Making something “a Federal case” usually implies exaggeration. Based on recent analysis and events, the Federal case for talent management has never been more important. The Partnership for Public Service and Grant Thornton recently released a holistic analysis on Federal Government talent acquisition and talent management: Closing the Gap: Seven Obstacles to a First-Class Federal Workforce.
In light of hiring reform efforts, many of the problems identified are in parallel with the problems and solutions identified in CHCI’s Leadership Excellence Taking On Hiring Reform article. All the issues raised resonate as high priorities today across all agencies.
In addition, the report The Weakest Link: How Strengthening Assessment Leads to Better Federal Hiring finds the process the federal government uses to evaluate job applicants is badly broken. Recommendations for improvement include improved collaboration between hiring managers and HR for more effective assessment of candidates against job qualifications.
If you take a look from the employee point of view, public and private sector levels of satisfaction and their expectations from leadership for career path guidance are very similar. The recent Best Places to Work results show that staff recognize good talent management practices and clear leadership.
As we said before, making government recruiting competitive and comparable with the private sector starts with process and technology.
To keep up with progress, visit the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Hiring Reform site.
