I spent yesterday with a group of 25 public sector hiring managers and HR directors at the Central Region IPMA-HR Conference in Kansas City. The topic was how the public sector can learn some of the recruiting tricks of the private sector to compete for talent. My expectation was that I would give a 35-40 minute lecture on this subject (much to the chagrin of Bill Lane! Read his book, Jacked Up, it is fantastic.), take a few questions and head back to Chicago. My experience couldn’t have been different.

We did use all the time – 75 minutes! But, we had one of the most interactive discussion sessions of any presentation I have given. The room was full of passionate, curious and knowledgeable HR professionals – they spoke more than I did, thankfully!

It became clear that the conventional thinking around how different the public sector is may be incorrect. Yes, the public sector must conform to specific legislation that the private sector does not. Yes, public sector budgets are tied directly to a fixed pot of tax revenues unlike the private sector. Yes, the public sector doesn’t use terms such a profit, while the private sector bathes in the concept. But, I was shocked at how similar the recruiting process, time to fill and “red tape” were.

Here are some of our action items which clearly cross the lines between public and private sector:

Open up your networks: Lobby your IT department to open up your Internet access to Google, Facebook, YouTube and any other site where your prospective employees are gathering and sharing information. Without this access anyone responsible for recruiting is missing an opportunity to learn about job seekers and engage them in a conversation.

Start the conversation: If your HR team and your hiring managers aren’t actively talking about recruiting, the Internet, your company’s brand and how best to express that brand, you are behind. Start the conversation. It may not be easy at first, but everyone in an organization is ultimately selling for the organization. Why not do it together?

Take baby steps: If your organization isn’t ready for video, that’s fine. How about changing the way your job ads are written. Ever think of having an employee write a job ad? Or, simply reorder the information with the juicy job details up front and the standard company boilerplate at the end. In some organizations, this may be revolutionary.

Talk about your brand: Your organization has a brand. If you don’t think so, just ask a handful of employees what they tell their friends about the company – that’s your brand. If you like what they say, get them to go on record. Publish those comments in your employment advertising. Better yet, film a few employees talking about your company and post that online – what better way to illustrate the face of your company.

While many more ideas and suggestions came from the session, these were the most immediately actionable and fundamental – the ones that had the potential to move the needle the fastest. But, I certainly don’t have all the answers. I’d be interested to hear what you did in your organization to remove red-tape and positively change the recruiting cycle – public sector or private sector.