Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process

Memorandum of May 11, 2010

Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring
Process

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies

To deliver the quality services and results the
American people expect and deserve, the Federal
Government must recruit and hire highly qualified
employees, and public service should be a career of
choice for the most talented Americans. Yet the
complexity and inefficiency of today's Federal hiring
process deters many highly qualified individuals from
seeking and obtaining jobs in the Federal Government.

I therefore call on executive departments and agencies
(agencies) to overhaul the way they recruit and hire
our civilian workforce. Americans must be able to apply
for Federal jobs through a commonsense hiring process
and agencies must be able to select high-quality
candidates efficiently and quickly. Moreover, agency
managers and supervisors must assume a leadership role
in recruiting and selecting employees from all segments
of our society. Human resource offices must provide
critical support for these efforts. The ability of
agencies to perform their missions effectively and
efficiently depends on a talented and engaged
workforce, and we must reform our hiring system to
further strengthen that workforce.

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States,
including section 3301 of title 5, United States Code,
I hereby direct the following:

Section 1. Directions to Agencies. Agency heads shall
take the following actions no later than November 1,
2010:

(a) consistent with merit system principles and
other requirements of title 5, United States Code, and
subject to guidance to be issued by the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM), adopt hiring procedures
that:

(1) eliminate any requirement that applicants respond to essay-style
questions when submitting their initial application materials for any
Federal job;

(2) allow individuals to apply for Federal employment by submitting resumes
and cover letters or completing simple, plain language applications, and
assess applicants using valid, reliable tools; and

(3) provide for selection from among a larger number of qualified
applicants by using the ``category rating'' approach (as authorized by
section 3319 of title 5, United States Code), rather than the ``rule of 3''
approach, under which managers may only select from among the three highest
scoring applicants;

(b) require that managers and supervisors with
responsibility for hiring are:

(1) more fully involved in the hiring process, including planning current
and future workforce requirements, identifying the skills required for the
job, and engaging actively in the recruitment and, when applicable, the
interviewing process; and

(2) accountable for recruiting and hiring highly qualified employees and
supporting their successful transition into Federal service, beginning with
the first performance review cycle starting after November 1, 2010;

(c) provide the OPM and the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) timelines and targets to:

(1) improve the quality and speed of agency hiring by:

(i) reducing substantially the time it takes to hire mission-critical and
commonly filled positions;

(ii) measuring the quality and speed of the hiring process; and

(iii) analyzing the causes of agency hiring problems and actions that
will be taken to reduce them; and

(2) provide every agency hiring manager training on effective, efficient,
and timely ways to recruit and hire well-qualified individuals;

(d) notify individuals applying for Federal
employment through USAJOBS, an OPM-approved Federal
web-based employment search portal, about the status of
their application at key stages of the application
process; and
(e) identify a senior official accountable for
leading agency implementation of this memorandum.

Sec. 2. Directions to the OPM. The OPM shall take the
following actions no later than 90 days after the date
of this memorandum:

(a) establish a Government-wide performance review
and improvement process for hiring reform actions
described in section 1 of this memorandum, including:

(1) a timeline, benchmarks, and indicators of progress;

(2) a goal-focused, data-driven system for holding agencies accountable for
improving the quality and speed of agency hiring, achieving agency hiring
reform targets, and satisfying merit system principles and veterans'
preference requirements; and

(b) develop a plan to promote diversity in the
Federal workforce, consistent with the merit system
principle (codified at 5 U.S.C. 2301(b)(1)) that the
Federal Government should endeavor to achieve a
workforce from all segments of society;
(c) evaluate the Federal Career Intern Program
established by Executive Order 13162 of July 6, 2000,
provide recommendations concerning the future of that
program, and propose a framework for providing
effective pathways into the Federal Government for
college students and recent college graduates;
(d) provide guidance or propose regulations, as
appropriate, to streamline and improve the quality of
job announcements for Federal employment to make sure
they are easily understood by applicants;
(e) evaluate the effectiveness of shared registers
used in filling positions common across multiple
agencies and develop a strategy for improving agencies'
use of these shared registers for commonly filled
Government-wide positions;
(f) develop a plan to increase the capacity of
USAJOBS to provide applicants, hiring managers, and
human resource professionals with information to
improve the recruitment and hiring processes; and
(g) take such further administrative action as
appropriate to implement sections 1 and 2 of this
memorandum.

Sec. 3. Senior Administration Officials. Agency heads
and other senior administration officials visiting
university or college campuses on official business are
encouraged to discuss career opportunities in the
Federal Government with students.

Sec. 4. Reporting. (a) The OPM, in coordination with
the OMB and in consultation with other agencies, shall
develop a public human resources website to:

(1) track key human resource data, including progress on hiring reform
implementation; and

(2) assist senior agency leaders, hiring managers, and human resource
professionals with identifying and replicating best practices within the
Federal Government for improving new employee quality and the hiring
process.

(b) Each agency shall regularly review its key
human resource performance and work with the OPM and
the OMB to achieve timelines and targets for correcting
agency hiring problems.
(c) The OPM shall submit to the President an annual
report on the impact of hiring initiatives set forth in
this memorandum, including its recommendations for
further improving the Federal Government's hiring
process.

Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Except as expressly
stated herein, nothing in this memorandum shall be
construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(1) authority granted by law or Executive Order to an agency, or the head
thereof; or

(2) functions of the Director of the OMB relating to budgetary,
administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(d) The Director of the OPM, in consultation with
the OMB, may grant an exception to any of the
requirements set forth in section 1 of this memorandum
to an agency that demonstrates that exceptional
circumstances prevent it from complying with that
requirement.

Sec. 6. Publication. The Director of the OPM is hereby
authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in
the Federal Register.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

Washington, May 11, 2010