"We need to be sure that we’re hip," said OPM Director Katherine Archuleta.

"We need to be sure that we’re hip," said OPM Director Katherine Archuleta. Jamie Cotten/Labor Department

How the Government Plans to Revamp USAJOBS and Make Federal Service 'Hip'

OPM rolls out plan to simplify federal hiring, increase data usage and recruit minority millennials.

Federal officials on Monday announced plans to reshape government hiring and employee engagement efforts -- including an overhaul of the troubled job announcement site USAJOBS -- saying the changes were “a long time coming.”

Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta met with reporters and held a digital town hall to announce the plans, which she said reflect both her own ideas and President Obama’s management agenda. OPM is referring to the initiative as “REDI” (recruitment, engagement, diversity and inclusion), and it includes new programs as well as ongoing efforts. 

Generally, Archuleta said OPM will redouble its efforts to work as a customer service provider to federal agencies and boost data-driven decision making. One of the major tenets of the plan is to “untie the knots” of federal hiring, which the director admitted was burdened by regulations and too complicated to serve both the job seeker and employer.

Part of that process will stem from using new digital tools that help agencies refine their recruiting efforts, such as where unrepresented demographic groups are located and ways to attract science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) applicants. It will also involve deploying teams from OPM to help agencies solve problems including how to use various flexibilities in hiring authorities, write job announcements and determine the best ways to hire en masse.

Archuleta stressed the importance of teaching agencies and individual hiring managers “how to fish,” rather than becoming the permanent solution they turn to every time a problem arises.

Can't Hire, Can't Fire

Read Government Executive's January/February cover stories for a more in depth look at Uncle Sam's struggles with hiring and firing.

“We have to have the leadership actually guiding this,” Archuleta said. “It can’t be OPM doing it by itself.”

OPM is also working on a re-launch of USAJOBS, which in 2014 served 187 million people conducting 1 billion job searches. The agency has tasked its Innovation Lab with coming up with new ideas and designs to remake the website, with the first changes expected in May. It has also built a dashboard for agencies to determine where potential applicants become frustrated and drop out of the process. Using this applicant data will also help agencies target their recruiting efforts and inform the government of how to build a website that captures the increasingly short attention of its users, especially young people.

“We need to be sure that we’re hip,” Archuleta said, “[that] we’re cool, we’re up to date, we’re millennial.” To that end, OPM has been conducting one-on-one interviews and focus groups with would-be applicants.

After the May changes -- which will mostly be back-end fixes -- go live, OPM will roll out new developments to the website every 12 weeks. A final overhaul of the website, which could include an entirely new design or changes to the current one, will become public in early 2016. OPM’s Innovation Lab team emphasized its dependence on “human-centered design” in revamping the site.

Previous efforts to improve USAJOBS ran into serious technical glitches and complications with contractors. The site still faces significant usability complaints.

“People have wanted to see some changes to USAJOBS for some time,” conceded Tracy Orrison, OPM’s deputy program manager for the website. “Technology and user needs have changed over time. The site really hasn’t kept up with that.”

In addition to the technical changes, Archuleta promised OPM would look at its own rules and regulations on federal hiring to weed out those determined to be overly complicated or outdated. 

Archuleta also spoke of the need to better engage employees once they begin their federal careers, with a particular focus on management. A new Senior Executive Service onboarding program, which President Obama announced last year, is currently in a pilot phase. The Federal Coaching Network just graduated its first group of trainees, and OPM recently launched the Situational Mentoring Program.

OPM is helping agencies find exactly where to focus their workforce morale efforts with the previously launched UnlockTalent.gov, which shows office-by-office results from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. The data can be broken down by question and demographic group, occupational series, length of service, and more. The agency is also building a public-facing website that will provide more information on federal employees organized by location, salary, job type, agency and other factors, in the hopes it will help job seekers learn more about where to apply for positions.  

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.