Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, February 23, 2006

When money's not enough: Luring the best and brightest into public service

By Deirdre McMurdy

Graham Flack can look you square in the eye and without a trace of irony declare: "'There is no more noble calling than working in the public service."

With a new government scrambling to find its feet, the spotlight has inevitably turned to the established ranks of bureaucrats who facilitate every smooth transfer of power.

But what's noteworthy is the alternative chic that's increasingly attached to this group. A growing number of the best and brightest, a group notoriously difficult to recruit and retain in the private sector, are flocking to government for professional and personal fulfilment.

At a time when the corporate commoditization of talent is the norm, meaning trumps money.

Mr. Flack is at the forefront of this trend. And it's not as though the former Rhodes Scholar with degrees from Oxford and Harvard doesn't have any options other than working on energy policy for the Department of Natural Resources.

"The expectation was probably that I'd go to New York and work for a big consulting firm or law firm," he concedes. "But how much money do you need in life? It's so much more important to be intellectually engaged."

Heck, even the frustrations of an often slow-moving bureaucracy are a positive in Mr. Flack's eyes.

"The hurdles to transformative change are an attraction, they intensify the challenge," he says. "It's all about how can we optimize, 'what can we do with what we have'."

Four years ago, intent on recruiting like-minded achievers to Ottawa, Mr. Flack, currently an associate assistant deputy minister, launched a federal pilot project to reach out to Canadians studying and working abroad. The program, now enshrined as the Recruitment of Policy Leaders, uses private sector tactics to beef up public sector ranks.

"There had never been a really comprehensive strategy to go after some of the top talent studying abroad on scholarship," he says. "We waited for them to come to us and apply instead of being proactive."

In the first year, 30 people were recruited and the average is now about 50 per year, although there is no formal target.

The candidates who enter the process are initially screened by deputy ministers and senior policy analysts. The three principal qualifications are academic achievement, a "demonstrated aptitude for public policy" and demonstrated leadership ability.

Candidates are then brought to Ottawa, where they participate in interviews that are tailored to their specific areas of interest.

While some are just out of school, others have work experience that includes stints at management consulting or law firms, non-governmental organizations like the United Nations -- even entrepreneurs.

Word of mouth is now contributing to the momentum, according to Carol McQueen, who joined the Department of Foreign Affairs last year after earning a doctorate from Oxford and working with the United Nations.

"I heard about it from a friend of a friend and got onto the website right away," she says. "Who knew?"

Sam Millar is another who has succumbed to the new allure of the federal public service.

After graduating from INSEAD, a highly regarded international business school, he was tapped to start up a New York City office for the prestigious consulting firm, Bain & Co. He then worked for the Red Cross in Zimbabwe, subsequently returning to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

He now works as a director of policy for Public Works and Government Services and he admits: "I never thought in a million years I'd end up working for the federal government. But I found I wasn't inspired by just helping companies to make more money. And my experience in Zimbabwe made me realize how much we take it for granted that government will work."

He adds: "It sounds corny, but serving the greater good is really rewarding."

Rewarding for the soul, if not the wallet. The typical salary for the best and brightest ranges between $55,000 and $90,000 -- a fraction of what the corporate world offers.

Mr. Millar estimates he took a 30-per-cent salary cut to move to Ottawa, although the "fully loaded" pension and other benefits reduce the differential.

Mr. Millar also notes that given the average age of baby boomers in the public service, the potential opportunities in the future are tremendous.

Furthermore, Mr. Flack argues that those who want to capitalize on their public service experience are free to do so: The program emphasizes recruitment over retention.

"We're applying a non-traditional government mindset. Retention isn't our measure of success. We aren't trying to box them in for life, we just want them to spend part of what may be a multi-faceted career in public service," he says. "We don't begrudge building a skill set that can be applied elsewhere in the economy."

There's also the option of internal career shifts, as well.

Says Ms. McQueen: "You pretty much never think of having a job for life anymore. But there's so much diversity within departments and between departments, you are pretty much sure to find interesting work and build new skills somewhere under one roof."