Key Feds and Outsiders Gather in DC for Hiring Reform Conference

COMMENTS

• There are already many hiring mechanisms readily available to both recruit for and to hire bright, high potential university gradutes who are interested in public service, the most expectional and successful being the Presidential Management Fellowship Program. But here's another issue that should be addressed at this function: The overly insular organizational culure and actual hiring practices and outcomes within largest of all federal employers- the DOD. The unfortunate and unvarnished truth of the matter is that DOD is ludicrously insular and nearly hopelessly inbred inthe mid and upper ranges in administrative management disciplines.

  Even when DoD one agency careerist groupthink-anchored 'managers' have the audacity to recruit US taxpayer funded positions outside of DoD via federal-wide and/or DEU area of consideration recruitments, their hiring outcomes (which is the only thing that really counts or matters) in the general and financial administrative management disciplines in the higher grades ALMOST ALWAYS results in near 100% levels of rampant inbreeding where only and merely current or prior DOD staffers (e.g., DoD GS, or recently retired military who sat in the same literal chair in uniform before being 'converted' into the GS position, or DoD contractor) are ever hired, hired under the guise of obviously concocted and de facto fradulent 'competitions,' sham external recruitments that are cobbled together BY DoD one agency caeerists FOR DoD one agency careerists. Unless and until this underlying systemic dregs of public administrative management practice of 'we take care of our own (via sham surmized external recruitments)' preposterously insular culture is (a) called what it is, and (b) curtailed or (c) stopped, functions such as this won't mean a thing.

  Michael Smith Posted Wednesday, October 28, 2009 1:34 PM

• Far too often the problem is with quotas and set asides in federal hiring. Opening can't be filled because we don't have the right sex or ethic group so we wait until someone shows up with the cultural boxes checked rather than the skill set needed.
  We already have Vet preference in law but we have many agencies try and skit the law with nonsense such as presidential fellows and college grad direct hires which are against the law.
  federal Hiring can be streamlined by dropping the illegal set asides and complying with the laws on the books

  dan m ketter Posted Wednesday, October 28, 2009 3:45 PM

• Were Scott Gould and Lisa Bilmes on the list? .... their book The People Factor should be mandatory reading for anyone who pays attention to this matter, especially veterans.

  Marco Posted Saturday, October 31, 2009 1:05 AM

• Government hiring is largely a sham. There are few positions other than entry level that are already wired from within the agency. Why bother going through the sham process? Why not allow government agencies to hire internally without the fraud of posting notices? There are few government employees that do not personally know anyone who was not preselected for a position, including themselves. Secondly the laborious application process is ridiculous and a tremendous waste of time and money. Few otherwise qualified candidates are willing to go through the process when you can go to the private sector and apply for a job on a two page resume, get an interview within days, get an answer within days and be on the job within days. Imagine having your application screened by someone who doesn't even have the same professional qualifications as the applicant? This is what happens in government HR departments.
  As long as the government is going to rely on government employees to reform the system, nothing will be changed. This is not a new problem. This problem has existed for as long as anyone alive can remember.
  Ironically the poorest performing or under performing department in most federal agencies is HR. HR departments, particularly in DC, are staffed by people who don't care, have little if any real HR experience, have even less supervision and most of all, are not rated or paid based on whether anyone is hired or not. They remain in place regardless whether anyone is hired or not. The mindset of the average federal HR department employee is that "I got mine."
  Its interesting that federal HR departments rarely get reduced in size regardless of whether a department is bring in candidates or not. Its a self licking ice cream cone.

  Whoever thinks the best and brightest are in government needs to take a pee test to find out what they've been smoking.

  BTW: Ketter, blaming things on "ethnic" groups, racial preferences, quotas etc...is a canard. Start with your own "ethics" before you point fingers at groups who aren't there to respond to your groundless claims. I know plenty of qualified people who were passed over by lesser qualified vets. The fact someone served in France during the Korean war is hardly justification to grant them vet's preference.

  Doubting Thomas Posted Saturday, October 31, 2009 10:38 AM

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.