Are recruiting and retaining technically skilled employees different in the public and private sectors?
If so, how? Yes, but the gap is closing. On recruiting, the biggest difference is the speed of execution. Corporate human resources departments can move out very fast. For example, a skilled person can be given a contingent offer letter within hours after an interview. At Oberon, we track time-to-fill a position on a weekly basis. In the government sector, the only equivalent to this is quickly detailing a person from another government organization. The government hiring process can take months.
