OPM contracts out federal career Web site

The company that runs the most popular online job search site will take over the federal government's central jobs Web site, the Office of Personnel Management announced this week.

OPM said it had awarded a 10-year, $62.4 million contract to run the USAJobs Web site to TMP Worldwide Government Services, the New York-based company that runs Monster.com. Monster.com is the most-visited job announcement site on the Internet. USAJobs is the central site for federal job listings, averaging 17,000 job announcements a day.

OPM Director Kay Coles James said in a statement that contracting out the operation of USAJobs would make it easier for people to find jobs on the site and help speed up job searches. OPM officials hope the firm will make the site more eye-catching as well.

TMP plans to improve USAJobs' search engine and create an easy-to-use resume builder. Federal officials will be able to use a data-mining tool on the revamped site to search through a database of resumes to find eligible candidates for job openings.

Jocelyn Talbot, senior vice president for government solutions at Monster.com, said the company would also improve studentjobs.gov, a Web site aimed at students seeking internships and other jobs in the government, and will handle phone support for USAJobs. Eventually Monster.com will connect the site to the computer systems agencies use to track applicants.

"The site will be very, very user-friendly and have a lot more tools for the job seeker than there are today," Talbot said. "It will help both the candidate and the employer find the ideal match much more easily."

Until now, OPM employees managed USAJobs. Some OPM employees will continue to set policy for the site, while others will do other agency work, an OPM spokesman said. No one will lose a job because the site is being contracted out, he said.

The overhaul of the USAJobs site is one of five e-government projects that OPM took on under the Bush administration's e-government agenda. The other projects are consolidating payroll operations, creating an online training center, electronic security clearance processing and human resources systems integration.