How many people are doing exactly what they thought they would do after graduating from college? Very few, I would hazard, having only the example of myself, my family, my friends, many of my coworkers (not including Molly), my acquaintances (those that I know well enough), popular anecdotes and the inexorable fact of life-taking-you-in-unexpected directions to draw on.

I mention this because there's been some hand-wringing lately thanks to a report (.pdf) that finds that only 2.3 percent of college students say they plan to work in federal government.

The combined number of those intended to work in government at any level--state, local or federal--is "the lowest number expressing an intention to join the public sector since the [National Association of Colleges and Employers] survey first asked the question in 2008," says the Partnership for Public Service, with apparent bated breath.

The results shouldn't be too worrying for two basic reasons.

First, there's the fact of life-taking-you-in-unexpected-directions. Whatever it is most people expect of life following college graduation, chances are it will change in fairly short order--especially if their previous two decades of life have been spent continuously in education. That applies equally to those who do say they'll work in government, too.

Secondly--and actually more importantly--is that at the federal level, it's even a good thing that people do not view "working for the government" as a calling. I say so not to discount the importance civil servants rightly place in public service or to artificially value private sector employment over federal. Rather, I say so because it's better that people view their true calling as doing something in the field of their choice and the government as the best employer rather than valuing the employer over the field.

For the minority of people whose field of choice is inherently governmental, the two are combined.

But for all the scientists, computer programmers, engineers, economists, mathematicians, etc. of the world, their natural first aim should be to be as productive as possible rather than chose an employer. The important thing is the work, right?

With this in mind, a question to a college graduate, "do you plan to work in government?" will probably generate a "no." Not because they'll never work in government, but because saying you will "work for the government" is different than saying you will pursue a career in a given field. "Working for the private sector" is the default way of saying that. "Working for the government" sounds like a life of endless TPS reports. Going to work for a particular agency because your skills can be put to good use there is a different mindset. The first is a bureaucratic one; the second is a dynamic one, since it implies choice.

And, it turns out that since the government does indeed offer opportunities not available elsewhere, many of the people I listed at the start who work in government came to be there because of that, rather than through any determination to work there in the first place. In fact, many of them were in the place of the respondents to the survey, stating earlier that they would never work in government at all. But the thing about life is it takes you in unexpected directions. - Dave