GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: OPM pushes nontraditional career patterns

• 26764
  

  I retired from the Army after 22 years with a security clearance. I applied for over 50 jobs through CPOL and USA jobs in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area. I applied for a GS positions in the same field, Human Resource Management that my Army career was based on, the response I received back from the government was that I was not qualified for the jobs. Someone needs to figure that out.

  stephan patterson Posted June 26, 2007 9:37 AM
• 17859
  

  They are looking for a few good college people in Iraq. Many of them have college degrees but are serving their country in uniform. It should be noted that some have also died. Maybe our young college graduates would be interested in an overseas assignment with the National Guard. The benefits are great (if you live to get them) and all paid by the government. It beats standing around and complaining because your daughter-in-law had kids and has a hard time managing them and a job. Linda Springer is the worst OPM director this government has ever had. She mismanages what is already being mismanaged.

  Charlie (Retired U.S. Navy) Posted July 22, 2006 10:21 PM
• 17317
  

  Like many proposed changes this may or may not come to fruition. I just hope it does. I believe that the federal government must change the present policies and take the walls down on the traditional policies of personnel management. Today those walls create more loss to our government than they gain. Here are some examples. 1. I will retire at the end of this year. But if my annuity would not be affected, I would be glad to use the knowledge and experience I have acquired over 30 years to help when the agency needs temporary help. 2. My daughter-in-law just gave birth to twin boys. She needs an untraditional work schedule in order to continue working as they do not want to leave the infant boys at a day care. She is talented and very good at her job and it will be a loss to BLM if they cannot work out an agreeable work schedule. Many families do not want to leave their infant children in day care and with just reasons.

  Marjorie Leavitt Posted June 13, 2006 11:44 AM
• 17220
  

  Linda Springer has a lot of good ideas, and that is all they are. Bet she leaves without doing one constructive thing. I say this because if anything needs fixing it's the hiring process. It is broken; everybody knows it. However, it is the "final phase" of her proposed process. Shouldn't that be the first priority? Once again, OPM side-steps the important (hard) stuff and goes for fluff!

  GovExec.com reader Posted June 7, 2006 11:56 PM
• 17208
  

  "Analysis of jobs for nontraditional work arrangements will look at . . . factors:

  -- Stage in career, such as early, middle, late and retirees re-entering the workforce.

  -- Mobility, both among agencies and between the private and public sectors."

  This kind of enlightened thinking is coming too late for some of us mid-career, lateral entry or reinstatement types. We, who have made good-faith efforts to bring talent and experience from outside the government to bear on the nation's needs. Practically speaking, I have seen no effective ability in government HR functions to evaluate or incorporate such talent and experience in their staffing, notwithstanding pronouncements to the contrary. There is no checklist or template for the HR specialist making such a determination and the application of judgment appears to be a no-no. Consequently, the senior, mid-career newcomer might as well be a new college graduate. If this changes, I suspect it will be after the current generation of federal managers retires.

  GovExec.com reader Posted June 7, 2006 2:00 PM
• 17201
  

  I applaud the comment made by the OPM Director Linda Springer, "There's no use getting people excited about jobs and not being able to get them on board for months and months."

  I have observed so much talent on the outside with college graduates (my daughter included), but because the government jobs take so long they choose other vehicles for job hunting and employment.

  GovExec.com reader Posted June 7, 2006 8:47 AM