Study: agencies should capitalize on strengths to attract mid-level hires
New employees in upper ranks view their agencies more favorably than their previous employers.
Federal service has strengths that agencies can capitalize on to attract highly skilled mid-level workers, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Merit Systems Protection Board.
The study found that upper-level new hires hold favorable views of their agencies compared with their previous employers. Contributing factors included more workplace flexibility, challenging work, and better opportunities for training and development.
The report -- part of a series of three studies that explore how the federal government attracts and hires employees -- examined personnel data from fiscal 1990 through 2005. MSPB also surveyed a random sample of upper-level employees hired in fiscal 2005 and their supervisors to learn more about their views and experiences with the hiring process.
The number of new hires at grades GS-12 and above has increased significantly since 2000, with the trend likely to continue as more employees retire, the study said. A push to bring in expertise at the higher levels of agencies also is likely to become more critical as citizens' needs become more complex, MSPB noted.
Out of a list of 16 reasons new hires applied for federal jobs, about half of respondents cited job security, while agency missions and the opportunity to serve the public also were popular answers, the study found.
Sixty-seven percent of new hires ranked pay as better or about the same as that of their previous jobs. While pay was a reason many respondents applied for federal jobs, it ranked ninth on the list. Respondents rated workplace flexibilities such as telework, a solid retirement program, and annual and sick leave benefits as good as or better than those of their previous employers.
The federal government lags behind respondents' previous employers in its ability to deal with problem employees, however. "Notably, formerly self-employed new hires were especially critical of their agencies' dealings with poor performers," the survey said.
The length of the hiring process also was a major complaint among supervisors and new hires, with 75 percent of new employees indicating that it took longer to be hired for their civil service job than it did for their previous position.
"It took the agency about four months to get me an offer," one respondent said. "I was extremely close to giving up working for the federal government because I just couldn't afford to wait any longer."
Also, about one-third of new hires did not apply for other federal jobs they were interested in because they would have had to write new essays or revise existing essays for their applications, the survey found. About one-fourth said they did not apply because they would have had to rewrite or reformat their résumé.
According to the study, the percentage of women and minorities in upper-level professional and administrative jobs increased between fiscal 1990 and 2005, but a majority of the new hires were still nonminority males. This figure was affected, however, by the types of available jobs, which were typically male-dominated, and an increase in the hiring of former military members as a result of the Veterans Employment Opportunity Act, the study found.
The government's hiring patterns largely follow pressing priorities, such as homeland security, national defense and the need to deliver services through the use of technology, the study found. For example, 80 percent of new upper-level employees were hired by 10 agencies, with the Defense Department and its components accounting for 47 percent. The No. 1 occupation filled across all agencies was information technology management, MSPB found.
The study recommended that agencies develop hiring strategies that include additional recruitment efforts beyond advertising on USAJOBS, with vacancy announcements doing more to highlight agency missions and workplace flexibilities and benefits.
Agencies also should work to ensure automated questionnaires and other portions of the application process are not so long that they become burdensome, MSPB said.
The supervisor or selecting official also should be included in an agency's pre-selection phase to determine the best methods of recruiting and assessing qualifications, MSPB recommended. Human resources staffs also should provide meaningful feedback to job applicants, adding a personal touch to an impersonal process, the study said.