The advent of 3G cellular nets —plus the widespread adoption of broadband-capable IPhones, Blackberries, and Android-equipped mobiles—promises an exciting new wrinkle in recruiting practice. Government recruiters should be particularly enthusiastic, because this technology effectively creates a new and stunningly inexpensive gateway for engaging recruits with convenient mobile phone access to your Web, online, and video materials.

The linchpin in this approach is the “QR” (or “Quick Response”) code. On the surface, QR codes appear blandly unimpressive. They’re no more than two-dimensional barcodes that contain short strings of text (for instance, a URL, an email address, or a phone number). But when a prospect uses his or her properly equipped mobile (more on this below) to photograph a QR code, the phone immediately cuesup its encoded text string ready for use as a link to the Web or to the autodial function of the smartphone. This means the prospect can connect directly by phone, or open a web site, or download a video or PDF, all without keyboard or touch screen input.

Need an example? Here’s the QR code for Wikipedia’s Mobile main page.

Admittedly, QR encoding represents only an incremental advantage over finger-keying. But it’s more than just a convenience factor. QR codes can be imprinted virtually anywhere, from a brochure or business card to a poster to a Job Fair station to a T-shirt or billboard or bus wrap. If you’re a particularly dedicated ambassador for your agency, you can even tattoo a QR code on yourself (a temporary tattoo of course).

Giving a presentation to potential recruits? Embed a QR code on the projected title page and your audience can download the full slide show, supporting materials, or even a virtual library of supporting materials on the spot, right to their mobile phones. Targeting selected campuses? Place an inexpensive fractional ad in the college daily and embed your QR code in the layout. Bonus: you’ve got the “cool” factor working for you with your primary targets of influence. And because this technology is mobile-based, you can track QR responses geographically.

This technology is already in widespread use in Japan, where it originated, and is enjoying enthusiastic adoption in Europe. Consider the British billboard on the left, which was central to the national promotion of the zombie film 28 Weeks Later. (The image at right is the QR code for TMP Government’s web page.)

Is the adoption curve favorable? The skeptics among you are probably citing the apparent complexity of linking all the elements necessary to complete the engagement cycle here. For instance…

• How do you create printable QR codes for your organization?
  [A: There are many free QR generators available on the Web. Do a Google search to find one.]
• What “apps” are necessary to equip a potential recruit’s mobile phone as a QR reader?
  [A: Just one, and there are scores available, all free. Go to this site (http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-software/) for a hyperlinked list of downloadable reader apps.]
• Why are we so certain that potential recruits will embrace this technology?
  [A: Because they already are. In Japan, where this technology originated, its use is nearly ubiquitous. And again…the “cool” factor I mentioned above.]   

On the horizon: a new generation of QR codes. Get ready for the next stage…Mobile Multi-Colour Composite codes (or MMCCs). They pack scads more data into the barcode and can respond to a cell phone scan by returning embedded digital content that includes video, games, imagery, ringtones, and so on. And these barcodes do not need an internet connection to function. The data is all in the image itself.

Ponder that for a moment, and what it could mean for your mobile outreach to potential recruits.

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.