[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10434]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  REFORMING THE FEDERAL HIRING PROCESS

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I would like to speak today about the 
broken hiring process in the Federal Government and the need to recruit 
and retain the next generation of Federal employees.
  The Federal Government is the largest employer in the United States, 
but every day talented people interested in Federal service are turned 
away at the door. Too many Federal agencies have built entry barriers 
for younger workers, invested too little in human resources 
professionals, done too little to recruit the right candidates, and 
invented an evaluation process that discourages qualified candidates. 
As a result, high-quality candidates are abandoning the Federal 
Government. The Federal Government has become the employer of the most 
persistent.
  This problem was forcibly brought home at a hearing on May, 8, 2008, 
of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal 
Workforce, and the District of Columbia entitled ``From Candidates to 
Change Makers: Recruiting the Next Generation of Federal Employees,'' 
which I chair. The subcommittee heard testimony from the Office of 
Personnel Management, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Merit 
Systems Protection Board, the Government Accountability Office, Federal 
employee unions, think tanks, a human resources consulting firm, and an 
expert in New Media marketing.
  The Government Accountability Office's testimony pointed out the 
broad failures of agencies to address these issues and stated, 
``Studies by us and others have pointed to such problems as passive 
recruitment strategies, unclear job vacancy announcements, and 
imprecise candidate assessment tools. These problems put the Federal 
Government at a competitive disadvantage when acquiring talent.''
  The Office of Personnel Management OPM is supposed to be the leader 
in the Federal Government on personnel and human capital practices, but 
not enough is being done. OPM's answer is to offer a legislative 
proposal that would have the Federal Government rehire retired 
employees on a part-time or limited-time basis. This demonstrates a 
clear lack of focus on attracting the next generation of Federal 
workers and working to retain the current employees. OPM estimates that 
30 percent of the Federal workforce--approximately 600,000 employees--
will retire in the next 5 years. Rehiring former employees does not 
address the changing culture of job seekers.
  Mr. Dan Solomon, the chief executive office of the marketing firm 
Virilion, addressed the issue of developing recruitment strategies that 
are friendly to 25- to-35-year-old. Mr. Solomon laid out the challenge 
before Federal agencies in recruiting the next generation testifying, 
``younger people are a difficult group to reach and engage . . . bottom 
line: people looking for jobs are online and the government needs to be 
there to attract the best.''
  Reports and surveys from the Merit Systems Protection Board MSPB, the 
Partnership for Public Service, and the Council for Excellence in 
Government demonstrate that young people strongly desire to work in 
public service. Agencies need to meet young people where they are, and 
developing recruitment strategies, using online resources and 
streamlining the hiring process are essential to attracting the next 
generation of Federal employees. In the private sector, employers post 
jobs through many online venues and only require a resume and cover 
letter. Applying to the Federal Government should be accessible and 
easy.
  There were many good suggestions made to improve the process. I 
believe that if OPM forced agencies to adopt those recommendations 
improvements would be made. For example, MSPB offered four sound 
recommendations that could significantly improve agencies' efforts if 
adopted, First, agencies should manage hiring as a critical business 
process, and not an administrative function that is relegated to the 
human resources staff. Second, agencies should evaluate their own 
internal hiring practices to identify barriers to high-quality, timely, 
and cost-effective hiring decisions. Third, employ rigorous assessment 
strategies that emphasize selection quality, not just cost and speed. 
Finally, agencies should implement sound marketing practices and better 
recruitment strategies, improve their vacancy announcements, and 
communicate more effectively with applicants.
  Agencies can do this. The problem is not Congress. Since 2002, 
Congress has given agencies the flexibilities they need. Agencies no 
longer must rely on the rule of three or selecting only from the top 
three candidates who apply; they can use category ratings; and they can 
get direct hire authority from OPM. However, in many cases Federal 
agencies are not using these authorities. Neither is the competitive 
process the problem. The notion that merit system principles and 
veterans preference are barriers to hiring is wrong. These are good 
management practices that ensure agencies select qualified candidates 
and do not use discriminatory practices.
  OPM has not done enough to force agencies to streamline their hiring 
processes and appeal to the next generation of employees. OPM developed 
the 45-day hiring model and Hiring Tool Kit to reduce the hiring time 
at agencies to 45 days and streamline internal processes. However, 
these have not reduced the number of complaints from applicants about 
the length and complexity of the process. The 45-day model is 45 
workdays or 9 weeks. Furthermore, agencies still require too much 
information up front from candidates instead of an approach that 
requires more information as the employee moves through the process.
  Agencies need to adapt, just as the private sector has, to the 
culture of the next generation of Federal workers. Candidates should 
receive timely and informative feedback. Candidate-friendly 
applications that welcome cover letters and resumes should be 
implemented. And, more pipelines into colleges and technical schools 
need to be developed to recruit candidates with diverse backgrounds.
  Witnesses from the hearing were committed to improving the process 
offered many recommendations to help agencies. However, these 
recommendations are not new and I am concerned that their efforts may 
be too little, too late. Agencies have the existing authorities to 
streamline their processes and some are already doing so, but it is not 
enough.
  I am convinced that only through agency leadership that prioritizes 
this issue will any meaningful reforms take place. I will continue to 
press this administration to address this issue, and I encourage the 
next administration to take on the challenge of reforming the 
recruitment and hiring process to ensure that the Federal workforce is 
the greatest workforce in the world.

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