A golden opportunity: recruiting baby boomers into government: millions of baby boomers who are looking for new opportunities and challenges are considering "encore careers" in government.

• Author: Lavigna, Bob
• Position: Management & Careers

Robert Gomperts was a successful businessman for 40 years. When he reached age 59, though, he was done with the business world; no more mountains to climb, no desire to do more of the same. But traditional retirement didn't suit him--he had too much energy and too much curiosity Gomperts wanted to continue earning income, and he still felt a call to public service that he'd always wanted to act on. So he went looking for a job in the public sector.

The deck was stacked against him, but he got lucky The Virginia Department of Agriculture was looking for a marketing director with his skills and, amazingly, he got the job. Someone in the Virginia state government was willing to take a risk and hire a 60-year-old businessman with no public-sector experience.

It was a great match. Reflecting back on his entire career, Gomperts says his five years in Virginia state government were the most interesting, most challenging and most satisfying of his career.

Ann Vande Vanter was a certified public accountant with 30 years of experience in the private sector, including working as a senior executive in public accounting. Despite her success, Vande Vanter was appalled at the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals and how they had shaken her industry. She too wanted to do something different--something that would make a difference. So, she took her skills and experience to the Internal Revenue Service, where she works now.

Gomperts and Vande Vanter are baby boomers who were looking for new opportunities and challenges, and they found them in government. Recent research revealed that there are many more baby boomers like Gomperts and Vande Vanter who are interested in "encore careers" in government. (1) In fact, there are millions of them.

A recent article in Government Finance Review discussed why government must do a better job recruiting talent from college campuses. (2) But it also cautioned that there is no silver bullet guaranteeing success in the war for talent. Instead, what we need is silver buckshot--an integrated set of strategies for tapping into multiple pools of talent. That means also focusing on the opposite end of the age demographic from young college grads and considering the tens of millions of baby boomers, many of whom are looking for encore careers where they can make a difference

NEW APPROACHES NEEDED

While all organizations will lose talent as older workers begin to retire, government agencies are particularly vulnerable. That is because public-sector workers are older, on average, than their colleagues in the private sector. As the 78-million-strong baby boomer generation marches relentlessly toward retirement age, competition for talent will intensify. Unfortunately, the public sector's age demographics mean that government will be on the...