Hiring reform inches forward

Federal agencies have made progress on reducing the amount of time it takes to hire new employees, but they still have to make headway on attracting quality candidates and developing hiring assessments, officials said on Wednesday.

In a May memorandum, President Obama directed federal agencies to implement changes in government hiring by Nov. 1. For example, agencies must move to a resume-based system; eliminate knowledge, skills and abilities essays; and give hiring managers more responsibility to recruit and interview candidates. The president also directed agencies to fill jobs faster and to update candidates on the status of their applications.

Though agencies are shooting for 80 days from start to finish in the hiring process as the primary marker of success, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry acknowledged some have yet to reach that goal. All are moving in the right direction, but the transition should be driven by quality rather than artificial deadlines, he told reporters after a briefing for agency representatives.

"We need to get off of island KSA and on to the world of the resume," said Berry.

Officials reported progress in reducing hiring time. The Housing and Urban Development Department two years ago required 139 days and 39 steps to bring new hires onboard, but today has shortened the process to 76 days and 14 steps, said Secretary Shaun Donovan. The Energy Department averages 100 days to hire, but is targeting 80 days by the end of fiscal 2011, according to Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman. Berry said OPM has made progress in other areas and has reduced job descriptions to three pages, eliminated KSAs and transitioned to category ratings.

Agency leaders acknowledged challenges remain, however. For example, HUD still is working to standardize job announcement language, streamline its personnel security clearance process, refine its workforce planning process and roll out an improved information technology system. Agencies also will transition to new assessments to replace KSAs.

OPM has begun work on tools that examine general competencies relevant to actual job requirements, such as cognitive skills, writing or logic abilities. Angela Bailey, deputy associate director of recruitment and diversity at OPM, said she expects to begin piloting the assessments and the IT systems that evaluate them in 10 agencies by January 2011 and to roll them out governmentwide in September. Many policy decisions must be made before testing can begin, she added.

"I don't kid myself that someone might not try to creep backwards on KSAs," said Berry. "There's no problem if you get to your final five applicants and you want a writing sample … that's a very fair interview technique. But when you have 10,000 applicants for a job, do we need to make all 10,000 do that? No, let's use the right tools at the right time."

Berry said work continues on ensuring agencies hire the best applicant for each position, and OPM plans to survey managers on the process. More comprehensive data on the status of hiring reform will be available early next year, he added.

"It's not a one stab, it's over," he said. "This is going to be a multiyear effort, a multiprocess effort that we're going to stick with, and the [Chief Human Capital Officers] Council is the body to drive this."