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HBCU Careers Magazine
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regional innovation clusters which combine government, non-profit, and academic stakeholders to come
together to engage students to study complex concepts by challenging them to address problems that
have meaning to their daily lives. Art is used to increase the “fun factor” but ultimately these aim seeks
to bring creativity and innovation to a process albeit Sig Sixma, or other methodology where dedicated
people can but teach to making traditionally dry subjects more appealing to a wider range of students.
A Mission Worthy of Our Best Efforts
As the Administration is working1 with key agencies like those of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
much effort has been put into the body of knowledge and approach that may be needed to improve the
effectiveness of the Pathways Program by further developing the necessary resources to educate hiring
managers, human resource professionals, academic partners, and potential applicants. Federal programs
to attract you to answer the call of public service include: a new initiative by OPM around a re-invigorated
approach to attract entry level and recent college grads into what has been called the Pathways Program.
In fact OPM has coined this program REDI Recruitment, engagement, diversity and inclusion and has
released a toolkit for hiring managers and HR professionals. In the last five years much has been invested
to help agencies articulate the occupational categories, competencies and skills sets they will need to
address and put performancemeasures in place. What has emerged are somemission critical occupations
and fields where the U.S. is just not putting out the quantity or caliber or candidates needed.
Top STEM Occupational Groups in the Federal Government
(as of August 2014):
Sciences Occupations ................................. 67,442
Technology Occupations............................. 81,533
Engineering Occupations.......................... 101,933
Mathematics Occupations .......................... 17,418
Here are the
cities with themost STEM
jobs today according to job aggregator Indeed. It will becomemore
important however for the Federal sector employers to establish Pathways program officers to engage
with you and to share via social and mobile media the opportunities available to you and to discover
what they can do to be more attractive prospective employers. Just as the Federal workforce has been
working to bring innovations forward with an aging workforce, more and more HBCU’s and Minority
Serving Institutions need to be working on fresh initiatives together that will begin to integrate instruction
in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) into our school’s curriculum.
Just as the Department of Education is working to promote a focus on critical thinking, problem solving,
innovation and collaborative approaches to better prepare our students for college and the increasingly
complex work environment of the future. The Human Resources agency for the Federal government has
just released Easy-to-digest Pathways videos for hiring managers, academia, and prospective applicants
on select Pathways topics. I would urge the readers of this article to seek out information, internships,
and career development building programs that can position you to launch your career on the right
path to meet the current mission critical skills and fill the gaps and jobs that have remained unfilled to
1
Human Capital: Strategies to Help Agencies Meet Their Missions in an Era of Highly Constrained Resources.
http://www/gao.gov/products/GAO-14-168