Ja'Nel Johnson of Capital Public Radio sees many positive qualities to government jobs, like the steady nature of the work and a competitive benefits package, for example.
"When I think of a government job, I don't think of it in a negative light at all," she said. But when it comes to recruiting, the public sector has some room for improvement.
State CIOs agree that they have some work to do. In Washington state, CIO Michael Cockrill is re-working job descriptions and roles to increase their appeal to applicants who may also be applying for positions in the private sector.
In Maine, the IT office has been successful in turning 70 percent of its interns into full-time employees. What gets those interns in the door in the first place, CIO Jim Smith explained, is the nature of the work they get to do at the state.
"We talk about the civic side of what they're doing," Smith said. "You can make a process better, you can improve government and you can have an effect on it."
