GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: OMB releases hiring reform, budget guidelines

• 86394
  

  The USAJOBS system is horrible. For example, if I specify I have a TS/SCI clearance, which can easily be verified and indicate my educational degree level and college information. Then I must upload or fax a copy of my transcript before my application can be accepted?

  DOD Contractors hire ex-DOD personnel. Ex-DOD personnel get picked up as civilian personnel directly or via their job or position being converted.

  Then there is the "friends and family" networks. If you don't have either connection, you are not getting hired.

  The system is definitely corrupt and cumbersome. I think it's only used to get aggregates and ways to prevent or justify not hiring someone other than a pre-selected candidate.

  Diane Posted September 6, 2009 5:46 PM
• 85697
  

  The biggest problem with the federal system is applicants who THINK they are qualified or "overqualified" as one commenter said. The applicant isn't the one who determines if they are qualified for the position - the HR person is trained to do that. HR can't do that properly when applicants don't give them adequate information on their education and experience.

  Carrie Posted August 27, 2009 12:39 PM
• 81682
  

  Personally, I applaud any and all efforts to streamline the process. I have a little-above-average intelligence, but the KSA's were just plain scary! Before I got back into the government, I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting any responses in applying for positions I was actually over-qualified for. Come to find out there is a sneaky process to the KSA and since I was telling the truth about my experiences, that is why I couldn't score high enough! This system zones into "key" words and assigns points to them. You could make up any kind of cock-and-bull story as long as the points were there! I was beyond outraged when I found that out.

  dlg Posted June 30, 2009 3:20 PM
• 80818
  

  Interesting. I'm a employee of the USDA. My application for a transfer was forwarded to the selecting official and I have been waiting for 6 1/2 months after the closing date to get a response. After 9 weeks I had to email HR to find this out. I sent another email asking if there was an established timeline for this position. My email was ignored. It seems the agency doesn't need to follow it's own policy as far as corresponding with potential employees. Good luck OMB!

  AGC Posted June 19, 2009 1:01 PM
• 80719
  

  the usajob jobs are posted so that you should have a PH.D to be a janitor. get some real job descriptions and requirements from somewhere else. The descriptions are so vague that my 12 year old daughter could fill most of them if she had her phd.

  angel Posted June 18, 2009 4:00 PM
• 80676
  

  applying for a job via usajobs.gov is like putting a puzzle together and hoping that you don't miss one piece or the whole thing is no good ! and the contact people take lessons in rude behavoir. one contact person at CDC in Atlanta told me, you know there are other agencies besides this one , why does everyone want to work here ?!! that was real encouraging to hear !!

  withheld Posted June 18, 2009 1:05 PM
• 80413
  

  I am not sure if a veteran is always the best for the job, If I make a 92 grade and the vet makes a 83 (without 10 points) who is the best qualified for the job ???? just be fair and hire who fits the qualfications for the job and not keep in all in the family !!!

  fed Posted June 17, 2009 7:54 AM
• 80282
  

  Apply for a position via USAJOBS.com is very frustrating and time consuming. You click on a job posting and are redirected through a maze of internal agency sites. Often time the connection fails.

  The KSA are a waste of time and paper. A number of KSAs appear to be written with a specific individual in mind, rather than the job requirements.

  Most of the time, you can not submit your resume electronically. When you can, you are required to fax your transcript and other forms. Some very bright individuals that told me that, even in this tough job market, it is considerably easier to get a job in the private sector. Because of their bad experience with USAJOBS, they would not seek a position with the federal government, unless they are desperate. I wonder of type of candidates are not apply of federal jobs because of the cumbersome requirements of USAJOBS and demand for a considerable amount of paper work transmitted via various formats.

  John Posted June 16, 2009 10:33 AM
• 80262
  

  Way back in the 80s, KSAs were only required for the competitive level positions: GS 13 - SES. Now they seem to run rampant. HR folks insist on padding the job announcement with bromides on how wonderful the agency is, the benefits, blah blah. This language is not only unnecessary, in some cases it isn't even truthful. I agree on the weak job descriptions and KSAs. I've seen some that not only did I not understand, but I couldn't find anyone at the GS 15 level who could understand what it meant. Cryptic language does NOT "increase the grade level" it just frustrates the process.

  Charlie Posted June 16, 2009 9:31 AM
• 80239
  

  It sounds to me like Mr. Orszag has identified key areas for improvement and is taking appropriate steps toward much needed transformation in the hiring process. The significant challenges to implementation often stem from a combination of competing interests and resistance to change. Orszag seems, from what I've read, to be doing an excellent job of managing resistance and implementing reform.

  On a separate but related note, Mr. Smith, I've noticed you've posted frequently and widely on the topic "DOD staffers." In your next post, I encourage you to define what it is you mean by "DOD staffer." Also, please clarify how and where you are getting this information, which I should hope would be from an aggregate vantage point, rather than from a single or relatively few number of offending field-level activities. It would also be of interest to know the steps you have taken to correct such blatant abuse of hiring authority so we may all benefit from a positive example. Thank you.

  Patrick Toler Posted June 16, 2009 8:28 AM
• 80237
  

  the hiring process is ridiculous, I have applied for several positions and the positions have been discontinued or filled by someones family member. CDC list several jobs that never get filled. whats up with that? then I am told its better to quit my federal job and join CDC by being a contractor and then maybe they will hire me as a federal employee. imagine that!!

  withheld Posted June 16, 2009 8:21 AM
• 80222
  

  Right now the EPA "service centers" are creating huge problems with hiring by screening out completely qualified applicants. Seems like OMB would address stuff like that first if they want to speed up hiring and get qualified people.

  Andy Neilsen Posted June 16, 2009 7:15 AM
• 80183
  

  One of the initiatives outlined was to review the job announcements for an agency's top 10 occupations and have them written in plain language and reduced to no more than five pages. It seems that a 5 page job description does exactly what the guidance is to suppose to prevent, which is to prevent creating an overly complex, confusing process of finding the best candidate for the position on lengthy the job functions and requirements. In addition to improving hiring, the federal government needs to improve its employee retention activities through increased focus on training, workforce development, and empowerment for ownership of the mission.

  Nonetheless, I think the comment from Michael J. Smith, MPA, really hit the nail on the head about the underlying issues with workforce hiring. The culture needs to be changed to expand opportunities to find the best candidates. Many non-traditional sources of talent are available, if only the government would shed its institutional culture of insular cherry-picking from other agencies to fill vacancies. How the government expect to find the skills and capabilities it needs if it continues to rob Peter to pay Paul?

  Jaime Gracia Posted June 15, 2009 3:31 PM
• 80173
  

  Max your dead on in your complaint about the federal hiring process. Far to many agencies refuse to abide by the law and hire VETS. Time and time again I've see job opening on USA closed and then reopened a week later all because a Vet was at the top of the list. Its past time for the EEO to look down these agencies shirt collars and DEMAND that they follow the law pure and simple

  dan m ketter Posted June 15, 2009 3:21 PM
• 80137
  

  Bad hiring practices and procedures? I don't know the details but what I do know is that if I apply for a government job and the unfilled announcement sits on the agency employment website for 6 to 12 months something is broke. This has apparently nothing to do with my qualifications (bad or good) but that things just do not get done.

  wastatejack Posted June 15, 2009 11:58 AM
• 80102
  

  Totally agree the hiring process needs a major change but this is nothing new. Another feel good initiative. When you still have managers that try to by pass veterans preference and cannot make a selection off a referral list in 45 days the only thing our agency will do is have a plan with data that does not match. Already tried writing position descriptions in plain language and managers will rewrite them to increase the grade. When the leaders increase fire pay by 25% with the economy tanking and unemployment at record highs does not make sense to the every day taxpayers. Until you hold the agencies heads accountable nothing will change.

  bdr Posted June 15, 2009 9:37 AM
• 80089
  

  Many barrels of ink - or their electronic equivalent - have been spilt for years regarding the sclerotic Federal hiring process, with much of the ire focusing on the opaque at best contents of most Federal vacancy announcements. Now we are again seeing a reprise of the periodic, figurative wringing of hands and beating of respective breasts over this seemingly intractable problem. If I might suggest one way to bring home the dimensions of the problem to the new management team on board in each agency: OMB should require each agency head to review personally a random sample of his/her agency's current USAJOBS vacancy announcement postings. I guarantee this would be eye-opening and do more to focus attention on this issue than all the End-to-End initiatives and the well-meaning but toothless OPM Pledge to Applicants (a 2003 initiative of former OPM Director Kay Coles James). If senior managers can see with their own eyes what atrocities pass for recruiting literature in their own agencies, this in itself may galvanize long-needed action. Something certainly has to do so.

  Jeremiah Posted June 15, 2009 8:49 AM
• 80085
  

  This is just another example of the larger Federal employee community's grasping at straws to blame civil service hiring for the current reliance on contractors. It certainly has nothing to do with the skills, quality, experience or long term costs involved. By blaming a system failure (who are these failing hiring officials), there is no need to justify the hiring of several hunderd thousand new Federal employees while prohibiting competition on the 600,000 to 850,000 Federal employees who already do commercial comparable jobs.

  DC FED Posted June 15, 2009 8:43 AM
• 80060
  

  What a joke. Sure the hiring system is broken, but eliminating KSAO's will not fix it. The real issue is weak postion descriptions and marginal HR reviewers that allow too many candidates to qualify frustrating the selecting official. Sounds like a way to bring the spoils system back to the Federal Service.

  The Commodore Posted June 15, 2009 7:20 AM
• 80014
  

  Max Stier is wrong. In fact, he's dead wrong. According to him and to common perception: "The biggest barrier to attracting top talent into government is the federal hiring process."

  No, Max, the biggest barrier by far is insular organizational culture. And this assertion, Max, is proven by fact and by simply looking at hiring outcomes.

  Fact: DOD is by far the largest of all federal employing agencies. Fact: Even when DOD hiring managers opt to recruit DOD vacancies so staff from other federal agencies and the private sector can apply and compete for DOD positions in the mid and upper pay ranges in the general and financial management fields, DOD ends up hiring (and yes, hiring is THE only thing that really matters and is a if not THE true indictor of organizational culture) only and merely current or prior DOD staffers nearly 100% of the time.

  If you cannot or will not see that 2,000 foot tall Grand Sequoia right in the middle of Wisconsin Blvd, then you really need to get your eyeglass prescription changed.

  If you really, genuinely want to be a catalyst for positive change, put your efforts into change that will make a real difference. Change the preposterously insular self-serving culture that is rampant within DOD and stop nibbling around the corners and chasing your tail with process-related matters.

  Michael J. Smith, MPA Posted June 12, 2009 6:46 PM