Herding Unicorns: Sharing Resources Speeds Hiring
“There really are fewer unicorn positions out there than we all imagined” – Bob Leavitt, HHS CHCO on shared PDs and certificates for common positions
Creating a job announcement that attracts high quality applicants is critical to the hiring process. For hiring managers, finding a balance between identifying the unique details of the position and managing the time and resources required is a challenge. When defining a position, there are many potential “off-ramps.” While these diversions are sometimes necessary, they often result in significant time delays and demand scarce resources from both hiring managers and HR staff. Improvements over the past few years offer hiring managers opportunities to accelerate the process while improving applicant quality, primarily done through collaboration within and across agencies that requires a level of standardization.
In our previous blog posts, we outlined the hiring process and dove into the first phase – Getting Hiring Right from the Start. This post discusses the second phase of the process: planning for and announcing the job. This phase includes four steps:
- Review Position Description and Confirm Job Analysis
- Classify or Reclassify the Position
- Confirm Job Analysis and Assessment Strategy
- Create and Post the Job Opportunity Announcement (JOA)
Our insights shared in this post are based on extensive interviews with hiring managers, program leaders, staffing specialists, workforce planners, and budget professionals as well as on-the-job experience. These recommendations for improvement focus on process and do not require policy or regulatory changes. They do require adoption of these practices more broadly throughout HR, program, and permitting managers, and staff. Additionally, our insights here are not unique to permitting, rather they apply broadly to federal government hiring. These insights should be considered both for streamlining efforts related to environmental permitting, as well as improving federal hiring.
Breaking Down the Steps
For each step in this phase, we provide a description, explain what can go wrong, share what can go right, and provide some examples from our research, where applicable.
Review Position Description and Confirm Job Analysis
The Position Description (PD) is core to the hiring process. It describes the occupation, grade level, job duties, qualifications, and any special skills needed for the job and agency. In hiring, it is used to develop the job announcement, review the position’s classification, and establish a foundation for assessing candidates. Outside of hiring, it is used in performance management, position management, probation period evaluation, and serves as a reference for disciplinary action.
At this step, a hiring manager reviews the position description to make sure it is an accurate, current depiction of the job requirements, which may require a review of the past job analysis, or the evaluation of the knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and experience needed for the positions (i.e., the competencies). The PD can be inaccurate due to dynamic changes in the job: core duties, technologies used, process changes, and supervisory responsibilities. These updates can range from simple wording changes to major changes that require additional work.
In our interviews, we heard from hiring managers and HR specialists that updating position descriptions had been a challenge and bottleneck in their hiring process. One hiring manager shared that they chose to not change their positions even if they wanted a different role because of the anticipated time delays. Other participants shared that they have begun moving towards standardized PDs within their agency to reduce redundancies and enable more collaboration.
What Can Go Wrong
- Based on hiring manager feedback to the HR specialist, a significantly out-of-date PD can result in major revisions that require a job analysis and/or reclassification of the position. This can delay the hiring process by weeks, or even months. If the grade level or other key aspects of the position need to be changed, the position requisition (SF-52 form) needs to be revised, adding even more time.
- Overzealous staffing specialists or classifiers may perceive major job changes where they do not exist in practice, causing delays for additional reviews and revisions.
- Too much specificity in job task descriptions will require additional job analyses, causing further delays. Whereas not enough specificity provides insufficient guidance for developing the assessment strategy, JOA, and other management actions dependent on the PD (e.g., performance management, development plans, or disciplinary action).
What Can Go Right
- With permission from their Chief Human Capital Office (CHCO) office, a hiring manager can use a current PD from elsewhere in the agency that accurately describes the job. A number of agencies have created PD libraries that bring together common PDs from across the organization. One HR Leader we interviewed described having a library of available positions that hiring managers are encouraged to look through when creating a new position. Hiring managers can even include specialized skills in an existing PD to augment the fundamental job duties, avoiding reclassification.
- Hiring managers can offer flexibility in location, where possible. Based on our interviews, agencies are seeing greater success attracting strong applicants with flexible locations, remote work, or telework options.
- The HR staffing specialist can search for and find a shared certificate of eligibles (i.e., a list of eligible candidates) for their PD already available through their own agency HR talent systems or through the USAJOBS Agency Talent Portals. As long as the job and grade match, the hiring manager can bypass much of the hiring process and move quickly to identifying applicants.
- Many agencies require managers to review and if needed, revise position description every year during the performance management process. This can make sure the PD is ready to go for the hiring process. In our interviews, we heard that this is required, but may not be regularly completed.
Classify/Reclassify the Position
Position classification is a structured process in every Cabinet agency in which an expert assesses the requirements of the job by evaluating factors such as knowledge, skills, abilities, complexity, and supervisory controls/responsibilities. The process is initiated when a PD is deemed inaccurate due to changes in the role. The HR staffing specialist will ask a classification expert to assess the role. This is done by reviewing the PD, existing job analyses, past classifications, and classification audits. They will also gather and review data from the hiring manager and others working in similar roles. Based on their assessment, the classifier can recommend changes to the grade level and/or the occupational series. These changes could be simple revisions or a more extensive reclassification. This process can take days or weeks to complete and can delay the hiring process significantly.
What Can Go Wrong
- HR staff and classifiers sometimes do not explain the need for classification and its benefits. This makes the process opaque and leaves the hiring manager wondering how long it will take to complete.
- HR staffing specialists and classifiers vary widely in how they apply the classification standards. Some seek greater specificity, and therefore insist on a full classification review when it may not be needed.
- Agency HR functions frequently lack workforce capacity for classification and job analyses. As a result, they have to prioritize requests, which can cause further delays.
What Can Go Right
- Collaboration and transparency between hiring managers, staffing specialists, and classifiers can lead to rapid approval of a PD and classification review. If there cannot be a quick approval, this close engagement leads to clearer expectations and realistic timelines.
- If the same position, at the same grade level, has recently completed a classification audit in a different part of the agency, the hiring team can use it. This can also be done across agencies with CHCO approval.
- Hiring managers who invest time to understand the position well and articulate the roles, duties, relationships, and complexity to the classifier can improve the outcomes and make the process more efficient.
- Agencies that lack classification resources frequently engage with outside contractors or retired annuitants to provide more capacity for the classification and job analysis work.
Develop Assessment Strategy
A critical, but sometimes overlooked step in hiring is developing the assessment strategy for the position. This determines how the HR staff and hiring manager will evaluate applicants and identify candidates for the certificate list, or the list of eligible applicants. The strategy needs to assess candidates based on the defined job duties and position criteria, and it plays a major role in determining the quality of candidates.The assessment strategy consists of three parts:
- How job applications and resumes are reviewed
- How the applicants demonstrate the required skills and abilities
- How the hiring manager makes the final selection
Recently, agencies have moved toward evaluating applicants by assessing their skills, spurred on by the Executive Order and guidance on skills-based assessments and now reinforced by the Chance to Compete Act. This shift aims to move away from relying on education and/or self-assessments. Skills-based assessments can include online tests, skills-based simulation exercises, simulated job tryouts, as well as the Subject Matter Expert Qualifications Assessment (SME-QA) process developed by OPM and USDS/OMB. This improves the quality of assessments and aims to ensure the candidates on the certificate list are qualified for the job.
What Can Go Wrong
- If a hiring manager and HR staffing specialist bypass this step, this frequently results in a certificate list with unqualified candidates. Without a strategy, many default to using a resume review and self-assessments. Unfortunately, our research indicated that many agencies are still using self-assessments.
- Most of the time, resume screening is left solely to the HR staff. Lack of alignment between HR specialists and hiring managers on essential qualifications results in an inaccurate screening, leading unqualified candidates to make the cut. Too often, HR staff will only screen applications for the exact phrases that appear in the job announcement. Applicants know this and revise their documents accordingly.
- When a skills-based assessment does not exist for the position and specific grade level, it needs to be created. This takes time and expert resources, thus delaying the hiring process.
- Inaccurate resume screenings and self-assessments frequently lead to a high number of unqualified Veterans making the top of the certificate list due to Veterans preference. Unfortunately, this leads to a negative perception of Veterans preference.
What Can Go Right
- Working with HR staffing specialists to find existing assessments can save time and improve candidate selection quality. In addition, USA Hire, Monster, and other HR talent acquisition platforms are offering compendiums of assessment strategies and tools that can be accessed, usually for free.
- Deep engagement between hiring managers, staffing specialists, and assessment professionals in developing an assessment strategy and selecting tools pays off. This can lead to enhanced resume and application screening, stronger alignment between candidate and position needs, and higher quality certificate lists of eligible candidates.
- Engagement with staffing specialists and assessment experts can also help the hiring manager understand and make tradeoff decisions related to the speed and ease of administration. For example, an online test may be easier to utilize, while embedding Subject Matter Experts into the selection process may increase the efficacy.
Create and Post Job Opportunity Announcement
Though creating and posting the JOA is relatively straightforward, lack of attention to this step can reduce the number of attractive candidates. The HR staffing specialist usually creates the JOA in consultation with the hiring manager to ensure that it not only accurately reflects the job duties, but also sells the job to potential applicants. The JOA is an opportunity to showcase the importance of the role and its contribution to the agency’s mission.
The JOA outlines applicant eligibility, job duties, job requirements (e.g., conditions of employment, qualifications, etc.), education (if needed), assessment strategy, and application requirements. It also lists the occupation, grade level, location, and other details. See USAJOBS for examples.
What Can Go Wrong
- Some hiring managers and staffing specialists are under the misapprehension that the JOA needs to contain the exact language from the PD in both the title and description. This can include jargon and terms that are unfamiliar to those not within the organization.
- Unintentionally, a hiring manager may lock the job location in a specific city or metropolitan area when the job could be remote or in multiple locations. To correct this, the JOA will need to be taken down and re-posted if no suitable applicants can be found.
What Can Go Right
- JOAs need to be tailored to the target applicants, and working with those currently in the job or in a related-discipline can help in crafting an attractive JOA.
- Using plain language in the job title and description instead of jargon will attract more candidates. OPM has published plain language guidance to help hiring managers and staffing specialists do this effectively.
- Earlier in the hiring process, successful hiring managers and staffing specialists define recruiting and sourcing strategies to attract candidates. This can include posting the job on alternative sites (e.g., agency websites, LinkedIn, Handshake, Indeed, etc.) in addition to USAJOBS to reach a broader audience. One agency’s HR team described leveraging multiple platforms for outreach and was able to successfully recruit many qualified candidates for their open roles. Strategies can also include asking hiring managers, peers, agency leaders, and recruiters to message highly qualified candidates to expand the applicant pool and bring in more qualified applicants.
Conclusion
Throughout this phase of work, there are many actions hiring managers and staffing specialists can take to streamline the process and improve the quality of eligible candidates. Most importantly, hiring managers and staffing specialists can collaborate within and across agencies to expedite and simplify the process. Using an existing PD from another part of the agency, finding an assessment tool for the job and grade level, pooling resources on a common job announcement with a peer, and using shared certificates to move straight to a job offer are all ways you can find a well-qualified hire faster. More tips and techniques to improve hiring can be found in OPM’s Workforce of the Future Playbook.
Changes that can be made to improve efficiency and promote collaboration. These center on moving to standardized PDs, where appropriate, leveraging shared certifications with those standardized PDs, and investing in skills-based assessments, which are now required by law in the Chance to Compete Act.
Making these actions common practice is one of the key challenges to improving hiring. The Executive Order on skills-based hiring states “in light of today’s booming labor market, the Federal government must position itself to compete with other sectors for top talent.” It is critical we take advantage of these collaboration tools that can improve the hiring experience for all those involved.
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