Feds kick off online job fair for technology workers

Twenty-two federal agencies will try to hire 230 information technology specialists through an online job fair that the Office of Personnel Management will hold April 22 to 26. Co-sponsored by the federal Chief Information Officers Council, the virtual IT job fair will allow techies to submit their applications and complete skills assessments online at www.usajobs.opm.gov. The skills assessments will include questions about technical abilities such as knowledge of programming languages, network management and Web technology, as well as questions about interpersonal skills, problem solving and teamwork. After the job fair is over next Friday, OPM will prepare lists of qualified candidates for each of the participating agencies. Each agency's hiring officials will then interview candidates and pick job winners. Officials hope to quickly select candidates and use the job fair as a case study for speeding up federal hiring. "The speed to seat issue has always been a chink in the armor of the federal government," said Ira Hobbs, acting CIO at the Agriculture Department and co-chairman of the CIO Council's workforce subcommittee. Hobbs said officials hope to hire people through the job fair within 45 days, rather than the typical three to nine months that federal job applicants often have to wait. "This doesn't put us where we want to be, but it's a heck of the way down the road from where we are," Hobbs said. Job openings will include positions throughout the country and around the world, with salaries ranging from $43,230 to $84,990 (GS-7 through GS-13 on the federal pay scale). One hundred of the positions are with the State Department, a department announcement said. Two previous IT job fairs conducted by State netted hundreds of hires. Other participating agencies include the Agriculture, Labor and Treasury departments and NASA. On behalf of the government, State is advertising the job fair on Monster.com and Dice.com, private sector job sites. State also ran a radio commercial to promote the job fair on Washington radio stations DC101, WBIG and WHUR and on XM satellite radio. Ads also ran in The Washington Post and on CNET.com. The National Academy of Public Administration issued a report last year calling for the government to speed up its hiring process for technology workers. "The federal government's rules and regulations present real barriers in designing and implementing speedy hiring processes," the academy report said.