The Civil Servant

Abstract

O NE of the most encouraging things about recruitment and training is that the experts are realizing the lack of any definite program and are trying to do something about it as rapidly as possible, even though they are becomingly modest about any scientific standards.' I am not an expert in this field and can only offer a few observations and general suggestions which occur to me after about a dozen years in the Government service, during which I have been hired a few times and have hired and supervised a few other people. First, I hope the editor will let me waste a little space to wish we could find a better word than recruitment. Rightly or wrongly the word always suggests to me the posters, pep talks, brass bands, and parades which are used to induce young men to join the army. We need an entirely different program for hiring agricultural economists. There should be two main parts to such a program. 1. The various kinds of work in the field should be described as completely and as honestly as possible so that a young man can apply for the kind of work for which he is best suited. Young college graduates usually do not realize the wide variety of work in the Government, and are inclined to make many unwarranted generalizations. My own experience has been with research on matters of agricultural policy-particularly in the field of marketing. I can truthfully report that in this kind of work I have never been greatly bothered with routine and red tape; have had as much academic freedom as I would expect in most places; and have had plenty of chance for personal recognition. These observations might not be so true of some other kinds of Government work. 2. Some better way needs to be found to put applicants on the registers for which they are best qualified and to rank them in order of their ability. This is not easy to do. My only specific suggestion is that greater weight should be given to personal inter-