Government, Non-Profits Actively Recruiting

As private employers find it increasingly difficult to fill openings in a tight labor market, governmental agencies and non-profits seem to be having a harder time than ever.

Federal agencies like the IRS and big not-for-profit employers like the YMCA used to do relatively little recruiting of experienced accountants and other financial professionals in the New York area, says Dr. Barry Miller, manager of alumni career programs and services at Pace University and an adjunct associate professor at Pace’s Lubin School of Business. “Now, that job market has skyrocketed,” Dr. Miller says.

He says twice as many public agencies and non-profits are set to participate in Pace’s Spring 2007 job fair as at the same event a year ago. The job fair, aimed at Pace alumni and graduate students as well as graduating seniors, takes place this Wednesday, April 25 at the university’s Lower Manhattan campus. (Details here.)

Miller said 76 employers and 500 candidates had signed up as of last week. Most of the candidates are experienced professionals, he said.

The federal government has acknowledged that it faces a staffing crunch in the next five years, as the best-trained segments of the work force in many agencies approach retirement. Meanwhile, the pool of new applicants is shrinking: as Wall Street and Main Street continue to hire at a healthy pace, candidates who formerly might have gone to the public or non-profit sectors are increasingly moving into private-sector careers instead.