If aging infrastructure, cyber attacks and budget cuts weren't enough, the Federal Chief Information Officers Council just issued an alarming new report. While the story behind "Net Generation: Preparing for Change in the Federal Information Technology Workforce" isn't new, the depth of the research makes the argument overwhelming.

Federal CIOs have their work cut out for them in attracting the Net Generation — those born since the late 1970s — to public service. As the report notes, government trails the private sector and nonprofits as an ideal place to work for this generation, also called Generation Y.

While it's tempting to dismiss these concerns with arguments that "we have computers older than these kids," the threat is real: 63 percent of government information technology workers are at least 45 years old. Furthermore, we miss a significant opportunity to enhance our IT organization by failing to embrace the energy, skill set and perspective that each new generation brings.

So, to win the war for talent, we need to make recruitment and retention of the Net Generation a bigger priority. In today's competitive environment — unemployment in Northern Virginia is still less than 5 percent — it's no longer enough to simply advertise a position and expect world-class candidates to come to our door. Instead, we need to be proactive in our evangelism as we seek to capture hearts and minds. Agencies that have historically invested the most in outreach also are those that rank as the most desirable government employers in the annual Universum American Student Survey.

We need to focus on providing careers instead of just jobs. We need to look for the person with great potential whom we can coach and mentor into an even more valuable employee. Too often, we assume that our employees lack ambition and, as a result, we fail to challenge them.

During my public service career, I made this type of staff development a major focus. In particular, I noted that a small number of energetic high fliers often had an inordinate impact on our performance. By cultivating these individuals, I could ensure the success of my most important programs. This led us to put together a creative set of programs to address key factors affecting their job satisfaction.

First, we created "job families" for key jobs and used career ladders to show the promotion and pay advances employees could achieve over a three-year period. As a result, they were more motivated to take on new challenges.

We also used pay retention to ensure that we retained our most promising talent.

Second, we put before these employees a career path for learning the entire organization through multiple six- to 18-month rotations — that is, systems development followed by computer operations and then network administration, etc. This would prepare them for more rewarding assignments while demonstrating our confidence in their potential.

Finally, we implemented tuition reimbursement where we funded their continuing education, either completion of an undergraduate program or pursuit of more advanced degrees. In return, they would commit to staying with the organization for a specific time.

Turnover within IT ranged in the 6 percent to 8 percent range, and Computerworld magazine called the Postal Service one of the best places to work in IT for five straight years.

What I learned from this experience is that our most valuable employees want to be part of a successful team where they are challenged, motivated and rewarded. We need to invest the time and resources needed to fulfill these expectations.

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Robert L. Otto leads the IT Leadership practice at Agilex Technologies and is a former CIO/chief technology officer of the U.S. Postal Service.