TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010


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WHATYOUSAID Lastweek, theFederal


Workerasked:Doyou thinkthis electionis critical tofederal em- ployees?Whyorwhy not?Howmuchatten- tionare youpaying to


the vote? LindaM.Copening Compliance officer U.S.Department of Labor Theanswer isaresoundingYES


— this election is very important to all Americans as it will dictate the course our countrywill take in thenext couple of years (or longer, depending on the impact or lack thereof thatCongressmakes). Federal employees have a spe-


cial stake inthe votes.Whentimes arebad,we are oftenthe first tobe blamed, andone of the first things the citizens want is “less govern- ment”. Some current and prospective


lawmakers are making noises about furloughs and RIFs to cure what ails our economy. Those same tactics failed in the past, but somehow the lessons that should havebeenlearnedare forgottenin the antagonistic discourse that has enveloped our electoral pro- cess. I will definitely be at my pollingplace onNov. 2.


WayneL.Pulford Proctor,Minn. FederalBureau of Prisons This is a very important elec-


tion. The Bureau of Prisons has a growing inmate population of about 7,000 additional inmates a year, which is about a 4 percent increaseayear. Ifwegobacktoour 2008 budget and staffing,wemay lose the ability to safely control our prisons. We have been through this before. In the early 1990s,welost controlofprisons. It was costly to gain them back and repair thedamage.


JohnEnns Federalworker Naval Postgraduate School Monterey,Calif. This election is not that impor-


tant to federalworkers because: 1.Unless thepublicwants fewer


goodsandservicesprovidedforby thegovernment (Idon’t thinkthey do), the same level of serviceswill beprovidedthe future. 2. If the public sector shrinks


(and federal workers lose their jobs) over the next few years, then the private sector will have to be called in to provide the services. Talented feds just transfer to the private sector to get the work done. 3. If there are some federal


workers (very few in my opinion) who are not providing a useful product or service, then they will (should) findsomethingelsetodo.


on washingtonpost.com Q. The federal workforce became an


issue in these midterm elections. Do you expect that debate to hurt future pay and benefits?What more can the Obama administration do to repair the image of federal workers? Please e-mail your answer to


federalworker@washpost.com and include your full name, home town and the agency for which you work. We might include your response in Friday’sWashington Post.When answers are particularly sensitive, we will consider a respondent’s request to withhold full identification.


AlexRomero Park superintendent,National Capital Parks-East,National Park Service


Best known for: Romero helps preserve and safeguard “America’s best idea”— our national parks. He manages 190 federal employees and 15 di- verse national parks covering more than 8,000 acres scattered fromCapitolHill to the Maryland suburbs. As superintendent for the National Capital Parks- East, Romero is in charge of maintaining andenhancingcultural, historical and recre- ational sites that in-


I


THE FEDERAL WORKER Hiring reform: A reason to celebrate


FEDERAL DIARY Joe Davidson


t was one of those uniquely Washington moments. A beauty queen led a toast


Monday to improvements in the federal hiring process. Let’s hail the newand bid farewell to the old, said Jen Corey,MissD.C. 2009. In a statement issued before


the toast, John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, explained the reason that government geeks and those who want to be one are celebrating. “Today is an important


milestone for the hiring reform we need to best serve and protect the American people,” he said. “Six months ago, President Obama directed all agencies to hire based on resumes, eliminate KSA essays, and reduce time to hire.We’ve made substantial progress, and we’re making sure everyone knows that there’s no turning back.” Berry is almost always a cheerleader.Nonetheless, his viewthat government hiring is better than it was a fewmonths ago is shared by many inside and outside of government, although no one claims the job is done. That includes Berry, who said


Uncle Sam has not yet reached his goal of a hiring process that takes 80 days, instead of the 200 that was sometimes the case. “We’re not hitting it yet,” he


said after the toast and during a reception sponsored by the Center forHuman Capital Innovation. “But we’re moving in the right direction.” The General Services Administration, for example, has reduced its average hiring period from 141 days, at the end of 2009, to 89 days now, according to Gail Lovelace, the agency’s chief human capital officer. “What you measure, people


pay attention to,” she said at an Excellence in Government conference at the Ronald Reagan Building before the reception. GSA recently had a “hiring


blitz” during which it needed to sign up 200 people in two months, “and we did it,” Lovelace said with pride. Jeff Zients, acting director of


the Office ofManagement and Budget, gave the conference some indication of the government’s overall progress. About 81 percent of the government’s job descriptions are now short, he said; only 19 percent were before the overhaul. Previously, announcements might exceed 100 pages. More than two-thirds of the


agencies do not now require essays as part of the initial application, according to Zients. About 60 percent had that requirement. Obama set theNov. 1 deadline


for the hiring overhaul when he issued hisMay 11 “Presidential Memorandum – Improving the Federal Recruitment andHiring Process.” It called on agencies to: —“Eliminate any requirement


that applicants respond to essay- style questions when submitting their initial application materials for any Federal job” —“Allow individuals to apply


for Federal employment by submitting resumes and cover letters or completing simple, plain language applications” —“Provide for selection from among a larger number of


FED FACES Managing a diverse collection of capital parks


Alex Romero oversees 15 sites that make up National Capital Parks-East.


clude Anacostia Park, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, the Baltimore- Washington Parkway, Fort Wash- ington, Oxon Hill Farm, the Fred- erick Douglass National Historic Site, Lincoln Park and StantonPark. Government service: Romero’s 19-year career withtheparkservicehas enabled him to explore the uniqueness of the national parks, ranging from wildlife refuges and the beaches of Ja- maica Bay in New York tothe15,000-acrePrince William Forest Park in Northern Virginia and community parks on Capitol Hill. He was deputy superintendent


of theNationalCapitol Parks-East for six years and became superin- tendent inJuly. Biggest challenge: The most re- warding challenge is taking the time to make informed decisions and seeing projects through to completion. Quote: “I want National Capital Parks-East to be an innovative park. This park has been referred toas thesleepinggiant,andIwant towake this giantup.” — Partnership for Public Ser-


vice


Formore onRomero, go to washingtonpost.com/fedpage. For profiles of other federalworkers, go to www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/ politics/fedpage/players. Send your nominations for Federal Faces to fedfaces@washpost.com.


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PatriciaMcGinnis, a WhiteHouse adviser and teacher at the Public Policy Institute atGeorgetownUniversity, asks a question.


qualified applicants by using the ‘category rating’ approach . . . rather than the ‘rule of 3’ approach, under which managers may only select from among the three highest scoring applicants.” The essay-style questions,


better known as KSAs, were a dreaded part of the federal application process for job seekers who hated the thought of writing about their knowledge, skills and abilities. It was such a daunting task that some applicants hired consultants to help them write the essays, which potentially diminished their value as a tool to evaluate candidates. Yet, managers did like the


essays, said Allan Schweyer, the principal of the Center for Human Capital Innovation, a consulting company that works with the government on personnel issues. Essays provided much information that allowed supervisors to “learn a lot about the candidates,” Schweyer said. Using resumes rather than


KSAs represents more than a change in tactics. The move from an essay-based application process is a significant cultural shift that might not be easy, even for managers who support reform. “There is very little


reluctance” to reform, said Tim McManus, vice president for education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that studies federal workplace issues and has a content-sharing relationship with TheWashington Post. “But it’s teaching an old dog new tricks.” OPM, he added, put a lot of


effort into teaching the new tricks of federal hiring, by holding more than 100 events to discuss and teach what the memorandum required. Replacing the “rule of three”


with a category rating system is a sore point with federal employee


unions. During a congressional hearing just days after Obama signed the memo, Colleen M. Kelley told aHouse panel that the rule of three “provides a merit-based, objective and transparent selection process.” Under the rule, managers had


to hire from among the top three candidates on a list. If those not chosen wanted a federal job with a different agency, they had to start the long and difficult process from the beginning. With category ratings,


managers may chose from a broader list that includes anyone qualified for the position. Other agencies in the same department also may hire from that broader list, making it more efficient for managers and applicants. OPMattempted to improve


the hiring process in the Bush administration, but that effort went nowhere. It came near the end of the President GeorgeW. Bush’s term, and many agencies disregarded OPM’s directions. The current drive has Obama’s


stamp of approval and the force of theOMBbehind OPM’s leadership. “The most important thing,”


said Linda Springer, anOPM director under Bush, “is there is real momentum and there is time for this team to do it this time.”


federaldiary@washpost.com The Federal Page


Britain’s M16 chief gives first public speech


Sir John Sawers speaks about how the legendary spy agengy is organized as it focuses on fighting terrorism at home and abroad. Fine Print, A17


Biggest spenders With some limits removed, interest groups have poured a lot more money into campaigns this year. A17


PHOTOS BY SUSAN BIDDLE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST


ShelleyMetzenbaum of the Office ofManagement and Budget speaks during a panel discussion Monday at an Excellence inGovernment conference at the Ronald Reagan Building inWashington.


B3


Hiring reforms slice length of process, but work remains


Only some agencies will meet Obama’s deadline BY ED O'KEEFE


People looking for work with


the federal government often call Kathryn Troutman and her com- pany, The Resume Place, for tips on writing the perfect federal job application.But business is down right now because, she suspects, potential federal job seekers are waiting until this week to take advantage of promised changes to the tedious federal job applica- tion process. “We’re very concerned and not


very happy that our business is really down,” Troutman said. “We’re really shocked about it actually.” President Obama in May gave


federal agencies until this week to radically overhaul the federal hiringprocess,mandating simply worded job descriptions and the end of the lengthy “KSAs,” or essays that describe an appli- cant’s knowledge, skills and abili- ties. Applicants for federal em- ployment should be able to apply and be rejected or hired in about 80 days once changes are fully implemented. Officials have backed off the


president’s deadline, however, cautioning that only some agen- cies are ready. The departments of Commerce,Defense and Veter- ans Affairs andNASA are in good shape, but others are working through reforms that could take years to complete, according to the Office of Personnel Manage- ment. “The prior process is already


faster,” said OPM Associate Di- rector Nancy Kichak. “From the time the president issued his memo telling us to get going, we’ve been going. A lot of agen- cies have already eliminated [KSAs]. They have already sim- plified the job announcements, have done them in plain English and have done them in a way applicants can understand them.” The hiring process is nowaver-


aging about 110 days, down from 180—100more days thanObama asked for, Kichak said last week. Jonathan Sykes, 29, is already


seeing changes as he applies for jobs at Defense and Homeland Security. He’s been trying since February to find a position in security or officemanagement. “Before they made changes


and before I got used to it, it would take me from one day to four days to fill out an applica- tion,” Sykes said. “Recently there are some government jobs where I can fill out an application in an hour or two because they’ve got- ten rid of the KSAs. They’ve definitely improved since they got rid of the KSAs.” Best of all, he’s receiving e-mail


updates about the progress of his applications, a big change from the past, when people never re- ceived feedback after submitting the paperwork. “It is working,” Sykes said. “At


least now I know what’s going on.” Troutman cautioned, however,


that all the reforms won’t neces- sarily make the hiring process easier. And although KSAs have been eliminated in the initial application, agencies may use them later in the process, after the initial screening. Troutman said that some job postings still require KSA state-


ments. “And people are very con- fused on how to put them in and where to put themandwhat to do with them,” she said. If an appli- cation requests a traditional re- sume instead ofKSAs, she recom- mends including short versions of accomplishments within the resume that explicitly demon- strate the applicant’s knowledge, stills and abilities. “But that’s still not a simple


application. It’s really kind of complicated, because if you don’t prove the KSAs in your resume, you may not be most qualified,” Troutman said. In addition, top officials who


make hiring decisions at some agencies might not be aware of the impending changes, said Tim McManus, vice president for edu- cation at the Partnership for Pub- lic Service. “What we’ve been hearing and


seeing is that it’s not for lack of interest that they’re not engaged; it’s because they’re not sure what it means,” McManus said. “They’re asking, ‘Where am I supposed to be engaged? Where is it supposed to be me making decisions versus human resourc- es?’ ” The Partnership, a nonparti-


san think tank promoting public service, last month published a guide for agency officialswho are less familiar with the hiring pro- cess. Good hiring “is not being done


consistently,” McManus said, “even within individual agen- cies.” OPM declined to answer de-


tailed questions about the chang- es, saying it plans to share more information thismonth. “We will be able to tell you


what great progress we’re mak- ing on the key points that were most troubling to the best-quali- fied applicants: time to hire, no KSA’s, and resume and cover let- ter applications,”KathrynM.Me- dina, executive director of the Chief Human Capital Council, said in a statement. CHCO is made up of the top human re- sources officials at most federal agencies. Despite the structural chang-


es, other applicants are still frus- trated by federal preference laws that favor military veterans or in-house candidates. Walter “Skip” Fischer, 51, is a


20-year veteran congressional stafferwhowas repeatedly reject- edfor executive branchpositions. He’s relocated to Duluth, Minn., to be closer to his wife’s family, butmight start applying again as the hiring reforms take place. “There’s going to be less em-


phasis on the onerous and ex- traordinarily redundant ques- tionnaire where you’re restating your job qualifications in several different ways,” Fischer said. “That’s a great start. “But don’t put me through the


rigmarole of having me spend time on the paperwork if you already knowwho you’re going to hire,” he said. Despite the slowdown in busi-


ness,Troutmanplans to celebrate the hiring changes at her office thisweekwith cake and balloons. “I had a cake during the Clinton years when they made hiring changes, and I’ll do it again,” she said. “The cake will say ‘KSAs’ on it.”


ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com TheWashington Postmaintains a


content-sharing agreement with the Partnership for Public Service.


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