FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
KLMNO
S THE FEDERAL WORKER These days, agencies manage their own hiring
JOE DAVIDSON Federal Diary
The Federal Diary gets lots of mail, some of it fit to print. We give readers a chance to speak out by occasionally publishing some of their letters.
giving the clerical exams, where high school graduates could take the test, receive a passing grade and get an entry-level position with the federal government? This was a great way for those of us who could not or did not want to go to college to start a career. There was a time when
D
agencies would send recruiters to high schools across the country to find graduates to fill clerical level positions. Having been born and raised
in Washington, I took the exam at 17, after graduation from high school. I landed a job at the Pentagon with the U.S. Army. After working in another federal agency for most of my career, I retired in 1999 with about 40 years of service. What a wonderful career. Are there any exams that one
can take to be considered for federal employment? —Joyce E. Power
I didn’t know the answers to
Joyce’s questions, so I asked the Office of Personnel Management. Here is its response: Dear Reader: That’s how many of us were hired into the federal government years ago when OPM played a central role in hiring. But with examining being delegated to the agencies, agencies are now responsible for their own hiring activities. Some may still use the clerical exam; however, they are not required to use it. (By the way, OPM made use of the clerical tests and other written tests optional many years ago.) Having said that, we find going to the high schools to find talent is still an efficient/effective option.
LINDA DAVIDSON/THE WASHINGTON POST « Law student Sheila Giovannini, 24, talks with a CIA recruiter during a federal job fair in Washington.
Customer satisfaction I read with interest your
article on the federal workers survey. Although it is interesting to know that federal workers are, overall, satisfied with their jobs, I think it would be more interesting to learn whether the public (stakeholders) whom federal workers are supposed to serve feel satisfied with federal worker service. (1) Do we feel that feds respond to inquiries in a timely and appropriate manner? (2) Does the public feel
satisfied with telecommuting by federal employees?
(3) Do feds answer their phones, phone messages and e-mail, or are those tools used to hide from public questions and requests?
(4) Do the stakeholders of
government services feel they are receiving value? I doubt that I am alone in my
frustration with unreturned phone calls and e-mails, “telecommuting days” that mean I will not get a reply from a worker and a lack of interest and resolve in dealing with an issue, finding an answer to a question
or resolving a problem. —Mary Ellen Lynch, Silver Spring
Nice site, TSP I just logged on to the new
Thrift Savings Plan Web site and it is wonderful, fast and clear, with lots of interesting info. For a federal retiree out here in the hinterlands of Upper Michigan, the new TPS site is much appreciated. I think it is important to give credit where credit is due. A long time coming, but worth the wait. Would be nice if you could give TPS a shout-out in your column. —G.G. Gordon, Marquette, Mich.
Lead poisoning
The article that you wrote about the CIA officer who suffered lead poisoning in Iraq was amazing and heartfelt. My prayers are with him. The story was ringing familiar to me and I’m not a soldier but “took the lead” in a different manner, as did my children. Thanks for shedding light and spreading awareness on this “silent epidemic.” —Kim Cole, Marshfield, Mass.
Will Jack Lew be second time lucky? If confirmed for a second tour
as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jack Lew will join a very small group of officials who have held the same senior agency position in two administrations. And the history of second acts, in politics as in the sports world and the movie business, doesn’t necessarily augur well. In the Loop, A16.
Messages delivered The only way the Postal
Service will have any “good news” is to accept the reality that, for the most part, it is approaching obsolescence. It should really begin an organized, planned phaseout, while trying to find a new model that has a chance at least in the decoupled world. The Postal Service should not let this happen at random, the way the newspaper industry has done, or worse, fight it, and alienate their best customers the way the record industry has done. —Glen Kiltz, Remington, Va. The Postal Service is
self-serving and not customer-oriented. My story is too long for this space, but the Postal Service’s bottom line is ‘take the money and run, the hell with the customer.’ ” —Peter Caloger, Almont, Colo.
Articles related to these letters can be found through this column at
washingtonpost.com. You can speak out by writing to
federaldiary@washpost.com.
o you have any idea why the Office of Personnel Management stopped
On Leadership: The Federal Coach 6Excerpt from
washingtonpost.com/onleadership
The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington
Post’s On Leadership site jointly produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership.
The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal
worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.”
Sen. Ted Kaufman (D) is the junior senator from Delaware appointed in 2009 to fill the unexpired term of now-Vice President Biden. Kaufman was Biden’s chief of staff for 19 years and was a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. One of Kaufman’s Senate endeavors has been the Great Federal Employees Initiative, a series of floor speeches honoring outstanding federal employees.
‘Your word
is your bond’ What did you learn about leadership while serving as Sen. Biden’s chief of staff? Probably the most important
thing, which is the single most important part of being a senator, is that your word is your bond. I have students I teach at
Duke, and I bring them up every year, and they meet with senators, House members, staff people, lobbyists, and think tank and media people. People in all those areas say the single most important thing on the Hill is that people can trust your word.
What advice do you have for federal leaders on how they can best work with the Hill? Tell the truth, and make sure
you’ve got your facts right. Do not hide bad news. Stay ahead of the curve about what you’re doing.
If you educate yourself about how the process works and how decisions are made, I think that is incredibly helpful. The biggest problem you have dealing with the Congress if you’re in the executive branch or corporate America is the way power is shared. It’s very different from a hierarchical organization.
You are the only current
Obama nominee reimburses $3,100 William J. Boarman, contender to lead the Government Printing Office, received improper payments from the GPO.
Flood insurance bill goes to the Senate
The House of
Representatives backs an overhaul of the U.S. flood insurance program. The Fed Page, A16.
onwashingtonpost.com
Federal Careers expert Derrick Dortch recently answered questions on
washingtonpost.com. Following is a brief excerpt.
Is there a policy written that eliminates applicants for gov- ernment jobs if they have “poor credit”? Does the policy apply to all agencies? Derrick Dortch writes: Credit and financial issues are
something that the government cares about, but it’s more for po- sitions that deal with public trust and security clearances that it becomes an issue. Agencies that do not require you to get a public trust or secret-and-above clear- ance many times will not go into your credit or financial history as
much. They will do more of a background check to look at your criminal record and do a drug test, but that is where it will stop. It really depends on the agen-
cy, the position, what kind of in- formation you will have access to and what clearances are required if any. . . . Now with that being said,
many government agencies be- gan to do a great deal more scru- tiny after 9/11 on federal work- ers, and I don’t necessarily see this changing, so you do want to do the best you can . . . to work
Online federal benefits calculators
Federal retirement:
http://www.opm.gov/ retire/tools/calculators/ballpark/
menu.asp This calculator projects retirement benefits under
federal retirement systems. It also has links for calculating how much of an annuity will be tax-free and how much tax to have withheld.
Social Security:
http://www.ssa.gov/planners/ calculators.htm This site features a Social Security benefit estimator for those who will be eligible under that system, which includes most current federal employees. It also has links to other calculators.
Thrift Savings Plan:
http://www.tsp.gov/calc This site has calculators allowing participants in the 401(k)-style retirement savings program to project future account balances; to determine loan payments if they borrow against their accounts; and to see how an account balance would translate into income after separation, among other functions.
Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance:
http://www.opm.gov/calculator/worksheet.asp This site calculates premium and benefit amounts
under various options, as well as potential changes after retirement.
Other benefits:
http://www.opm.gov/insure This site has links to calculate premiums under the options available in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (click on “Long Term Care,” then “Program Information,” then “Cost Information”) and to determine the potential tax savings of flexible spending accounts. It also has links to compare premiums and other features of plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the Federal Dental and Vision Insurance Program.
Note: Eligible employees can enroll or make changes in TSP or FLTCIP at anytime, but other programs have restrictions on enrollment and changing coverage.
— Eric Yoder
on making sure your finances are in order and you have cleared up any bad debts. I do want to make this clear.
It’s not about your credit score. That is not the significant factor. It’s about your credit history. This means do you have a consis- tent pattern of paying bills on time, do you have a consistent pattern of being responsible with your finances.
To read the entire chat go to
www.washingtonpost.com/jobs.
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senator to have worked as an engineer. How does your background in engineering affect your leadership style? I think there are different ways to approach it. Start making the rationale at the beginning. Where are we? What are the facts? And then get to the nuances. The other thing that I think is helpful from engineering is to deal with the whole system — taking what we used to call a total concept to look at things.
What tricks and methods do
you use to manage your time? First off, it’s really, really, really
important to have a good scheduler. I’m big on planning. I sit down at the beginning of the year and say, “Here are the things that I’ll do this year and that I
B3
SUCHAT PEDERSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ted Kaufman, the only engineer in Congress, says he uses “a total concept to look at things.”
want to do.”
Planning the month ahead, planning the week ahead. I just think it’s incredibly helpful having the senator involved in the big picture. The other is having a really good staff. Everybody’s got to work together.
Why did you decide to lead the Great Federal Employees Initiative? I was scratching an itch. It’s bothered me for the last 30 years that some people felt like they could denigrate federal employees. In the federal government, we have so many incredible superstars. They’re there because they want to make a difference.
When I talk about federal employees, I don’t just talk about the people who won the Nobel Prize or discovered the cause of cancer. If you look at the list, it’s a mosaic that shows the overall quality. John Gardner, who started Common Cause, wrote a book called “Excellence.” He said (I’m paraphrasing) a
society that values its philosophers and doesn’t value its plumbers — because philosophy’s uplifting and plumbing isn’t — will be a society where neither its ideas nor its pipes will hold water.
Please send comments and ideas to
fedcoach@ourpublicservice.org. Visit On Leadership at views.
washingtonpost.com/leadership/ fedcoach
There are three weekly installments: Mondays: “Getting Ahead” — advice on “leading up.” Wednesdays: “View From the Top Floor” — interviews with federal leaders. Fridays: Answering questions about navigating the federal workforce terrain.
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