The January issue of Government Executive magazine, the number one publication for Federal managers, leads off with “Restoring the Brand: Defending government in an anti-government age.” Charles Clarkson’s article addresses the growing concern that negativity will dampen interest in working for government and focuses on recent non-profit advertising campaigns, aimed at showing the value of Federal employees. But it also briefly mentions some positive examples.
For example, the article quotes compensation expert Howard Risher saying, "The Marines understand branding. It's more than PR – and it's certainly not defensive. The question is, why would someone find a career with [an agency] an exciting prospect? Each federal agency needs to develop a 'rocket to the moon' answer." A former Watson Wyatt director and Mercer vice president, Mr. Risher presently edits Compensation & Benefits Review and consults for the government on pay issues.
In this two-part series, TMP Government discusses how you can find your “rocket to the moon” employer value proposition.
In July of last year, NASA’s space shuttle program ended. Now, as America sifts through its priorities, the future of “manned space” seems uncertain. Yet in Universum’s 2011 survey of undergraduate engineering students, NASA beat Google as the number one prized place to work. It does so in spite of what many inside the Beltway perceive as a very weak Federal brand that could damage all recruitment efforts and even endanger missions.
Putting a human being on the moon, invoked again and again as proof of government accomplishment, stands with the Pyramids, the Panama Canal, and the Great Wall of China as one of the great engineering feats of all time. Even though that colossal achievement was long before these students were born, and presently NASA isn’t even launching the space shuttle, NASA can rely on solid “memory structures” to guide would-be recruits. A memory structure determines the likelihood that your brand will be remembered at the time a job seeker is making a decision.
Because of NASA’s strong memory structures, even though the future of manned space remains contested, careers at NASA remain attractive. Yet the vast majority of Federal agencies lack the “halo effect” of an exciting heritage.
TMP proposes some memory structures that can undergird your individual agency employer brand. Even if you can’t control the sweep of economics and politics, you can remind your internal and external audiences as to why you exist and what you offer.
How memory structures can work for you
The recruitment goal of employer branding is to make sure job seekers think of you at the time they apply for a new job. “Brand salience” refers to the degree to which organizations, products or services are remembered during decision-making.
When it comes to making those decisions in a cognitively cluttered environment, most of us have short memories. According to marketing professor Byron Sharp, of the 3,000 or so messages hurled at us every day, the ones that stick build “memory structures,” based on positive associations. In recruitment terms salience translates into “Will the job seeker remember that we offer great career opportunities that match their interests?”
But what of the issues discussed in the Government Executive article? Isn’t it inevitable that today’s negative mood about government will outweigh those structures and result in a negative impact on job seekers? In addition to blaring headlines about freezes and budget cuts, this past August, A Pew Research Poll showed “continued anger and distrust with government.” In fact, from March to August, those who said they were basically content with government fell by half, from 22 to 11 percent.
So, one might assume that any positive associations have a lot of competition and not just from private sector employers. For over a year, headlines have blared news about cuts, pay freezes, reorganizations, and threatened shutdowns. Even worse, Federal employees have confronted not only more work with fewer resources, but also a near constant bashing from elected leaders. It stands to reason that, as we enter 2012, government employment seems less “cool” than it did way back in January 2009. With a measurable drop in public trust, if Uncle Sam had an ad agency and PR firm, they would certainly be in crisis communications mode now. In a sense, the article shows three labor unions, steeping into to fill that void: the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the American Federation of Government Employees, and the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). Because the Federal government can’t speak out on its own behalf, these unions, along with non-profits like the Senior Executives Association (SEA) and the Partnership for Public Service are stepping up efforts to defend the Federal workforce.
The NTEU Campaign: Reminding Americans of Government Value
Building on these assumptions, the advertising and interactive campaign from the National Treasury Employee Union (NTEU) emphasizes the many vital services that Federal employees do for America’s well-being. Their point is that without government protecting our health, safety, and well-being, we would be in big trouble. The potency of the “They Work for U.S.” campaign derives from the fact that most Americans do not know the work of the civil service in any convincing detail. The campaign uses “real people” to remind the public of the “innumerable ways” they depend on Federal employees.
We might look at the campaign as building memory structures that the audience will keep in mind when they think about working for the government. Often hazy about divisions between local, state, and Federal government, many citizens tend to see a faceless bureaucracy mired in waste – hardly a place to devote one’s talents.
The question being raised is a good one: Beyond the Beltway, how do job seekers feel about government in general and your agency in particular? Resilient brands, built on solid memory structures, can survive blanket negative attitudes. An example is the original “rocket to the moon:” NASA. The positive associations that job seekers have with NASA, built on much favorable media exposure, can trump not only negative news about government in general, but even NASA’s present workforce uncertainties.
Building from the audience’s aspirations
Okay, you say, “That’s great for NASA. It’s got Star Wars and Star Trek along with Tom Hanks in Apollo 13. It excites the imagination. No wonder people remember it.”
You’re right. Memory structures don’t just happen. Dr. Sharp says that “some things are so hard to notice, not because they don’t stand out, but because the viewer doesn’t have the necessary memory structures in their head.” We have found that many important government jobs fit into this rubric: Business students don’t realize that contracting jobs use their skills, and many technical students have no idea of the diverse agencies that need engineering and IT. Potential employees need groundwork. They need to know the basics of why you exist and what you do for people.
What the NTEU campaign seeks to do on a macro scale can be brought down to your level:
- What does your agency do that benefits society?
- If it didn’t exist, what would happen?
- How does that mission translate into psychologically rewarding work?
- How do you fulfill a job seeker’s aspiration?
Yes, you say, “But where’s Mr. Risher’s ‘rocket to the moon’ answer?”
Back in the Mad Men era, the great Chicago ad man Leo Burnett, whom Time magazine named as the only ad man among the “100 Business Titans of the 20th Century” always had faith that any product had inherent drama. That drama played out in how it was regarded, needed, prized, and used by its customers. In simple consumer terms, it expressed itself in archetypes that were rooted in the human psyche: the Jolly Green Giant expressed the “bounty of the earth” while the Pillsbury Doughboy celebrated the “friendly bounce” of fresh dough that made baking easier for anyone.
Even though employment decisions are more serious than grocery shopping, the audience-oriented methodology remains the same. The key to your inherent drama lies in what draws your top performers and prospects? Why do they join you? Why do they stay?
In the second part of this series, we’ll show you how to find the inspiring, core attributes of your workplace.
For information on how TMP Government can help your agency communicate your value in 2012, contact John Bersentes at john.bersentes@TMPGovernment.com or call him at 703-269-0092.
Follow the author, Ellis Pines, on Twitter (@EllisPines).
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