Bill enshrining skills-based hiring heads to Biden’s desk

Legislation codifying recent changes to the federal hiring process that stresses applicants’ skills and experience over educational attainment is now headed to President Biden’s desk for enactment, after both chambers of Congress passed the measure.

The Chance to Compete Act (S. 59), introduced by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and James Lankford, R-Okla., would enshrine a series of recent changes undertaken during the Trump and Biden administrations to reduce agency hiring managers’ reliance on degree requirements when evaluating federal job applicants.

The measure establishes that skills-based assessments administered by agent subject matter experts are acceptable job assessments in the competitive hiring process, and allows agencies to share the assessments of qualified job applicants with one another, an initiative called shared certifications that has already been embraced by federal HR leaders.

The old system, which relied on a combination of degree requirements and asking job candidates to assess their own skills—a practice known as self-assessments—created headaches for job seekers and hiring managers alike. The resulting “federal resume” was opaque for applicants who aren’t seasoned in seeking federal work, while the perceived need by jobseekers to overrate their skillsets made it difficult for HR officials to find truly qualified candidates.

The Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent last week. And on Monday, the House advanced the measure under suspension of the chamber’s rules by voice vote. That means it now heads to the White House, where President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.

In a statement Tuesday, American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley lauded the bill as a step forward in ensuring federal job applicants are judged based on merit.

“For too many years, Congress has whittled away at the government’s competitive hiring process and allowed agencies to bypass rules designed to ensure applicants with the best skills and abilities are recruited,” he said. “The Chance to Compete Act reestablishes skills-based technical assessments, not subjective self-evaluations, as the cornerstone of the government’s hiring process . . . Federal employees protect public safety, serve our veterans, safeguard our borders and advance the frontiers of knowledge. The American people should have confidence that we are recruiting the best and most qualified candidates to work in the federal government, and this legislation will set up agencies for success.”