Meet Jim. Raised by teachers, Jim grew up with a commitment to public service and wanted to work for the federal government. After submitting an application for a federal job, Jim waited for a response — and waited, and waited.
Twelve months later, he finally received a phone call inviting him for an interview. After so much time, he hardly remembered to which job he had applied. Unfortunately, nearly nine months before the call, Jim had started a new job — with a federal contractor.
What happened here? To recruit Jim, this company reached out to him, targeted a sales pitch to his field of study, and made the application process easy. He submitted a resume online and received an e-mail confirmation within days. Soon thereafter, he had a successful interview, rapidly followed by an appealing offer.
All the while, Jim’s application was kicking around the abyss known as the federal hiring process.
Despite losing top candidates to more nimble organizations, the federal government continues to recruit candidates by decades-old standards. Our government needs to acknowledge the changing expectations of today’s Internet-savvy applicant and fundamentally improve the federal hiring process. We have to catch up.
Consider this: In recent weeks, I purchased a coffee table, groceries and a new suit. I paid my bills. I hooked up new phone service. And I planned a trip to Europe.
Several years ago, these activities would have made for a very long week. It would have required a trip to the local mall, a grocery store and maybe the post office. I would have waited for the phone company to appear at my home and perhaps scheduled a lengthy visit with a travel agent.
Instead, I never left my home. Each of these tasks is easily accomplished online, a drastic change in the way we live — and work. Since this development dramatically changes the way today’s applicants pursue work, it also changes the way we must recruit top talent.
The common complaints about the federal hiring process — it takes too long, it’s too complicated, there’s little or no communication along the way — reflect the new expectations of today’s applicants. Each complaint expresses frustration with the lingering methods of days past. Paper-based systems required meandering procedures, and there was little prospect of a prompt reply.
To successfully recruit today’s best applicants, we must catch up to their contemporary mind-set. When I buy merchandise online, I immediately receive an e-mail that confirms the purchase, details the costs and predicts shipment. In today’s world, applicants count on the job search process to be just as user-friendly. They expect that we’ll communicate with them about their order. They want feedback, and they want it now.
In the face of new expectations, some agencies adjusted the way they do business. Just a few years ago, submitting federal taxes required lots of paper, a calculator and many headaches. Today, with the benefit of online filing products, taxes no longer represent the same burden.
The hiring process needs to undergo a similar transformation. Working with the Partnership for Public Service, the Office of Personnel Management recently posted an online Hiring Toolkit (www.opm.gov/hiringtoolkit). This Web site combines the tools and techniques honed by the Partnership and OPM in separate efforts to improve the federal hiring process. It includes interactive tools, detailed case studies and other resources. Some agencies will use this site to make over their hiring process from end to end. Others may target their efforts. Either way, the Hiring Toolkit offers help, broken into four phases:
• Prepare to hire.
• Recruit top talent.
• Select the best.
• Measure success.
The federal government is losing the race for talented people like Jim. We need to find quality candidates, tailor our marketing to their interests, and communicate. Like most transformation, this will take time — and perseverance. But OPM’s Hiring Tool- kit arms agencies with resources to streamline procedures, sell jobs, and deftly assess candidates. And, with the Toolkit, we might just have a chance to catch up.
Katie Malague is program manager for the Partnership for Public Service.
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