Industry News

On January 12, 2023, the the MissionSquare Research Institute (formerly the Center for State and Local Government Excellence at ICMA-RC or SLGE) released its report, New Career Entrants to Public Service: Lessons for Employers from Fellowship Applicants. As state and local governments continue to work to fill jobs while also facing a surge of employee retirements, the report provides insight on what attracts younger workers to public service careers.

For the survey, the Research Institute partnered with Lead for America (LFA) to evaluate the national service program’s fellowship applicants’ motivation toward public service, as well as their impressions about the application process and career aspirations. Of the local government fellowship applicants that participated in the survey, the majority agreed that meaningful work is their highest priority, followed by workplace culture and compensation. 

Other key findings include:

• 83% of the survey respondents found that state and local government benefits are competitive as compared with 32% that found compensation to be competitive;
• 71% expect to serve in an entry-level position for one to two years prior to receiving a promotion;
• 62% reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased their interest in public service employment;
• The reputation of the employer as a great place to work is rated highly by the respondents, either as very important (42%) or somewhat important (47%);
• 58% identified paid leave as being very important;
• Regarding the hiring process, measures relating to transparency and communication were rated as most important, with timeliness of hiring and application complexity ranked as less important considerations.

The report is available here.