Public servants across Australia may be forgiven for feeling a little unloved in these austere times.
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However, a national photo competition on display this week will aim to promote the public service as ... well, almost cool.
On Wednesday, Canberra will host the Institute of Public Administration Australia's annual conference, which attracts hundreds of government officials from across the country.
The conference will also unveil the winner of the "day in the life of a public servant" photo competition.
Staff were invited to submit a poster that shows what their job involves.
The institute's ACT division vice-president, Defence Department deputy secretary Carmel McGregor, said one aim was to dispel stereotypes about the people attracted to government jobs, and about the work itself.
"It's important to debunk the myths about cardigan-wearing public servants and show the variety of jobs and challenges that exist right across the country.
"The competition really brings that out. I've seen shots taken in the Antarctic, in remote indigenous communities, and then you have the Reserve Bank governor and the chief auditor signing the accounts. There's an enormous spectrum of work and people."
Although governments across the country are trimming their workforces, Ms McGregor said public service agencies wanted to be "employers of choice".
"We have a shrinking labour force, and we're going to have to have a brand that continues to attract people for the future."
However, she denied that public servants had an image problem.
"This is really about explaining rather than trying to remediate or correct something. Also, jobs are changing all the time and some people have genuinely no idea what government work is."
The two-day conference will also name the winners of the 2013 Prime Minister's awards for excellence in public sector management