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Whatever happened to hiring the best and the brightest? The current mode is: Show my your category (sex, race, religion) and I'll let you know if we have an opening for you. Diversity is just another word for reverse discrimination. We are all diverse. All white males don't think alike any more than all black females do. This is political correctness run into the ground. This is why I get emails from GS-14s who can't spell or even figure out how to have Outlook check the spelling of their emails . . . . but they're diverse, and that's what counts! Onward though the fog . . .

James Corbin  | Sunday, September 02, 2007 |  09:54 PM

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Fine. USAJobs just got hacked. The old COOL site lost all my personal information when it "upgraded" and I have to reconstruct it all. But now I'm glad I did not enter it into USAJobs, yet. So you can go ahead and apply. Just remember that hackers will get your information, Hispanic or not.

BB  | Sunday, September 02, 2007 |  02:47 PM

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Jim,

Although there are a few good ideas within your commnets, the majority of them are misguided and border on a near frenzied Soviet-style of centralized "top down" inflexibility. You MUST be either working in DoD and/or were in the active duty military, most likely serving in an administrative support capacity. Look, top tier organization's (both public and private sector) look for and hire the best and the brightest wherever they may be currently working. The mere notion of the memorialization of hiring only from within in the mid to upper grades by very definition leads to a sense of entitlement, breeds mediocrity and groupthink, and it ultimately leads to incompetence. The twisted logic of defining excellence as existing only and merely within the hiring agency and/or that skill sets are not portable and translatable is not only wrongheaded, it is simply preposterous on its face. And such hyper insular concepts ARE NOT present or practiced in genuine 'world class' organizations, e.g., Microsoft, The Washington Post, the National Institutes of Health, others).

Michael J. Smith, M.P.A.  | Thursday, August 30, 2007 |  11:23 AM

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Here is part of the problem, cut and pasted directly from USAjobs, the "one stop shop" for federal government hiring. Out of courtesy, I won't name the agency that posted this job, but this is in the "How to Apply" section of their announcement:

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IMPORTANT NOTE: We do not use USAJOBS resume builder for submitting resumes. Your USAJOBS resume will not automatically be uploaded to USAStaffing. Therefore, please ensure you use the "How to Apply" tab or section in this vacancy announcement for step-by-step instructions on how to submit your resume, supporting documentation, and complete the occupational questionnaire.

Failure to follow the "How to Apply" instructions will result in loss of consideration.

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Bottom line: Jim is correct...and knowing HOW to apply for a job (college grad or not) is not the issue. Wading through the mud to get to the job is the issue. If private industry hired this way our economy would collapse.

Bill  | Thursday, August 30, 2007 |  10:07 AM

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There are a lot of good people looking to join the civil service, who are told over and over again, “please, come join us”, only to get frustrated by months and months of knocking on the door and getting no answer from multiple organizations beyond "your resume has been received, thank you very much for applying" . There are also a lot of good people in the civil service who feel trapped and unable to receive the training and assignments necessary to move up the ladder. If there is a true desire to adapt the civil service to the realities of the current marketplace environment, then radical changes in the way people get hired, trained, assigned, and promoted are required.

Hiring, training, assignment, and promotion of GS civil servants grade GS-5 and above should be centrally managed at the Department/Agency level. Managers may (should) have input during the development of Department/Agency hiring, training, assignment, and promotion standards, but no direct input on how those standards are applied. Managers should still retain a significant amount of input on rewards (e.g., performance-based awards), though the establishment of clearly quantifiable and objective performance goals for their employees (based upon Department /Agency wide standards), and indirect input over promotions and eliminations through annual evaluations.

There should be centrally managed entry-level hiring lists, and the primary focus should be on hiring entry-level personnel (hiring of people above GS-11 should be discouraged, and only be done when there are no qualified employees on the applicable Department/Agency promotion lists). If somebody is qualified for a class of job (e.g., Engineer), they are added to the list. Hiring lists should be published (over the internet) and readily available so candidates (identified by password rather than by name) can have daily feedback on where they stand. Hiring off the list should be based upon a first on – first offered basis. When a requirement is identified in the Department/Agency, an offer is made to the candidate at the top of the list. If they accept, that’s it – they are hired. If they decline, that’s it – they are taken off the list and must reapply (and slowly work their way back up through the list).

Managers & supervisors should not have veto power over candidates provided by the listing. Rather than waiting for a job announcement to be prepared and published, resumes to be received then evaluated, and interviews scheduled and conducted, when a valid position becomes vacant the system automatically starts the backfilling process. The candidate provided from the listing may not be a “perfect” match (is anyone “perfect”?), but the candidate meet all the basic requirements, and should be reporting to their new assignment in no more than a couple months, rather than the extended durations currently being experienced.

All employees should have equal access to training required to make them more productive. Personnel should be automatically scheduled to receive centrally funded required training (either be attending resident instruction or via the internet) required by their position. Employees should be required to successfully complete all required training within a specified timeframe. Successfully completing or failing to complete required training within the specified timeframe should be noted on annual evaluations and could be considered when/if an employee is considered for elimination from service. If justified, additional training could be authorized and funded at lower that Department/Agency levels.

When hired, receiving centrally authorized training, or accepting a promotion, all employees should be required to sign a mobility agreement (valid for a specified period of time – say 5 years from date of signature), and be willing to be assigned and relocate (permanently or temperately) based upon the needs of the Department/Agency. Refusal to sign a mobility agreement should have the same result as refusing the offer of employment for a candidate. An employee who refused to sign a mobility agreement when offered centrally funded training or a promotion would be barred from receiving the training or from being placed on (or remaining on) a promotion list. Failure of an employee with a valid mobility agreement to honor a movement request should result in speedy elimination from Government service.

Promotions should be based upon meeting specified qualifications (to include being evaluated as qualified for promotion on annual evaluations). A list of qualified Department/ Agency employees should be maintained in a manner similar to that for promotions. External candidates desiring to be considered for non-entry level positions should only be considered if there was a requirement and the applicable Department/Agency promotion list was empty. External candidates for non-entry level positions should be required to demonstrate they possessed the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the position (not unlike the current hiring process), and if qualified should be considered for specific vacancies (but not added to Department/Agency promotion lists).

Some of the thoughts discussed above are harsh and may be painful, but these are dangerous times. If the civil service is going to survive, we need to jettison the belief that risk avoidance is an acceptable way of doing business. The writing is on the wall, the status quo is unacceptable. The environment is changing, there is only one constant – adapt or die.

Jim  | Thursday, August 30, 2007 |  06:58 AM

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Check any job on usajobs.opm.gov
You'll find: No discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, protected genetic information,...... or any other nonmerit factor.
The federal government has a very diverse workforce. Affirmative Action had a place a number of years ago. It's not needed now. I've seen a layer of management that is all African American, one below that was almost exclusively Asian, and the one below that all female. There may have been no "official" quotas, but it sure worked out the same. How about hiring & promoting just on merit?
The only group that should be actively seeking people of Hispanic, Arabic or other descent is to fill positions with language and cultural knowledge requirements. Outside of that, if you can't figure out how to apply for a federal job, you probably can't figure out how to do the federal job.

Another Federal worker  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  01:11 PM

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You are a college graduate and you don't know how to apply for a job? Says a lot.

Da  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  11:30 AM

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Mr Smith what you are complaining about (taking care of our own) is that the DoD MUST hire Vets prior to giving any civilian's the position that is listed. Why? Most of the time the Vet was doing that job while serving in the military and has the info and rules on a down pat already. Any person just coming in would not know the rules and regulations of that postion and there are many (I found that out when I was hired and I'm just a Secretary).
I am an AF Brat and I had never served in the military, but I did get a positon in the AF and have been serving for the past 15 years (proudly at that). The DoD does hire handicaped people as well as "normal" people, and from all races. Granted the hiring system could use some improvements and they may need to advertise the positions more. If the students getting out of High School these days are so savvy with the computers they should be able to find the websits. Besides, if they live near any military base they can get hold of the Civilian Personnel section and make arrangements.

DoD Civ  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  10:38 AM

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OPM is useless. Why do agencies use them? Agencies do what they want regardless of OPM rules. Nepotism, fraud and waste runs so rampant in agencies it's sickening. Get rid of OPM altogether and save the Government some money.

Federal Employee  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  10:16 AM

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According to a Washington Times article(Bush hit over jobs for illegal workers, 23 August 07), 17 of 100 worst employers who hire illegal aliens are government agencies. So, what's the problem?

I agree with "whatever" - can we stop the catering, not just for employment, but all the other areas?

Just Me  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  09:28 AM

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Hire based on education and experience, not by what race someone is. I am very tired of seeing people being promoted because of their race. We are all Americans and its time Affirmative Action gets thrown out the door. If hirees are aliens they should not be hired period. They should be escorted home whereever that is. Age, sex, and all that stuff should not matter when it comes to the hiring process. Assign applicants a number and hire based on education and experience. Thank you.

Concerned  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  09:09 AM

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We need to stop worring about hiring the hispanics and other foreign nationals into the government and START worring about our own - White Americans! We are the minority in the workforce today. I believe the foreign nationals need to go back to their own country. We would not be at war today if we would not allow them the freedom to live here!!!!!!!!

Concerned American  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  08:55 AM

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I don't care who they hire as long as they are legal citizens of this country & qualified for the job....

Lisa Winokur  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  08:48 AM

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Mr. Smith is correct. It is even worse: The entire federal hiring system is so inefficient, so convoluted and so insular that even current federal employees can't navigate their way through it. OPM needs to take steps immediately to consolidate the hiring system and take away each agency's prerogative to use whatever system they choose to select and hire. The assertion that USAjobs (the OPM site) is a one-stop recruitment site is simply a falsehood. I advise talented young people to avoid federal government service at all costs.

Bill  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  08:40 AM

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As a manager in a federal agency located outside the major metropolitan areas, I have had great difficulty attracting minority employees to join our workforce. Greater mobility of the prospective employee will improve the opportunity to work for the federal government. My fellow managers report the same concerns as this one. When I have an opportunity to hire, I check with local colleges first, then I post it on website. The number of inquiries from these efforts directed to minorities does not generate many leads. Vets seem to seek us out more that the others. Encourage those seeking employment with the government to broaden their searches to a wider geographic range. They will succeed.

Richard Black  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  08:27 AM

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Can we PLEASE stop catering to the Hispanics? They are represented just fine in the Government and they are given plenty of opportunities.

Whatever  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  07:51 AM

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I find it hard to believe that people would have that much difficulty applying for federal jobs. The information is everywhere. Could it be that they just don't want to put their careers in the hands of bureaucrats? The Internet has done a lot to penetrate the smoke screen and inform the public regarding the federal workplace. Perhaps the government should try recruiting from prisons.

Robert M.  | Wednesday, August 29, 2007 |  07:34 AM

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If agencies used all the Career Entry Program options they have to do emphasis recruitment and make conditional job offers at campus job fairs - instead of using those programs to hire the children of senior staff outside of the competitive process - we could make some real strides on those outcomes.

Betsy Ross  | Tuesday, August 28, 2007 |  10:50 PM

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Recruitment strategies mean nada. It's hiring outcomes that speak to an organization's culture, values and recruitment intent. And the truth of the matter is that throughout the largest federal agency - the Department of Defense - even when DoD agencies purportedly recruit outside of themselves via federal-wide and/or all sources/all US citizens can apply recruitments, at least for those in the general administrative and financial management fields in the mid and upper GS grades, their hiring records indicate that they only hire, repeat only HIRE merely current or prior DoD staffers, be they DoD GS staff or recently retired DoD active duty members (who want so-called 'conversions' to GS appointments post retirement) or DoD contractor staff. Unless and until DoD's hyper insularness as manifested by its near 100% levels of inbreeding [a practice that is commonly referred to as 'we take care of our own (under the guise of external to DoD recruitments)] is addressed and ameliorated, recruitment strategies mean absolutely nothing, at least not for those positions in the identified series and grades. Sorry folks, but this speaks volumes about what is really goining on.

Michael J. Smith, M.P.A.  | Tuesday, August 28, 2007 |  06:55 PM

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