You Can't Float to the Top

f you aspire to the Senior Executive Service, you should know that there are only 45 to 80 SES openings across the entire government at any one time and approximately 150,000 GS-14s and GS-15s who could be chasing them. In addition, nearly 90 percent of SES openings are filled from within the hiring agency.

The size of the SES also has decreased by about 10 percent in the last several years. What's more, a proposal now under consideration would reduce the number of executive jobs by half, carving off a separate Senior Professional Corps for high-level technical positions that don't really require executive skills.

If those facts haven't dissuaded you, consider that the core qualifications for senior executives have just been completely revamped to emphasize a new set of leadership abilities still rare among government managers and executives.

The road to the top is uphill and bumpy. That's why the Office of Personnel Management is offering SES wannabes roadmaps in the form of workshops in Washing ton (and soon to be available on video across the country). Robert Franco, the Agri culture Department's associate deputy director for civil rights, currently on loan to OPM's office
of executive resources, is the tour guide for these travelogues.

Franco, a senior executive since 1991, was selected for the SES, against the odds, from outside his agency. Franco has served on USDA executive resources boards, qualifications review boards (QRBs), and selection panels for SES jobs and SES candidate development programs. In energetic three-hour presentations, he covers the new core qualifications and how to write an effective SES application, as well as tips on personal marketing and interviewing.

The new executive core qualifications (ECQs) "say leadership is more important than managerial or technical qualifications," according to Franco. "Most of the problems in government today aren't technical or managerial, but problems of leadership." And what's the difference between management and leadership? "[Leaders] can't sit around and wait for the people upstairs to say what they want," Franco says. "An executive will step right up and say, 'Follow me.' You're moving the organization to something you see way down the road versus focusing only on today's problem."

SES aspirants must sell their technical and leadership skills and experiences to all those involved in selection. "The deadliest mistake applicants make is writing solely for the official with the job opening," Franco says. Executives from outside the organization also will be involved in hiring. In fact, an SES application can be reviewed by as many as 15 people, including a personnel office reviewer, an agency executive review board, the hiring official and three QRB members, all of whom are from outside the hiring agency.

Most people need to prepare for years to apply to the executive corps, Franco says. "There are 27 [ECQ] competencies in the guide," Franco says. "No one has all 27. That means you have to plan how to make yourself more competitive." Get a professional assessment of your strengths and weaknesses and then tie your development plan to the ECQs, he suggests. Attend OPM management development centers and the Federal Executive Institute, take special assignments, act for your boss, find a mentor. Get into an SES candidate development program; more than half of all graduates of such programs are selected into the SES, he says.

As for marketing yourself, Franco advises:

• Expand your network beyond your agency.
• Inform your boss you're interested in the SES-you'll need his or her help.
• Meet key officials and members of the agency executive resources board.
• Join professional organizations.
• Write newsletter articles.
• Volunteer to give high-level briefings.

Interviewers like to hear how you got more money for your program or how you increased morale, he says. And when they ask your greatest weakness, "remember, it's a job interview, not a confession." Try answers like: "Well, I'm really a fast mover, but I realize others move at different speeds and it's hard for them to keep up" or "I'm a Nazi when it comes to incompetence and sloth, but HR is working with me on it."