Is Federal Hiring Really That Mysterious?
Death and taxes joke? Check.
Observations about building security? Check
Wide-eyed wonder about the fact that lots of people might want to work for the federal government? Definitely check.
I tend to think it’s a good thing when big publications like the New York Times pay attention to job opportunities in the federal government and to federal operations. But stories like this one about the IRS lie somewhere between helpful and annoying. In the helpful column, it’s good journalism for the Times to look at what options are open and interesting to New Yorkers who have been laid off as a result of the financial meltdown or who are otherwise unemployed. It’s good for the government’s image problem to make it clear that folks who worked in other high-powered industries are also interested in federal jobs—in other words, that it’s not just slackers who work at federal agencies.
But it’s not that helpful when the Times includes a number of details that make the IRS look hidebound or pokey compared to the private sector without explaining them. It shouldn’t surprise even the greenest Times reporter that no matter who you are, you have to go through a metal detector to get into a federal building. And it’s not fair to make IRS look as if it’s not serious about hiring by noting that managers couldn’t offer jobs on the spot without explaining that IRS doesn’t have direct hire authority for its regular positions, and that most federal job applications happen through websites like USAJobs.gov.
If the Times, or any other big paper, wants to take an in-depth look at the federal hiring process and its problems, they should go right ahead. But it would be far more useful for them to treat federal hiring and federal jobs as genuine public policy challenges, rather than treating them like they’re fascinating artifacts. Federal agencies and federal practices aren’t weirder than the private sector, they’re just different.
COMMENTS
Post a Comment
By using this Service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although GovExec does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Staff Correspondent Alyssa Rosenberg takes a look at news affecting the management and operations of the massive federal bureaucracy.
Most productive, capable, qualified and assertive people who are unemployed do not have the pleasure of waiting for "months" to find out the result of a Government interview. The result of a corporate interview and hire usually takes about four weeks, sometimes quicker. That said, one could be employed for up to six months by the time they receive the "phone call" stating that they are being considered for a position from a past interview with a government agency. The response is obvious. The government needs to recruit personnel with the same efficiency as corporations to avoid having to accept the bottom of the barrel.
William Bauman Posted Thursday, October 30, 2008 7:00 AM