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Posts Tagged ‘Government Jobs’

Federal Disability Hiring — The Road is Paved with Good Intentions, but We’re Still Waiting for the Numbers

Posted in Federal Resume Writing
by Nicole Schultheis on October 5th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »

Federal Disability Hiring — The Road is Paved with Good Intentions, but We’re Still Waiting for the Numbers

By Nicole Schultheis

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Let’s see where we are on this important subject.

On August 18, 2011, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order* establishing a new, government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce. Reiterating the Federal Government’s commitment to equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion, President Obama reminded us of our government’s special obligation to lead by example.

The coordinated effort means that U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director John Berry and Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Jeff Zients are to work together with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien and the President’s Management Council (PMC) to establish a government-wide initiative promoting diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce. Under the Order, by mid-November of this year, a government-wide strategic plan with guidance for agency-specific plans must be in place, setting forth best practices and establishing a method for agencies to report on their progress. By mid-December, federal agencies are to issue their own, specific Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plans, addressing recruitment, hiring, promotion, retention, professional development and training.

The more recent initiative follows on the heels of Executive Order 13548, “Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities,”** issued July 26, 2010, which required agencies to designate senior-level officials to create programs for individuals with disabilities and targeted disabilities, to increase use of the Federal Government’s Schedule A excepted service hiring authority for persons with disabilities, and to increase participation of individuals with disabilities in internships, fellowships, and training and mentoring programs. The “targeted disabilities” are set forth on Standard Form 256, and include total deafness, blindness, missing extremities and paralysis, among others deemed severe. (See last year’s blog entry by Kathryn Troutman on this subject, http://www.resume-place.com/2010/10/its-national-disabilities-employment-awareness-month/.)

As part of the 2010 effort, OPM and OMB were to implement a system for regular reporting. The July 2010 Executive Order directed OPM to “compile and post on its website Government wide statistics on the hiring of individuals with disabilities.” Since then, although OPM has included on its “Federal Employment of People with Disabilities” site, http://www.opm.gov/disability/, a comprehensive list of links to federal agencies’ web pages dealing with disability employment as well as other organizations and publications related to the employment of people with disabilities—and among them appears a link to the US Census Bureau’s data on disability and employment nationally—it would appear neither EEOC nor OPM has published new statistics relating to the federal government’s own disability hiring numbers.

In FY 2009, the Federal Government reported a total work force of 2,811,277 employees, compared to 2,442,643 in FY 2000. The Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for Fiscal Year 2009 provided a 10- year retrospective on federal hiring statistics, compared to the overall civilian workforce. For this period EEOC reported little overall change in the composition of the federal workforce; indeed there was even a slight decline during that decade in targeted disability hiring, from 1.12% to 0.88% of the overall federal workforce. As of 2009, a total of approximately 25,000 persons with targeted disabilities held federal jobs. (Comparables in overall civilian workforce are not available.)

In August 2011, the Office of Disability Employment Policy reported a labor force participation rate of 21.0% for people with disabilities, compared to 69.9% of persons without reported disabilities. No comparable data was released by OPM or EEOC relative to the federal civilian workforce. Although the 2010 and 2011 Executive Orders relating to disability and diversity hiring are expected to significantly enhance opportunities for inclusion of persons with disabilities in the federal workforce, unfortunately it is still too soon to tell what impact these initiatives will have.

Perhaps we’ll know more by next year.

*The full text of “Establishing a Coordinated Government-Wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce,” is posted here.

**The full text of “Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities,” is posted here.

Nicole

USAJOBS 3.0 is Coming: Latest OPM Update

Posted in Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on September 30th, 2011 | 2 Comments - Make a comment »

Interruption in Service is slated for the Columbus Day Holiday Weekend

Are you ready for USAJOBS 3.0?

After I posted my blog two days ago about the USAJOBS 3.0 transition, I learned about some important updates regarding the USAJOBS 3.0 transition for another Resume Place, Inc. Blog. I am very glad to see these updates and would like you to share the dates, times and access to USAJOBS info with your colleagues and federal job-seeking friends.

During the transition to USAJOBS 3.0, please be aware that:

>> The transition will begin at 5:00 pm EDT on October 7 and extend through the Columbus Day Holiday Weekend. OPM has worked hard to compress the schedule to just the Columbus holiday weekend.

>> There will be announcements posted to USAJOBS prior to and even during the transition. OPM requested agencies close their announcements before October 6th. Many agencies chose, however, to leave announcements open over the transition period. So, during the transition, a listing of open announcements will be available on USAJOBS.gov, but not the robust search function.

>> The search and apply functions will continue to be available until 5:00 pm EDT on October 7, 2011, at which time the transition will begin.

>> Jobseekers can access USAJOBS during the transition. In fact, we suggest they visit USAJOBS.gov for daily status updates.

>> Jobseekers will NOT be able to upload/build a resume or check status during the transition, because the data is stabilized during the transition – nothing is added, deleted or changed until after the transition is complete.

>> Who’s doing the update: OPM has an IT staff (the Human Resources Tools and Technologies staff in Macon, GA) that focuses specifically on building and maintaining secure, scalable HRIT systems for OPM, as well as other Federal organizations. Different personnel within that organization work on the different systems HRTT builds and maintains. USAJOBS and USAStaffing are just two of the systems maintained by HRTT. The USAJOBS staff within HRTT will execute the transition of USAJOBS along with the USAJOBS program office staff. Note: USAStaffing is an OPM-owned Talent Acquisition System (TAS); Monster and other vendors also offer TASs. TASs interface with USAJOBS, but are the “back-end” systems used by HR specialists within the federal agencies.

>> OPM will extract, validate and convert five billion lines of data (not documents) before loading it into USAJOBS 3.0.

>> USAJOBS 3.0 will no longer capture social security numbers as previous versions did in the account profile. Some applications submitted through USAJOBS, however, may request SSN based on the hiring agency’s requirements.

>> Still a good idea: Before the search and apply functions are taken offline on Oct. 7, you may want to consider downloading and backing up the latest versions of your resumes posted in USAJOBS.

USAJOBS 3.0 is Coming = Interruption in Service

Posted in Federal Job Info, Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on September 26th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »

During the transition to USAJOBS 3.0, please be aware that:

  • No new announcements will be posted Oct. 1, 2011 to Oct. 12, 2011.
  • No access to USAJOBS will be allowed Oct. 6 to Oct. 12, 2011.

Five billion documents are being reviewed and re-uploaded into a new USAJOBS system in Macon, Georgia by USAStaffing IT specialists. The USAJOBS IT specialists will be downloading, analyzing, and re-uploading over 5 billion documents from jobseekers who have their resumes and documents loaded into USAJOBS 2.0; eliminating your Social Security Numbers; doing something with passwords (you will probably have to reset your password with your same email account after the Oct. 12 reset); and set up parameters for Resume Mining by HR specialists.

There won’t be a totally new look and feel, but there will be some new features that are better for you and for the HR customers who post the positions.

Before the site is down on Oct. 6, you may want to consider downloading and backing up the latest versions of your resumes posted in USAJOBS.

What to do while USAJOBS is down

If you are an active federal jobseeker, what can you be doing while USAJOBS is down for six days, and there are no new announcements for almost two weeks?

Below is a list of suggested activities that will keep your federal job search moving forward and prepare you for when USAJOBS becomes available again:

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New Jobs Posted Now as USPTO Gears Up for an Onslaught
by Nicole Schultheis

Posted in Federal Job Search, Federal Resume Writing, www.USAJOBS.gov
by Kathryn Troutman on September 22nd, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »

by Nicole Schultheis, Attorney-at-Law
US Patent and Trademark Office

On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the “America Invents Act,” overhauling our patent system in order to stimulate our nation’s economic growth. At the same time, he announced new initiatives designed to help entrepreneurs create jobs. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/16/president-obama-signs-america-invents-act-overhauling-patent-system-stim. The historic patent reform legislation is intended to speed the patent process so that products can be brought to market faster. Among other things it provides a fast track option for patent processing within 12 months, cutting the average wait time by a factor of 3.

Although the legislation is intended to spur future jobs in the private sector, it is creating jobs in the public sector now. The new law provides additional resources allowing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to continue to combat a backlog of nearly 700,000 patent applications.

On USAJobs.gov today, there are dozens of jobs posted for USPTO, representing approximately one in five of all jobs posted for the entire Department of Commerce. Posted positions include four for patent judges, two of which are in cutting edge fields (biotechnology and IT). Two are Senior Executive Service (SES) positions, including a new Director of Planning and Budget and a senior level trademark attorney. All posted positions are graded at GS-11 and above, covering broad areas of expertise, among other things, public affairs, security, engineers, economists, educators, and document management specialists.

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The Interview Prescription
by Timothy W. Cannon

Posted in Interviewing
by Kathryn Troutman on September 13th, 2011 | No Comments - Make a comment »

by Timothy W. Cannon,

What’s the diagnosis? Sweaty Palms? Deer in the headlights look in their eyes? Sudden amnesia? Butterflies in the belly? FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN? If you’ve been on the receiving end of a job interview lately, you have probably easily recognized the symptoms of Applicant Distress Syndrome!

Due to the current jobless rate and economic conditions in the United States, hiring officials are faced with the daunting task of culling through hundreds of job applications for even one position. This is equally true for the federal government in their efforts to fill nearly 5,000 vacant positions at any one time. After Human Resource offices have accomplished the difficult task of sorting through volumes of resumes to identify the best qualified group of candidates, the next step in the hiring process is the job interview.

Job interviews are time-consuming and expensive for both managers and applicants. The result should be to gain new and supplemental types of information from the applicants during the interview process which demonstrates how their experience directly relates to the new position and will enable them to be the most successful candidate among their current competition. So why is this such as upsetting and mysterious experience for the job seeker? And why do hiring officials feel the process is largely a waste of time?

There are two basic reasons, with both centered on “preparation”.

First, if applicants are unprepared for their interview, they are sure to “bomb”. As a former federal hiring manager, I found it very interesting to see the different levels of preparation of applicants. No two interviews were the same. Each applicant had their own style and level of preparation. Some were better at the art of interviewing than others. Most were dressed appropriately in business attire and carried a portfolio or briefcase with copies of their resumes and references at hand. The better applicants performed in the interview, the better their chances of being hired. However, on more than one occasion I would ask an applicant about a specific item in their resume. Deer in the headlights! Amnesia! Blank stare! Or sometimes, if an applicant was unprepared to answer a question, they would instead proceed on rambling tangents, filling the air with mind-numbing and irrelevant noise. It is not hard to eliminate this candidate once they demonstrate their complete lack of preparation. So, other than studying their own resume, how do candidates know what to prepare to ensure a good interview performance?

Second, the content and construct of the interview is the fundamental link to providing the results the manager seeks in whittling down his field of candidates to the ‘best of the best’. Poorly constructed questions will not elicit meaningful information helpful in culling the list of candidates. I once asked a newly hired federal employee to share her experiences regarding a telephone screening interview. I was shocked at her response. The panel’s first ice-breaking question was, “Could you please describe to us what you look like?” This was clearly inappropriate and not job related. How would a candidate have prepared for that question? And what type of useful information was gained for the hiring manager? Poor interview questions coupled with reliance on first impressions and gut instincts are poor predictors of good hires. It also calls into questionable legal practices and may be counter to merit system principles. Agencies get in trouble when selecting officials unintentionally veer off into topics in violation of Federal EEO laws.

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