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Return to Article: OPM: Agencies not taking advantage of hiring flexibilities

• 5094
  

  Your June 4, 2004 article about agencies not using the OPM hiring flexibilities contains inaccurate information.

  In the sixth paragraph you state the following--"Instead of human resources personnel arbitrarily choosing three resumes from among the best to pass on to hiring management, they pass on the most qualified applicants for review." Your use of the term "arbitrarily" is not appropriate. The process may be subjective, but it is far from arbitrary. Applications are rated against the information supplied by the applicant in response to the Knowledges, Skills and Abilities listed on the job announcement. This rating is either performed by a qualified and trained HR specialist or a panel of knowledgeable position peers. Each applicant receives a score and the top three scores are forwarded to the selecting official.

  The category rating tool will produce a greater number of applicants for management's consideration and we in the HR community are excited about this new tool. However, you must realize that the same basic process of rating the candidates will still occur. So, if you think the old system was arbitrary, you will have to carry this definition to category rating also.

  Darwin Aho HR Manager

  Darwin Aho Posted June 17, 2004 1:39 PM
• 4957
  

  This article really angers me. I hate being lectured to by people who don't walk the walk. In my experience OPM has a truly horrible staffing office that never replies to applications or when they do reply, they tell the applicant they didn't score high enough. When you call the OPM staffing office they are rude and nasty.

  I would rate them one of the lowest of all HR staffing offices. So when OPM lectures on the right way to do it my response is let them clean up their own backyard before they criticize anyone else's property.

  HR Specialist

  GovExec.com reader Posted June 8, 2004 6:08 AM
• 4943
  

  What about those "talented" employees currently performing the job who are in soon-to-expire term appointments?

  The Department of Homeland Security currently has several term employees with three or more years of experience successfully performing the job. They have also completed all the required training and security clearance investigations. Yet all the "permanent" positions being announced are Public Job Announcments for initial entry. Job experience and specific job-related training are not considered when evaluating these applications. The "test-score" is almost the sole discriminating criteria. Those most likely to have the higher test scores are the recent college graduates with no esperience or training in the jobs. For these new-hires, funds will have to be used to conduct a security clerance investigation as well as train them, with many having to go to the Federal Law Enforcemnet Training Academy (FLETC). The term employees currently performing the job already have a security clearance and have successfully completed training at FLETC. Yet, they have no certainty that they will continue to have a job when their terms expire.

  The workload has not gone away. It has increased. These term employees need to be converted in some way to "permanent" employees.

  Do the "hiring flexibilites" touted by OPM include this, or a similar, flexibility?

  kevin M Tinker Posted June 5, 2004 11:49 PM