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Uncle Sam to MBAs: I want you!By Jenny Price
Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor has recruited MBAs and experienced business professionals to participate in a two-year development and training program aimed at introducing them to the agency and placing them in jobs when their tour of duty is complete. The fifth class of MBA Fellows reports to the federal agency this month. Dennis Sullivan, who manages the program as director for the Office of Workforce Planning and e-Innovations, said participants get broad exposure to the government. Fellows can gain experience in areas such as strategic and human capital planning, quantitative and qualitative management, and fiscal planning. "We found we had a lot of business issues to deal with and we did not have a lot of people with business backgrounds," he said. The agency has retained a majority of MBAs who have gone through the program, Sullivan said. Fellows have gone on to permanent jobs at the Labor Department in information technology, human resources and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. "They've pretty much gone off in a number of different directions," he said. "They really do get to use their business background and business skills." The MBA Fellows program gets anywhere from 250 to 700 applications for 15 spots in each class, Sullivan said. "Up to this point we have not had an issue with supply," he said. "This year may be a little bit different. ... It seems like there's been an upswing in the market." Under President Bush, the first U.S. chief executive with an MBA, the federal government has tried to woo new business school graduates alongside private sector companies at job fairs and on campuses. Government entities such as the Agency for International Development, CIA, FBI, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the General Accounting Office and the Department of Health and Human Services have all increased their MBA recruitment. And job prospects have multiplied in Washington. The federal Office of Personnel Management projected nearly one-fifth of the full-time government workforce, or about 277,000 workers, would retire between 2002 and 2006. Despite those efforts, MBA graduates from the UW-Madison School of Business have not flocked to the government payrolls, said Blair Sanford, director of MBA Career Services. No one from UW's MBA program in the last two years has gone to work for the government, despite recruiting efforts. UW-Madison's business school program allows students to choose from 13 career specialties, and none is aimed at government work, she said. "We've got folks who are more trained to work for consumer product companies," she said. "Our program is not a perfect match for what the U.S. government is looking for." And Sanford said government work typically "takes a bit of a back seat" among new MBA graduates because the salaries are not as high as those offered by the private sector. Sharon Ratliff-Gross, a supervisory human resource specialist for the Labor Department, said the fellows program offers MBAs variety when compared with a Fortune 500 company where they might be going in to work one set job with very long hours. And the government can offer what many companies can't: good benefits and a pension. And to sweeten the deal, the agency offers recruitment bonuses. "In this program you're going to be mentored along the way," Ratliff-Gross said. To learn more about the MBA Fellows program, visit the Web site at www.jobs.dol.gov/mba. jenny.price@gmail.com madison.com ©2009 Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved. |
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