Fancy new job program fails to impress Ivey folks

By Jessica Leeder
Gazette Staff

The federal government has launched a new recruiting campaign designed to make itself more attractive to job-seeking students across the country.

"We want to make sure we can measure up to other government offices, crown corporations, private corporations as well as educational institutions," said Jacqueline Orange, an assistant deputy minister for the Federal Department of Finance who is spearheading the department's reforms.

"It is a new thing for the department to be recruiting aggressively – we have been looking at market research over the past year saying that we need to be more responsive in the marketplace if we want to attract graduates."

Orange said her department is focusing on reaching out to potential employees, rather than waiting for them to approach the government.

The finance department is also boasting a new focus on human resources, and a renewed sensitivity to the rhythms of the work week and its affect on employees, Orange said.

"The department of finance has been looking at all aspects of human resources management to see how they can become an employer of choice," Orange said, adding certain employees will be given the option of having a more flexible work week if their job is so suited.

In all, the department is looking for 40 people to fill positions in three different streams.

Those eligible for the first stream are graduates with international relations, public policy, economics, business administration and international affairs degrees.

The second stream is geared to law graduates, while the third is recruiting professional accountants.

Ed Pearce, the director of marketing and communications at the Richard Ivey School of Business said he was not confident the finance department will be able to make its offerings attractive to graduates who are also being wooed by the lucrative private sector.

"It is difficult for the federal civil service to offer the quality of jobs MBA students are going to be offered by the private sector. The jobs available in the federal civil service are perceived as being not as dynamic as those in the private sector."

Pearce added jobs with the government often do not pay as well as those in the private sector, especially in the areas of international financing and banking, and positions offered by multinational corporations.

Amit Varshney, a first year honours student in business administration/electrical engineering said he believes bureaucratic jobs carry the stigma of being boring with little possibility of upward mobility. Such preconceptions would be difficult for even the best recruiting campaign to overcome, he said.

"I'd be more inclined to take a job in the private sector because I see it as better paying, and not just sitting at a desk or something," he said.