webinar is available HERE.