Agencies boost use of hiring flexibilities

Federal agencies' use of hiring flexibilities has increased substantially in recent years, according to a new Office of Personnel Management report.

The report found that from fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2007, the number of employees hired under eight special authorities went up more than 48 percent, from slightly less than 30,000 to more than 43,000. During that same period, the total number of annual new hires went up by less than 2 percent, from 236,000 to 240,000.

"Agencies often claim the traditional ranking and selection procedures of the federal hiring process are the main barriers to attracting qualified candidates and filling positions with the people they need to carry out their missions," OPM reported. To address such concerns, over the years Congress has authorized the use of several alternatives to the traditional competitive examining approach to federal hiring.

OPM analyzed the use of eight of them in the report:

• Direct hire authority, which allows agencies to bring on employees without using a formal ranking and rating process when OPM determines there is a severe shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need.
• The Federal Career Intern Program, allowing appointments to two-year internships that can be noncompetitively converted into career civil service jobs.
• The Presidential Management Fellows Program, allowing appointments of students in graduate study programs.
• A program allowing direct hiring of people with mental retardation, severe physical disabilities or psychiatric disabilities.
• The Student Career Experience Program, allowing appointments of students to jobs in their area of study.
• A program under the 1998 Veterans Employment Opportunities Act that allows the hiring of veterans who successfully compete under merit promotion procedures when an agency fills a position from outside its own workforce.
• The Veterans Recruitment Appointment program, which allows agencies to temporarily hire eligible veterans to positions up to the GS-11 level without issuing vacancy announcements.
• A program allowing the temporary hiring of 30 percent or more disabled veterans at any grade level.

Overall, the percentage of total new hires brought on under the eight authorities went up from 12 percent in 2004 to 18 percent in 2007.

Direct hire authority, sanctioned by the 2002 Homeland Security Act, increased by more than 900 percent from 2004 to 2007, although only 2,105 employees were hired under the authority last year, less than 1 percent of total new hires.

OPM also noted that agencies have increased the use of "category rating," under which they are allowed to place candidates into broad categories rather than ranking them by individual numeric score. The candidates in the highest category all are referred to hiring officials for consideration. OPM has found that 26 agencies have implemented policies to use the category rating approach.

Federal labor unions have criticized the rise in the use of alternate hiring authorities and the decline in competitive civil service hiring.

Earlier in May, for example, the National Treasury Employees Union decried the growth of the Federal Career Intern Program. "Far from being a limited special-focus hiring tool, aimed at providing structured, two-year training and development 'internships,' FCIP is now the tool of choice to circumvent fair hiring practices," NTEU President Colleen Kelley said. "Vacancy announcements do not have to be posted, veterans' preference rights are diminished, and agencies have discretion to make selection decisions without following rating and ranking processes or merit promotion plans."

Hires under FCIP increased 147 percent from 2004 to 2007, from about 6,800 to almost 17,000.

For its study, OPM surveyed officials at eight agencies. The majority of supervisors and managers who indicated they used hiring flexibilities said they were more efficient than traditional ranking and selection procedures and were more effective in producing high-quality employees. But most managers also said they were not using resources and guidance provided by OPM on the use of flexibilities.