Cecily O'Connor
RedwoodAge.com

The Partnership for Public Service has launched a pilot program to match boomers with second careers in the federal government.

The program - FedExperience: Transitions to Government - will begin working with IBM and the Department of Treasury. The goal is to identify, recruit and hire interested IBM employees and retirees, and fill key federal government gobs.

Nearly 14,000 jobs need to be filled at the Treasury Department in the next two years, including 7,950 Internal Revenue Service agents and tax examiners. Procurement, IT and accounting positions are also up for grabs.

The program is based on the fact that more than one-third of the full-time federal workforce is preparing to retire in the next five years, according to the Partnership for Public Service.

A lot of boomers considering "re-careering" said they are interested in government service. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed agree that "there are good jobs for people like me in the federal government."

However, many boomers aren't aware of such opportunities, even though they like the idea of serving their communities through government work. Some think federal job openings aren't available to non-government candidates, and they also believe the application process is very difficult compared with other jobs, based on a new survey of older workers age 50 to 65 released by the partnership.

In general, many older professionals are re-careering to stave off boredom in retirement, feel productive, find a new intellectual challenge, supplement insufficient retirement savings or satisfy a need for personal interaction with others. Opportunities vary from city to city, however, and some careers are better for boomers than others.

"Boomers get their second career where they can find meaningful work . . ." said Max Stier, president at the partnership.

Boomers' skills also tend to align with government's needs. Many areas where government currently staffs a higher percentage of older workers - information technology, engineering, legal and accounting - are the same areas in which federal agencies say they will have critical openings in the next five years.

To find federal job opportunities, check out the Office of Personnel's Web site. About 86 percent of federal jobs are located outside of Washington and close to 50,000 are stationed abroad.

The partnership and IBM expect to expand the FedExperience initiative to other agencies, and urge other corporate leaders to join. AARP and Civic Ventures, which pairs boomers with volunteer opportunities, are already part of the effort.