Jane Edwards
Pat Tamburrino, chief operating officer at nonprofit organization NobleReach Foundation, said the federal government needs to “showcase the mission” to help recruit tech talent and address the barriers for young individuals who are passionate about doing public service and mission-oriented work.
“So I think government needs to showcase the mission, because the mission is what drives people to come work for you. And they need to make it a little bit simpler,” Tamburrino said during a recent episode of The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton podcast.
“Reduce the barriers to entry by using creative hiring authorities that don’t make it such an insurmountable task to navigate the system, and we’re trying to create pathways for people who are motivated to do mission-oriented work, to get into the government for a period of time, as opposed to a career,” he added.
NobleReach’s Scholars Program Explores ‘Career Is a Journey’ Concept
During the interview, Tamburrino noted that NobleReach’s scholars program, which is primarily focused on early career professionals, is now exploring the concept of “your career is a journey, and it’s a series of chapters.”
The COO told host Terry Gerton that the first chapter could be an individual’s entry-level job in the government, private sector or academia, and the next chapter could be working at different agencies and gaining different experiences.
“So instead of looking, I’m going to work for one company or one agency, and I’m gonna do it for 10, 20, 30 years, we say, treat your chapter as a series of careers of public service, private service, academic service. So we’re looking at multiple points of entry,” he explained.
Tamburrino stated that the idea is to create pathways for professionals not only at the entry-level but also at the middle and senior levels who could help address complicated problems within the government, the private sector or academia.
Government Demand for AI, Business Process Innovation, Cyber Talent
Tamburrino said NobleReach sees a strong demand for artificial intelligence, business process innovation and cyber talent within the government.
“As we talk to potential agencies at both the federal and the state level, those three functional areas are really important to them. They are looking to be connected with really high-quality talent,” he noted.
He said the nonprofit conducts the “screen for heart and screen for mind” to find candidates who are skilled in those domains and connect them to federal and state government agencies.
“And so we find people that score high in those two dimensions, and they’re really attractive to the agency then. And we’re only telling them it’s a one- to two-year term. No one’s making a commitment for a permanent hire, which takes a lot of pressure off the hiring system,” the NobleReach executive added.
