The US government decided a long time ago to contract out as many services as possible, except for the ones that are “inherently governmental services” (see episode 195 for those). However, the hiring of all those people to provide those services under government contracts is not happening in a vacuum – it’s happening as part of the overall economy. Whether someone works inside or outside the government – they were hired from the same labor pool.
There are 3 “hiring groups” who are looking for the best talent from this same pool.
- The Federal Government looking for people to perform those “inherently governmental” activities
- Federal Contractors who support the government
- Commercial companies who do not support the government
Each of these groups is looking for people, many of whom bring the same skill set and expertise – or at least transferrable expertise – in a wide variety of professions. So these 3 groups are looking for employees in the same labor pool.
In this episode, we provide an overview of each group, along with some context on the size and impact of each and why understanding this “same labor pool” concept matters. Then we outline how they interact, overlap, and often compete for the same people and what you can do to mitigate the challenges of hiring from the same labor pool.
