Three departments reap benefits of new hiring flexibilities

Agency human resources officers and an official from the Office of Personnel Management sounded encouraging notes about federal hiring during a House hearing on Tuesday.

Despite concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office (formerly known as the General Accounting Office) that agencies are not taking advantage of new hiring flexibilities granted by Congress in 2002, officials at the Defense, Health and Human Services, and Energy departments said they are hiring qualified personnel quickly.

All three department officials said they fill positions in less than 40 days. The private-sector average is 45 days.

"We have been surprised, and at times nearly overwhelmed, by the abundance of candidates with master's, Ph.D., J.D. and M.D. degrees eager to come and work for the federal government," said Ed Sontag, assistant secretary for administration and management at HHS.

OPM Deputy Director Dan Blair noted that a recent survey conducted at OPM-sponsored job fairs found that attendees were more interested in federal work and were enthused about "making a difference" in a government job. During the past three years, OPM has developed a 45-day hiring model for agencies, enhanced the government's help wanted Web site, USAJOBS, worked with agencies to simplify vacancy announcements, and teamed with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to revamp its hiring process.

Department officials' views contrasted sharply with the picture painted by GAO, which surveyed agency chief human capital officers in April. The majority said that their agencies were making little or no use of new agency hiring authorities, such as category ranking and direct-hire authority.

Category ranking allows agency human resources officials to present a larger group of qualified candidates to hiring managers. In the past, managers were able to review only three top candidates. Direct-hire authority allows agencies to apply to OPM to waive merit system protections in cases where they are facing a critical shortage of employees in hard-to-fill positions.

In response, the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization held a June field hearing in Chicago at which OPM defended its work promoting the new authorities and training agencies to use them.

But at the hearing Tuesday, Claudia Cross, the Energy Department's chief human capital officer, said that agencies are using the authorities on an as-needed basis. While Energy "may not be in the market for all the flexibilities established and advocated by OPM, we recognize the potential for future benefit to our agency that the various flexibilities represent," she said.

Cross said that Energy has used governmentwide direct-hire authority to bring on additional information technology specialists "within two weeks," adding that "this is remarkable in and of itself." Energy also is considering whether to seek direct-hire authority for acquisition specialists and nuclear engineers and scientists.

Cross said the category rating system does not meet Energy's needs since most of its positions require scientific or technical skills. Because of the specialized skills required, Energy job openings rarely yield large numbers of qualified applicants.

Sontag and Defense Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness David Chu both said they had not yet used category ranking, but planned to implement it now that OPM has issued final regulations. Sontag said HHS has used direct-hire authority to fill nursing and pharmacy positions. Chu said Defense had recently won permission to use direct hire to fill auditing slots in the Defense inspector general's office.

Everyone seemed to agree that agencies do not need new hiring authorities, though there was enthusiasm expressed by the agency officials and Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., for expanding federal internship programs for college students and recent college graduates. Sontag added that agencies need new assessment tools to attract recent graduates since current tools favor applicants with more experience.

The agency officials acknowledged that in some cases, hiring decisions and processes would continue to frustrate applicants. "DOE will not sacrifice quality for speed," said Cross. "We want the best, even if it takes a bit more time."