Remember: #45979 for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) 2009. AAGEN appreciates your contribution.
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AAGEN announces its 2010 Scholarship Program. Please click the "read more" link below.
Effective November 15th, 2009, AAGEN has updated its membership categories and fee structure. The two new categories added are:
- Lifetime Membership for GS-15 or above: $500.00
- GS-13 or below or non-government: 1-year ($30), 2-year ($50), 3-year ($70)
Interested prospective members can apply using the form below, or apply online at www.aagen.org :
read more ...
AAGEN Membership Night Draws Record Crowd
AAGEN's Annual Membership Appreciation Night on October 28 was a huge success -- 70 members and guests came to hear the guest speaker, Honorable Rhea S. Suh, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, U.S. Department of Interior. Her topic, "Diversity and Life," covered many of today's APA concerns including SES glass ceiling issues. During the question and answer session many attendees turned the event into an energetic discussion, sharing their stories and perspectives.
AAGEN Chair, Dr. Yann King, was pleased. "This is a great opportunity for our members to network, and they also get to see old friends. This is part of our mission and directly touches our members. I'm glad to see so many taking advantage of it and having a good time." Three AAGEN members traveled from California and Pennsylvania. Sister organization, the Federal Asian Pacific American Council, sent several representatives, led by Dr. Kin Wong, its Senior Vice President.
AAGEN would like to give special thanks to the volunteer team that made our Membership Appreciation Night such a great event, it wouldn't have been possible without them:
Simon Liu
Tara Vantoai
Andy Manriquez
Foon Chung
Qihui Huang
Hung Nguyen
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Federal Government Needs Massive Hiring Binge, Study Finds [excerpted]
By Steve Vogel Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The federal government needs to hire more than 270,000 workers for "mission-critical" jobs over the next three years, a surge prompted in part by the large number of baby-boomer federal workers reaching retirement age, according to the results of a government-wide survey being released Thursday.
The numbers also reflect the Obama administration's intent to take on several enormous challenges, including the repair of the financial sector, fighting two wars, and addressing climate change.
"It has to win the war for talent in order to win the multiple wars it's fighting for the American people," said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, the think tank that conducted the survey of 35 federal agencies, representing nearly 99 percent of the federal workforce.
Despite its comprehensive scope, the survey is necessarily imprecise about certain questions in looking so far into the future. The number of hires would be affected, for example, by federal workers deciding to delay their retirement, the government continuing to rely on private contractors to handle some of these jobs, and Congress balking at the price tag of adding new workers to the federal payroll.
Nevertheless, the survey makes clear that the majority of new hires will be needed in five broad fields -- medical, security, law enforcement, legal and administrative.
The nation's unsettled economy and high unemployment rate may ease the government's task, as workers turn to the federal sector for job security and good benefits. But Stier said many federal agencies will have to fight to attract top talent, particularly in fields in which government cannot compete with private-sector salaries.
"Most are going to see extreme competition with the private sector," Stier said. This could be especially true in fields such as medical, legal and information technology, he said.
Yet federal hiring remains a cumbersome process for many agencies. "Fixing the hiring process is a key component in making it work," Stier said.
But, federal officials said, the ultimate accuracy of the hiring projections will depend on whether current employees retire as predicted.
Despite the projected growth in federal jobs, the size of the government would be no larger than at most other times in the country's post-World War II history, both in relative and absolute terms.
The Obama administration has signaled in its budget its intention to replace many contractors with government workers, particularly in the field of defense acquisition. This is another reason for the predicted surge in government hiring.
The survey results are to be posted Thursday at http://www.wherethejobsare.org
Staff writers Joe Davidson and Ed O'Keefe contributed to this report.