In October I commented on government agencies’ growing use of Facebook and Twitter. My focus then, based on a pair of September articles in Federal Computing Week, was on these social media tools as aids to recruitment. I’ve since taken a closer look at this trend.

The takeaway from my informal scan of federal social media: this trend is growing like a swath of mushrooms after a spring rain. I counted more than thirty major agencies or departments with Facebook pages and innumerable others on Twitter (contact me for a full list, if you’re interested).

None of the government Facebook pages that I found appears to be mounted with much conscious attention to recruiting. Most are devoted to agency programs and activities, and most are (first) linked from their sponsor’s home page, rather than their Careers sections.

What does this tell us? I’d venture that in most of these instances the creative impetus to enter the social media realm originated with agency public affairs professionals rather than HR staff. This doesn’t diminish their effectiveness as collateral recruiting tools. After all, they do reinforce their sponsoring agencies’ brands, and that’s a bonus for recruiting…although a bit more focus on the agency culture--and its employees—would be nice. The same goes for Twitter.

All this is good news for human capital professionals and recruiters, even if your agency’s Facebook and Twitter outreach is administered by your public affairs department. In the first place, an agency social media presence is a powerful branding “hook” for engaging potential recruits. Just because HR doesn’t own your agency’s social media resources doesn’t disqualify you from at least promoting it in your recruiting outreach, both online and off.

What’s more, these tools can provide a recruiting engagement platform that’s accessible to HR at virtually no cost other than the exercise of your team’s intra-agency persuasive powers. If you can sell the team that administers these resources on letting HR contribute content, that’s a big win indeed for your recruiting program.

First, it was the Clapper. Then the Garden Weasel. And now, we are all witnesses to the Snuggie.

Are you kidding me? Have you seen this thing? Basically it’s a blanket with sleeves, with all the fashion sense of a Franciscan monk’s robe, absent the stylish rope belt. It’s just the kind of thing we can sit around and laugh at, feeling secure in our un-Snuggieness. In Chicago, people went so far as to sponsor a Snuggie pub crawl – stay toasty while you’re getting toasted, I guess.

So imagine my surprise when a friend and colleague of mine confessed, that yes, she had a Snuggie. Her rationale: she could use the TV remote control while still keeping her hands warm (the sleeves of a Snuggie seem to extend down to your knees). Naturally, I laughed and continued to give her grief about it.

But later, I gave it some more thought (why I did has to do with a very long commute and my continued inability to stay focused). I came to the conclusion that the Snuggie is a brilliant piece of matching a product offering to the times. It’s not the Snuggie itself that matters, it’s the two realities it taps into. The first is that we’ve been in a recession with a capital R, and people are cutting back on all sorts of expenses because they feel financially less secure. Whether that’s perception or reality doesn’t matter. The second is that environmental responsibility is the new religion – heretics beware. Both of these trends lead to the same thing. Turn back the thermostat – save money and/or save the earth.

So the Snuggie is not only classic recession chic, it’s also a permission slip, a badge of honor.

Which now sets the table for the inevitable employer brand tie-in. Employee value propositions, at their best, also fit the times. And there are times when basic, no frills, Snuggie-like attribute are what matters most. So when evaluating your value proposition, take a look at how it meets the needs of your employees not only with differentiation in mind, but with today’s circumstances firmly at the forefront.

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Read an entertaining piece on Yahoo! the other day about how out-of-date certain terms are in relation to describing the Internet. Most were what you would expect, like Weblog (for blog), World Wide Web for Internet, and “surf” (which was ridiculous the minute it was first said out loud. “Hey, look everyone – I’m surfing the Internet!” No. No you’re not. You’re sitting in a chair. You’re barely even moving. And take off the wet suit.)

I’d make the argument that the same thing has happened with the employer brand. There’s an entire lexicon that has developed around the concept, which is fine as far as giving people a common framework. But I think it also tends to complicate efforts.

Rather than seeking a basic, concise understanding of what’s going on in the workplace, how to communicate it, and how to improve it, we put our efforts into crafting the “employee value proposition.” (Just saying it makes it seem important enough to talk with anyone about it. You know, like the CEO. “Oh, I thought you just wanted to hire and keep employees, but now that I know you want to create an employee value proposition, that’s different. Come on over to my house for a barbecue. How about some stock options?”)

Let me offer up something a little more direct. Something, that in it’s simplicity gives us the focus and objective we really need.

Here’s the scenario.

Two friends are talking.

Sooner or later, one of them is going to ask the question “How’s work?”

Whatever the answer, it’s going to leave an impression. And someone is going to walk away with an idea about an employer, maybe even your company.

These conversations are happening everywhere, every day – through professional networks and on social networks, in back yards and in front offices. And they’re conversations we all need to affect.

And we need to affect them not with academic jargon that raises eyebrows, but with conversation that creates interest, the kind of conversations that people really respond to.

So, how’s work?

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Are you taking full advantage of the upsurge in government hiring? When the president says he wants to make federal employment "cool again," do you feel like he's talking about someone else or about another agency?

You're not alone. Research has shown that only a few agencies have a head start in the image category. As NASA celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo Landing, it's easy to see why they're one of the government's most highly rated employer brands. After all, as then President Richard M. Nixon said to the returning astronauts, "This is the greatest week in history since creation."

But even the grandest triumphs hardly do justice to the vast opportunities within the federal government. No other employer comes close to presenting the career choices and options available. Each department and subcomponent has a story to tell. And with the tools of Government 2.0, they can convey this uniqueness accurately and quickly.

Cool medium and message

Government HR has been rapidly picking up on Web 2.0: social networking, blogs, video, etc. The interactive nature of these tools signals a dramatic shift from push (one-way) to pull (two-way-communications).

A recent tweet from the IRS' jobdog59 Twitter career site, succinctly expresses this difference: [the site owner – jobdog59], "thinks Twitter is like a river I throw bones into. They float along and if anybody wants one they are free to have as many as they want."

A free-flowing river, offering helpful career hints, doesn't conjure the old image of the IRS as a faceless fiscal fortress. That's why the advent of "Government 2.0" means much more than a technical change-over. The very use of these tools carries a powerful message:

Rather than being formidable bureaucracies with labyrinthine hiring processes, federal agencies are emerging as responsive, accessible venues, open to those who wish to serve.

Ennobling the federal employee

Of course, flexibility and transparency alone are not sufficient to overcome inertia. Many young people are wary that working for the fed will land them in dead-end, boring job, a secure job perhaps, but without an upwardly mobile path.

That's where branding federal employment brings vitality. For instance, when the EPA needed to "fine tune" its workforce and "hire for commitment," TMP introduced an employer brand emphasizing balance: "Something good for myself. Something good for the world around me." We then wove an offline and online eco-system around the anchor career site, expressing the connection between balance in work-life and the environment.

Similarly, for the Missile Defense Agency, the branded website parallels the "work" with the greatest technological achievements of our time. Reinforcing the uniqueness of the technical accomplishments, the site uses Government 2.0 tools from an interactive timeline with video to an action game.

Both of these examples help a candidate feel assured that they are doing the right thing for their personal and professional goals.

Recently at a TMP-sponsored gathering, put on by Government Executive magazine, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) commented that when he was growing up in Boston, President John F. Kennedy projected that kind of stature for government employees. At that time, many young people heeded the call to "do what they could do for their country." JFK expressed the confidence that public servants could dare the impossible, whether landing men on the moon or trekking to serve in far-off villages.

Connolly said that we need to "ennoble" the federal employee again. That approach, abetted by the president's Call to Serve, may even go beyond parity with the private sector. For the infrastructure of government as well as its regulations make possible an innovative free market. As brand advocates in touch with citizens, public servants also set the tone for civic life. And isn't that "way cool?"

For more examples of Government 2.0 in action, check out our TMP Government Portfolio.

You’ve certainly seen Best Places to Work lists in business magazines like Fortune, and maybe in the niche publications that publish their own rankings for narrower constituencies. What you might not know is that Washington’s Partnership for Public Service regularly produces a similar government-wide ranking of federal departments and agencies (http://data.bestplacestowork.org/bptw/index).

It’s all based on what a couple hundred thousand government workers tell the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in its bi-annual survey. The Partnership, in concert with American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation (ISPPI) and The Hay Group--and with support from TMP Government--collates and submits OPM’s independently gathered results to strict statistical analysis. The outcome is a detailed side-by-side comparison of how federal organizations rate with their own employees across a range of criteria, from teamwork to training to perceived leadership competencies. The rankings also compare OPM’s employee responses—again agency by agency--by demographic segments, including gender, ethnicity, and age.

A benchmarking tool for agencies. If you’re looking for insight into your agency’s authentic employment value proposition, this compilation is a remarkable source, provided you’re willing to spend some time exploring its capabilities.

Both OPM’s own survey report (www.fhcs.opm.gov/) and the Partnership/ISPPI rankings allow you to see how your agency measures up in the eyes of your own workforce. But the Partnership/ISPPI compilation makes it easy to compare your results directly with those of virtually every other government agency. What’s more, the Best Places comparisons provide you with a statistically sound benchmarking tool for improving or refining key attributes in your own workplace culture. It can help immeasurably in refining your programs for employee engagement, inclusion, organizational development, succession planning, retention, and a host of other human capital focal points.

And when it comes to recruiting, is there a more resonant and authentic jumping off point for your agency’s employment brand than the characteristics where your own workforce tells you that you excel?

A resource for job seekers. For the federal job seeker, these rankings are indispensable, cutting through the recruiting noise to core workplace characteristics. While this certainly should not be the only comparative tool a candidate uses, it does represent a marvelous starting point and useful set of job search benchmarks for federal candidates at all levels of experience.

So...which agencies are the leaders of the pack? I leave that to you to discover. If you’re serious about how your team’s collective view of your workplace stacks up against other agencies, go here: http://data.bestplacestowork.org/bptw/index.

All over the country, all over the world, thousands of employees are filling out myriad surveys, diligently record their responses to scores of questions being put forward by their employers. The purpose? To understand the degree to which employees are satisfied.

Talk about setting the bar low. (“Hey everyone, most of our employees are mostly satisfied with most of us – let the rejoicing begin.”) For companies not faring too well in this regard, perhaps they could lower the standard from satisfaction to tolerance. Or if that’s still too high, perhaps they could shoot for reluctant acceptance.

Yes, I know that there are different levels of satisfaction, and that some of those may even come close to contentment. But the point is, if we’re really going to try and get employees engaged, don’t we need a higher standard? And while we’re at it, it’s time to admit that work and life (as in work/life balance) no longer have any real degree of separation. If work is good, then life is more likely to be good. If work sucks, then everything else suffers from a degree of suckitude (the technical term) as well.

So what if instead of satisfaction, happiness was our standard? Psychologists are now (yes, this very minute, even as you read these words) seeking to understand the effect of happiness, how it manifests, and its variations. There are a number of scales, tests, and theories all geared toward understanding happiness and its relation to the human condition. Of course, by its very nature, this also helps us understand those things that make us miserable (like a 3-hour commute, or worse, finding out that Eminem was in on Sasha Cohen’s joke all along).

Imagine an employment experience with happiness as the standard. Who knows, it could even result in shorter surveys.

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In a post earlier this year, I commented on a survey of 30,000 American undergraduates sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service. Among other findings, the survey identified factors that appeared most attractive to graduates for their first jobs out of school.

The top three potential attractors are:

• work/life balance
• job security, and
• the opportunity to serve a greater good.

As I’ve said before, all three attributes are (or should be) strong suits for federal recruiters, and the agency that doesn’t accommodate all three in its employer brand positioning is probably missing a bet. What selling point for government employment in general could be more compelling than the notion of serving the greater good--particularly in light of the surge in enthusiasm for public service inspired by last Fall’s election?

I’m not suggesting that you emphasize these three baseline attractors to the exclusion of your agency’s unique attributes—the particular challenges and satisfactions of your mission, the qualities that distinguish your workplace culture, your special programs for learning and advancement, and so on. Your recruiting proposition should draw on both government-wide and agency-specific selling points.

Even so, presenting your employment value proposition accurately and compellingly is just a start. You should consider a “push” strategy, which means propelling this authentic positioning outward into the talent marketplace, where it can work for you by engaging students who may be particularly inclined to favor your agency over others. Find the folks who find your values, culture, and mission compelling; if you handle the interaction right, you quickly find yourself in conversation with high-value prospects. .

So I’m suggesting two mutually supportive approaches here. First, make sure that your employer brand addresses the general strong points of federal employment as well as your agency-unique attributes. Second, consider “push” techniques like advertising, sponsorships, online search approaches, and even direct e-mail campaigns. In a nutshell, place your employer brand where it can attract the most attention from the most desirable and most motivated candidates.