Background: Congress has repeatedly provided bipartisan support for initiatives to improve the federal hiring process. Examples include the Chance to Compete Act of 2023, which modifies requirements to allow for technical assessments in the hiring process for competitive service positions[1] and pooled talent listings which allows agencies to share hiring certificates based on candidate skills[2]. However, the same effort has not been invested in reducing the time-to-hire burden that is seen across the federal government. This is despite the President’s Management Agenda establishing “investing the workforce” as its Priority 1[3].
While progress has been made in reducing time-to-hire from the moment a manager requests to fill a vacancy through the tentative job offer, much work remains to be done to address the logistical steps between tentative job offer and entry on duty (EOD). We are losing the talent we spend significant resources recruiting and selecting, because of the complicated processes required to prepare a candidate for EOD (for example, finger printing, badging, equipping). In a competitive talent market, job candidates will not wait: They routinely accept offers from employers that can onboard them faster. The consequences of these lag times are mission critical. Agencies needing to hire urgently (for example, in response to an emergency like wildfires or cyber security breaches) cannot get talent in fast enough to address the immediate mission need. When selected candidates drop out during the gap between tentative and final job offer/EOD, agencies are forced to rework the entire hiring process - leaving some positions vacant for years. The problem is fixable with process improvements and better coordination across stakeholders, but agencies need help understanding where to start.
Overall Project Objective and Mission: The purpose of this project is to use metrics to identify the biggest blockages from tentative job offer to EOD and provide guidance for agencies on best practices on how to reduce these barriers. Where possible, the project will offer a roadmap to help streamline internal processes to reduce workload on recruiting and operational teams.
Project Approach: Utilize data metrics and timestamps from Human Resources Information Systems (HR IS) and recruiting systems to identify where time goes in the process and then focus on improving processes to reduce the time required. For example, some initial research in this area has found significant time is spent on scheduling delays with fingerprinting and badge pickup appointments and/or miscommunication/lack of communication that causes candidates to drop out. The project will take care that improvements in one area do not make time slower in other areas. Being able to repeatedly rerun this metric analysis of where time goes is important for ongoing continuous improvement over time.
Duration and Timeline:
Project kickoff, May/June 2024
Data collection, Summer 2024
Playbook/Best Practices Deliverable, September/October 2024
Outcomes: Playbook for agencies with best practices on reducing time-to-hire during the period from TJO to EOD, based on data analysis.
Membership: This project is open to all who are involved in hiring and/or onboarding, to include HR recruiting teams, badging and/or security teams, facilities offices, and technology managers, employee experience professionals, and new hires.
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[1] 118th Congress (2023-2024). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/159
[2] Government Executive (2023). https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/12/opm-unveils-latest-tool-accelerate-federal-hiring-process/392458/
[3] President’s Management Agenda https://www.performance.gov/pma/