Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York), June 13, 2007, Wednesday

Copyright 2007 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

All Rights Reserved

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York)

June 13, 2007 Wednesday

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 7D

HEADLINE: Feds troll for employees here

BYLINE: Renita Burns RBURN@DemocratandChronicle.com

BODY:

Staff writer

The federal government is targeting Rochester as it recruits new talent for its work force.

The government has begun airing television ads aimed at attracting employees to replace soon-retiring baby boomers.

"We're looking for everything you can imagine, but we want young college grads and new engineers coming out," said Susan Bryant, director of public affairs for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Bryant said Rochester was selected for the television blitz because of the large number of colleges and universities that turn out thousands of prospective employees annually.

The ads ask, "What did you do at your job today?" and feature federal employees in a variety of occupations and agencies.

The federal government is not the only organization looking to replace retiring workers, said Lawrence Khan, professor of labor economics and collective bargaining at Cornell University. As baby boomers prepare for retirement, all employers will be looking to fill vacancies.

"People have a variety of recruiting techniques," Khan said. "In the late 1990s, when the job market was hot, the Labor Department was offering signing bonuses to new Ph.D.s to do research."

Bryant said there are usually between 17,000 and 28,000 jobs listed on the federal jobs Web site, www.usajobs.gov.

"We have (a potential) 60 percent of the federal government retiring in the next nine years," Bryant said, and that's almost a million federal employees.

Some students in Rochester reacted to the government's effort with mixed views.

"I would (work for the federal government), but it depends on what position it was," said Dominique Simmonds, 19, a sophomore at Rochester Institute of Technology majoring in graphic design. "I would check out all the benefits and see what I can do with the job."

Simmonds admitted, "It's not my first pick."

Working for the federal government is not Gary Hui's first pick, either, but the fifth-year RIT information technology student said it would depend on the job and the pay.

"Other college students may be interested if the job is attractive enough," he said.

The ads will run until July.

RBURN@DemocratandChronicle.com