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HBCU Careers Magazine

93

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