Bush-favored hiring practice treats veterans fairly, MSPB says

Veterans are more likely to get federal jobs under an alternative hiring practice included in the Bush administration's management reform initiative, than they are under the hiring authority currently used by federal agencies, according to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Agencies currently use the "rule of three" to select a job candidate. The rule requires human resources officials to pick a new hire from among the three most qualified applicants. Qualified veterans are given extra points in the hiring process, meaning that they can rank higher on a list of candidates than an equally qualified nonveteran. The Managerial Flexibility Act of 2001, (S. 1612) which contains many provisions of the Bush administration's management reform agenda, would give all agencies the authority to use alternative hiring methods, such as categorical grouping. Under categorical grouping, agencies divide applicants into two or more categories based on the quality of their applications. Personnel officers can then hire any candidate within the top-quality group. Applicants covered by certain preferences--veterans, for example--would be listed ahead of other candidates within their group. The Agriculture Department's Forest Service has used categorical grouping successfully under a demonstration project that was made permanent in 1998. According to John Palguta, director of policy and evaluation at MSPB, categorical grouping is a better hiring tool than the current hiring process. Under the rule of three, a manager who is not satisfied with the top three candidates can try to find other candidates using another hiring authority. A 1995 MSPB study, "The Rule of Three in Federal Hiring: Boon or Bane?", found that managers would rather hire no one than be forced to hire a veteran under the rule of three. "Most managers really are focused on getting the best person possible because it is in their best interest to do so," Palguta said. "Under categorical grouping, everybody who is referred has been determined to be well-matched to the job and then veterans in the group get the selective referral. When you use a hiring approach where your first cut is to identify the people who can do a good job…what we've found is [veterans] get hired more frequently."