Housing agency works with personnel officials to overhaul hiring

The Housing and Urban Development Department is joining forces with the Office of Personnel Management to revamp the housing agency's hiring process, officials said last week.

According to an OPM news release, HUD personnel officials appealed for help with their recruiting and hiring practices.

Officials from OPM and HUD are working together to cut the time it takes to hire federal workers. Officials also conducted focus groups and surveys with HUD employees nationwide to collect information about the hiring process and staffing problems at HUD.

During the review, officials found several challenges to quick hiring, including an inefficient approval process, excessively centralized hiring authority, a lack of coordination and planning, and unclear delegation of roles for managers and human resources personnel.

According to OPM, the housing agency is now working to implement several recommendations. HUD personnel officials eliminated two levels of approval that were previously needed for hiring, installed a system to track and report hiring and recruitment efforts. In addition, HUD staff are holding weekly meetings with officials from different agency organizations to evaluate progress on the hiring reform.

This year, OPM unveiled a 45-day hiring model for federal agencies and improved the government's employment Web site, USAJOBS. OPM officials have also worked with agencies to simplify vacancy announcements.

In July, a range of federal personnel officials bucked conventional wisdom and told Congress that the hiring process was working well. In last week's release, however, OPM officials were insistent that the HUD hiring process would be revamped.

"OPM and HUD are working closely to streamline several personnel operations," said OPM Director Kay Coles James. "Secretary Alphonso Jackson is committed to achieving real results. This extreme makeover will help HUD better manage its hiring practices and human capital efforts."

Officials at HUD confirmed that they asked for help after determining that it was taking too long to hire employees. A HUD public affairs official, said, however, that it was too early in the process to announce any significant findings. The agency is planning to analyze the results it is getting from initial surveys, and will release its findings and conclusions at an undetermined later date.