Hiring reform isn't as easy as it looks, officials say
Cutting red tape for job applicants and involving managers in the hunt for mission-critical skills could be more complex than meets the eye.
In May, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry and Jeffrey Zients, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, stood before a crowd of human resources managers and unveiled their federal hiring reform plan.
A number of agency officials made speeches in support of President Obama's memo outlining new personnel procedures and gathered around the antique desk of civil service reform advocate Theodore Roosevelt to sign the document.
When Berry said, "Now, for the first time in history, you will be able to apply for almost every federal job with a simple resume and a cover letter," the audience erupted in applause.
The announcement seemed like the culmination of a long process, the end of the road. But for OPM and HR employees, it is just the beginning. As it stands, the hiring process is a tremendous burden both for agencies and applicants. Hiring someone takes an average of five months in government, and as Berry noted, it can involve as many as 40 steps and 19 signatures. Applicants complain they must develop unique and lengthy essays for each federal job they apply for, and then they never receive a response as their applications disappear into the black hole of the process.
In addition to transitioning from the knowledge, skills and abilities essays that have been the cornerstone of the federal application process, agencies must phase out the "rule of three" -- in which managers choose hires from the top three applicants -- to a category rating system. Applicants deemed best qualified will be kept in a pool of potential hires even if officials select another candidate for the vacancy posted. HR offices now will be required to keep the thousands of applicants for federal jobs updated on where they stand along the way.
Hiring managers are being instructed to get more involved in the process, to participate in planning current and future workforce requirements, identifying the skills required for specific jobs, and actively engaging in recruitment and interviews.
These changes are significant; they mark a major culture shift for human resources offices and for program and project managers, many of whom formerly were hands-off during the hiring process. And OPM and OMB are not allowing agencies to make the transition at a glacial pace. On Nov. 1, officials must start providing OPM and OMB with timelines and targets to improve hiring quality and speed.
Agencies will be required to fill mission-critical and other high-priority positions faster, measure progress of reforms, analyze the causes of problems and identify remedial actions, and train managers in effective recruitment and hiring practices, Berry said. OPM will establish a governmentwide performance review and improvement process for the reform effort, to include a timeline, benchmarks and indicators of progress, as well as a data-driven system to hold agencies accountable for improving the speed and quality of hiring, achieving targets, and satisfying merit system principles and veterans preference requirements.
In the July 1 issue of Government Executive, Elizabeth Newell looks at the inside of the federal hiring machinery.