Whether the focus is on learning to manage millennials, renegotiating the job classification system or streamlining the hiring process, IT talent recruitment and retention is the code the state is always trying to crack.
And as private tech companies offer bigger paychecks, more perks, fun break-room activities like ping pong, remote work options and beanbag chairs, the public sector still remains competitive.
“When I was working for Accenture, I used to do a lot of campus recruitment," Amar Hariharan, project manager for the California Department of Technology, (CDT) told Techwire. "And my sales pitch to them was, coming to Accenture, you can see a lot of different clients; you can travel around. And when you want to settle down, you’ve been through a lot of different company cultures.”
Hariharan spent around 20 years in the private sector before joining the California Department of Health Care Services, partly because “my wife was feeling [like] a single mother.”
A stable work environment and secure employment are among state service perks, but so is the common millennial theme of contributing, according to Geraldine Magers, managing partner with Charis Consulting Group.
“In terms of millennials coming in, I think they have so much opportunity to see what they’re interested in," Magers told Techwire. "I think that’s one of the things the state offers them … under one retirement system.”
Hariharan also cited the altruistic nature of working in the public sector.
“If you want a more meaningful work, that is not profit-driven, your measurement of success is not the stock market," he said. "It is what value you create for the citizens of California.”
Davood Ghods, vice president of government solutions for Direct Technology, mirrors that sentiment.
“Wanting to make a difference” and an “opportunity to work on projects that make a difference on people’s lives or well-being” are two reasons Ghods said people enter state service to accomplish.
Ghods spent over 25 years in state service, culminating as chief of the Data Center Services Division of CDT. He, like many state workers, moved among departments, gaining experience and trying new projects without having to leave the overall organization.
California Human Resources (CalHR) touts its flexible leave, student loan forgiveness and “generous health-care benefits” to entice candidates.
“CalHR promotes the benefits that come with working for the state, including its retirement plan,” Lynda Gledhill, deputy secretary of communications for California Government Operations, told Techwire.
Magers began her career with the state while still a student at UC Davis. The Department of Justice worked with her school schedule. She would go on to support the changeover of the statewide child support system as a project manager and the chief deputy director of the Health and Welfare Data Center.
“The things you do aren’t cutting edge, but they are leading edge, so you get to work on pretty challenging things,” Magers said.
Previous state CIO and IT Hall of Famer Carlos Ramos also began his state career while in school. Though not a millennial, he remembered his time working on the child welfare system as meaningful because he was making a difference.
He described his work for the state as varied but stable, allowing him to be there for his family.
“Most jobs have a fairly decent lifestyle balance, but the hard jobs in state service, I wouldn’t automatically say they’re going to give you lifestyle balance,” Magers said. “I think there’s a myth that all jobs are 8 to 5.”
