Federal government jobs worth a look?

WASHINGTON — We all know the stereotypes about government workers: clock-watching, initiative-blocking bureaucrats, ignorant about the financial constraints of the real world. They don't make much money, but they don't have to do much either.

But are the stereotypes true?

And could a young worker who buys into those assumptions be passing up a great employer?

Chelsey Hibbard, an industrial/organizational psychologist who works for a federal agency, thinks so.

She has worked in the public and private sectors, and one of her primary reasons for preferring the government is practical: the system of promotions and raises.

"In working for the federal government, you're never in the dark about what you will be gaining. ... It's all spelled out in black and white," said Hibbard, 30.

This is what she remembers when she hears private-sector workers express confusion about how to negotiate pay and benefits.

"For better or worse, as a government employee, I never have to worry about that. ... I've always felt comfort in the fact that the entire promotion/raise issue is open, explicit and available for all to see."

Working for the government has other advantages for young job seekers. Chief among them is decent pay and training.

The federal government has several programs designed to prepare entry-level workers for such careers as budget analysis, environmental protection and foreign affairs.

And these programs aren't for slackers, either. Applicants to the federal Outstanding Scholar Program, for instance, must be college graduates with a grade-point average of 3.5 or better on a 4.0 scale, or have graduated in the top 10 percent of their class. The pay is competitive with the private-sector.

And the federal government has been at the forefront of promoting telework and other alternative work arrangements. According to the latest count, 140,694 federal employees worked at home or at a telework center last year, up from 102,921 in 2003.

And a government job is the chance to contribute to society.

"It's the premier place to make a difference," said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington-based nonprofit whose mission is to make government careers more attractive to workers.

Despite those advantages, only 23 percent of college students surveyed by Partnership for Public Service said they were "very interested" in working for Uncle Sam.

Stier said he knows that misconceptions about government work are a big part of the problem.

"The best way to counteract that is with real examples of federal employees," he said.

To that end, his organization has a program that recognizes outstanding federal workers for their contributions to society.

Among them: Steven Bice, director for emergency operations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for his work in preparing for potential bioterrorism attacks; Terence Lutes, associate chief information officer for information technology services at the Internal Revenue Service, for expanding the IRS' e-filing program and making its Web site more user-friendly; and Elizabeth Grossman, acting regional attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for her win in a sex-discrimination suit against Morgan Stanley.