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Easier to Post for Federal jobs

Essay-based job applications are on the way out

By Elizabeth Newellenewell@govexec.comMay 11, 2010

President Obama on Tuesday released a long-anticipated hiring reform memorandum, replacing requirements that federal job applicants respond to essay questions with a résumé-based approach more in line with private sector practices.

The human capital officials in the audience erupted in applause when Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry announced the elimination of knowledge, skills and abilities statements.

"Now, for the first time in history, you will be able to apply for almost every federal job with a simple résumé and a cover letter," Berry said. "This will save applicants millions of person hours as well as money." Berry said Monster, the company OPM hired to run the USAJobs website, has prepared the site to accept résumés immediately.

The memo also does away with the rule of three, where managers must choose hires from among the top three applicants, as determined by an earlier scoring and selection process. Instead, agencies must use a category rating approach to keep the best qualified applicants in a pool of potential hires even if officials have selected another candidate for the vacancy in question. "Right now, once you made it through the meat grinder of this process, all these good candidates, who are well qualified -- they're best qualified -- we throw them out and make them start over again," Berry said. "We're going to stop that and now allow departments to immediately draw out of that pool."

Under the order, the candidates would be available for positions within the department where they applied. Berry will seek congressional approval to allow agencies governmentwide to draw from the pool. In addition, the memo outlines responsibilities for managers and supervisors. They are to be more fully involved in the hiring process, including planning current and future workforce requirements, identifying the skills required for the job, and actively engaging in recruitment and interviews. Managers will be held accountable for finding and hiring qualified employees and supporting their transition into their new federal job. Beginning on Nov. 1, officials must provide the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management with timelines and targets to improve the quality and speed of agency hiring.

Agencies will be required to fill mission-critical and commonly needed positions faster, measure progress of reforms, analyze the causes of problems and identify remedial actions, and train hiring managers on effective recruitment and hiring practices. Berry said the president has set forth "very simple and straightforward metrics," including cutting the average hiring time in half to 80 days.

"The other bottom line is quality and making sure we get the right candidate for the right job," Berry said. "That's a tougher one to measure, but we're working with the [Chief Human Capital Officers Council] and OMB and others to develop metrics."

One option is to use manager interviews, where OPM or OMB officials talk to hiring supervisors to get a sense of whether or not they're happy with their choice, Berry said.

The memo also states the government must keep applicants who apply for federal positions through USAJobs updated on the status of their inquiry at key stages in the process.

OPM will take ownership of a number of the memo's directives, including establishing a governmentwide performance review and improvement process for hiring reform. This will include a timeline, benchmarks and indicators of progress, as well as a data-driven system for holding agencies accountable for improving the speed and quality of the process, achieving targets and satisfying merit system principles and veterans' preference requirements. Scott Gould, deputy secretary at the Veterans Affairs Department, said he believes the move will help veterans as well as hiring managers.

"This reform is going to make it easier for veterans to seek and obtain federal jobs," Gould said. "It does for veterans what it does for every federal job seeker -- it speeds up the whole process. You don't have to submit a book to be able to apply for a job."

Gould said eliminating the rule of three greatly expands opportunities for veterans who are placed at the top of the hiring pile.

In addition, OPM must develop a plan to promote diversity in the workforce while adhering to merit principles, and it must review the Federal Career Intern Program and provide recommendations on FCIP's future.

OPM will submit an annual report to the president on the impact of hiring initiatives set forth in the memo, including recommendations for further improving the hiring process.

The National Treasury Employees Union expressed cautious support for the overhaul.

"NTEU supports prompt and efficient federal hiring practices, but we also want to ensure that merit remains the linchpin of the hiring process," NTEU President Colleen Kelley said in a statement. "We will be monitoring the changes advanced in the White House memorandum, particularly category hiring and the creation of new assessment tools, to make sure there is no abuse by agencies."

Kelley said, however, reforms to the hiring process will "accomplish little" as long as agencies are allowed to avoid competitive hiring by misusing excepted service hiring authorities, particularly the Federal Career Intern Program.

"NTEU wants the FCIP ended now, and is working to accomplish that goal," she said. "While the White House memorandum does not end the FCIP, I am pleased to see that it has directed the Office of Personnel Management to evaluate agency use of the FCIP and make recommendations about that program to the president within 90 days."

Kelley said she is confident a fair review will result in a recommendation to end the program. The American Federation of Government Employees also released a statement expressing cautious support for the overall memo, but was disappointed it did not include restrictions on the use of FCIP.

(C) 2010 BY NATIONAL JOURNAL GROUP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

What Will Be the Hot Jobs of 2018?

• MAY 26, 2010
  

  What Will Be the Hot Jobs of 2018?
  

• By SUE SHELLENBARGER
  

  
  

  Kelley McDonald has always loved exploring new terrain. In home videos as early as age 3, "I'm always off by myself, looking under rocks or catching and studying bees," she says. Today, at 18, the Apple Valley, Minn., college student is studying for a science career in the fast-growing field of nanotechnology—working with materials at the molecular or atomic level.
  

  
  

  That makes her one of the lucky ones—a young adult whose career passion is in sync with one of the hot jobs of the near future.
  

  
  

  Predicting the jobs or skills that will be in demand years from now is a tricky task for many teens, young adults and their parents. Luckily, there are rich sources of information on the Web, in books, and in most people's communities; the challenge is to sift through them all.
  

  
  

  Ms. McDonald found her passion through a community-college nanotechnology program funded by the National Science Foundation, where one official foresees hundreds of thousands of job openings in the field in the next five years. Other sources include government forecasts, school or college career counselors, and neighbors and friends employed in growing fields.
  

  
  

  The richest vein of job-growth information is the Labor Department's 10-year forecast for demand, pay and competition for more than 300 jobs in 45 categories. The department's latest biannual compilation, published last month as the "Occupational Outlook Handbook," is great for sizing up the long-term outlook for most fields. The forecasts have often been prescient—accurately predicting this decade's fast growth in special-education teaching jobs and the widening range of hot health-care careers, for example.
  

  In the coming decade, engineering—already known for paying college graduates some of the highest starting salaries—is expected to offer the fastest-growing area: biomedical engineering. Jobs in this field, which centers on developing and testing health-care innovations such as artificial organs or imaging systems, are expected to grow by 72%, the Labor Department says.
  

  
  

  Among other professions, job opportunities for physicians should be "very good," the guide says; health care dominates the list of the fastest-growing jobs, capturing 11 of the top 20 slots. While more attorneys and architects will be needed, competition for these jobs will be intense. Psychologists will be in demand, but growth will be fastest in industrial and organizational psychology.
  

  
  

  The forecasts have limitations. The Labor Department's macroeconomic model works on two noteworthy assumptions—that the economy will rebound to long-term growth and that there won't be any more big shocks like the 2007-2008 recession. Thus its forecasts don't predict the big job-market swings or sudden changes in the supply of workers that can easily happen in a volatile economy.
  

  
  

  That means you could pick a job from the Labor Department's "fastest-growing" list when you enter college, only to find the field in a slump by the time you graduate. For example, a 2006 high-school graduate eyeing the government's 2004-2014 forecast for nursing at that time would have read about excellent job prospects, with "thousands of job openings" predicted because experienced nurses were expected to retire.
  

  
  

  While that forecast is likely to hold for the long term, the job market for students graduating from college this year is headed in the opposite direction: Thousands of experienced nurses who had been inactive or retired have been re-entering the work force because of the recession.
  

  Similarly, a high-school grad in 2000 might have picked computer programming—No. 8 at the time on a government list of fast-growing, high-paying jobs—only to graduate to the aftermath of the dot-com collapse.
  

  
  

  And finally, no economic model can forecast growth in jobs that are still evolving. While the government's latest handbook contains a supplement on "green occupations" in emerging industries such as biofuels and wind energy, it has no data on many of the jobs these industries are creating, such as fuel-cell technologists.
  

  
  

  "Right now, all the projections we have are about a world that existed" in the past, says David Passmore, director of The Pennsylvania State University's Institute for Research in Training & Development. "We are sitting on the precipice of the next big transformation" in energy production, "and no one in the occupational-projections area knows how to handle that."
  

  
  

  All that leaves much to the resourcefulness, imagination and research skills of young people weighing a career choice. The first step is to explore and try out various fields in order to figure out what kind of work you love and can do well. The next is to learn about broad career fields that are likely to grow; the government's handbook lists job-by-job career-information contacts, such as professional associations or industry groups. Then, pick a field with this attitude: "I think I'll jump in and learn what I can learn," says Bob Templin, president of Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va.
  

  
  

  Networking with people in your target industries can help. Russell Wagner, a 20-year-old from Prior Lake, Minn., likes electronics and science, but when he tried robotics in high school, he found it boring. His mother contacted friends in industry and learned nanoscientists are in demand in many industries, developing a wide range of products, from electronic memory devices and coatings for stents to mold-resistant shingle coatings.
  

  
  

  At Dakota County Technical College, Rosemount, Minn., where Mr. Wagner and Ms. McDonald are enrolled, program head Deb Newberry says employers contact her trying to fill more job openings than she has students.
  

  
  

  All job markets are local, so it is important to check out job demand in the locale where you want to live. Community colleges tune into regional work-force needs and are often set up to provide counseling and work-force advice to the public.
  

  
  

  Also, ACT Inc. compiles state-by-state data comparing the career interests of students who have taken its college-entrance exams with the job outlook in each state.
  

  
  

  In Virginia, for example, student interest in computer-related jobs is falling far short of likely demand; only 3% of Virginia students are interested in the field, which has projected growth of 23%. To see the data, go to ACT.org, click on "2009 College Readiness Report" and scroll down to the state list; work-force data is on page 10 of each "Readiness Report."
  

  
  

  Of course, many people fare best by holding out for a job doing what they love. Careers in filmmaking are expected to grow very slowly in the coming decade, and competition for jobs will be keen.
  

  
  

  But that isn't stopping Kiel Greenfield. He has loved movies for so long—watching them, talking about them and working with them as a video-rental store employee—that he has decided, at age 28, that filmmaking is the only career for him. He signed on for a film-making program at a respected school, the Zaki Gordon Institute, Sedona, Ariz., and plans to do whatever it takes to land a job in film photography.
  

  "It's going to be hard," he says, "but it's totally worth it."
  

  
  

  Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com
  

  Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
  

  This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
  

  www.djreprints.com
  

  
  

What are Resume Keywords?

Resume tips are all over the place on the Internet. One of the great ones is this: make sure you have the right keywords in your resume.

Great advice, isn’t it?

But if you are not Internet or HR machine-reading savvy, you probably don’t know what keywords are, much less the ones that should be in your resume. So let’s clear some of this mystifying gobbly-gook up, shall we?

http://cuberules.com/2010/05/17/keywords-your-resume-anyway/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+CubeRules+(Cube+Rules)&utm_content=Twitter

Changes to Federal Hiring Procedures

Essay-based job applications are on the way out
By Elizabeth Newellenewell@govexec.comMay 11, 2010

President Obama on Tuesday released a long-anticipated hiring reform memorandum, replacing requirements that federal job applicants respond to essay questions with a résumé-based approach more in line with private sector practices.

The human capital officials in the audience erupted in applause when Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry announced the elimination of knowledge, skills and abilities statements.

"Now, for the first time in history, you will be able to apply for almost every federal job with a simple résumé and a cover letter," Berry said. "This will save applicants millions of person hours as well as money."

Berry said Monster, the company OPM hired to run the USAJobs website, has prepared the site to accept résumés immediately.

The memo also does away with the rule of three, where managers must choose hires from among the top three applicants, as determined by an earlier scoring and selection process. Instead, agencies must use a category rating approach to keep the best qualified applicants in a pool of potential hires even if officials have selected another candidate for the vacancy in question.

"Right now, once you made it through the meat grinder of this process, all these good candidates, who are well qualified -- they're best qualified -- we throw them out and make them start over again," Berry said. "We're going to stop that and now allow departments to immediately draw out of that pool."

Under the order, the candidates would be available for positions within the department where they applied. Berry will seek congressional approval to allow agencies governmentwide to draw from the pool.

In addition, the memo outlines responsibilities for managers and supervisors. They are to be more fully involved in the hiring process, including planning current and future workforce requirements, identifying the skills required for the job, and actively engaging in recruitment and interviews.

Managers will be held accountable for finding and hiring qualified employees and supporting their transition into their new federal job. Beginning on Nov. 1, officials must provide the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management with timelines and targets to improve the quality and speed of agency hiring.

Agencies will be required to fill mission-critical and commonly needed positions faster, measure progress of reforms, analyze the causes of problems and identify remedial actions, and train hiring managers on effective recruitment and hiring practices. Berry said the president has set forth "very simple and straightforward metrics," including cutting the average hiring time in half to 80 days.

"The other bottom line is quality and making sure we get the right candidate for the right job," Berry said. "That's a tougher one to measure, but we're working with the [Chief Human Capital Officers Council] and OMB and others to develop metrics."

One option is to use manager interviews, where OPM or OMB officials talk to hiring supervisors to get a sense of whether or not they're happy with their choice, Berry said.

The memo also states the government must keep applicants who apply for federal positions through USAJobs updated on the status of their inquiry at key stages in the process.

OPM will take ownership of a number of the memo's directives, including establishing a governmentwide performance review and improvement process for hiring reform. This will include a timeline, benchmarks and indicators of progress, as well as a data-driven system for holding agencies accountable for improving the speed and quality of the process, achieving targets and satisfying merit system principles and veterans' preference requirements. Scott Gould, deputy secretary at the Veterans Affairs Department, said he believes the move will help veterans as well as hiring managers.

"This reform is going to make it easier for veterans to seek and obtain federal jobs," Gould said. "It does for veterans what it does for every federal job seeker -- it speeds up the whole process. You don't have to submit a book to be able to apply for a job."

Gould said eliminating the rule of three greatly expands opportunities for veterans who are placed at the top of the hiring pile.

In addition, OPM must develop a plan to promote diversity in the workforce while adhering to merit principles, and it must review the Federal Career Intern Program and provide recommendations on FCIP's future.

OPM will submit an annual report to the president on the impact of hiring initiatives set forth in the memo, including recommendations for further improving the hiring process.

The National Treasury Employees Union expressed cautious support for the overhaul.

"NTEU supports prompt and efficient federal hiring practices, but we also want to ensure that merit remains the linchpin of the hiring process," NTEU President Colleen Kelley said in a statement. "We will be monitoring the changes advanced in the White House memorandum, particularly category hiring and the creation of new assessment tools, to make sure there is no abuse by agencies."

Kelley said, however, reforms to the hiring process will "accomplish little" as long as agencies are allowed to avoid competitive hiring by misusing excepted service hiring authorities, particularly the Federal Career Intern Program.

"NTEU wants the FCIP ended now, and is working to accomplish that goal," she said. "While the White House memorandum does not end the FCIP, I am pleased to see that it has directed the Office of Personnel Management to evaluate agency use of the FCIP and make recommendations about that program to the president within 90 days."

Kelley said she is confident a fair review will result in a recommendation to end the program. The American Federation of Government Employees also released a statement expressing cautious support for the overall memo, but was disappointed it did not include restrictions on the use of FCIP.



(C) 2010 BY NATIONAL JOURNAL GROUP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

http://www.crossroadscareer.org/2010/02/how-to-network-if-youre-not-good-at-it/

http://www.crossroadscareer.org/2010/02/how-to-network-if-youre-not-good-at-it/

Even as Layoffs Persist, Some Good Jobs Hard to Fill - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Even as Layoffs Persist, Some Good Jobs Hard to Fill - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

CareerBuilder Launches Skills Transfer Tools to Help Job Seekers Discover New Fields of Employment

CareerBuilder Launches Skills Transfer Tools to Help Job Seekers Discover New Fields of Employment

Government Hiring Surge

A new study from the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service predicts a government hiring surge in critical fields during the next three years, especially in careers related to public health.

By September 2012, federal agencies will have hired 273,000 workers for mission-critical jobs, according to the report, which is set for release on Thursday. Those numbers mark a 41 percent increase, compared with the previous three fiscal years. The numbers are based on hiring projections from 35 federal agencies that employ more than 99 percent of federal workers.

Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership, said one reason for the jump is the Obama administration's push to beef up the federal workforce.

"There's pent-up demand," he said. "A lot of agencies have been flat-lined, or have been reduced for quite a number of years, and this administration is recognizing that this is a problem, and that they need to deal with it."

According to the report, 54,114 new hires will expand the ranks of medical and public health workers, and 52,077 in security and protection jobs. Many will be nurses at the Veterans Affairs Department and transportation security officers at the Homeland Security Department.

Agencies also will be looking for job candidates at law schools. According to the report, they plan to hire 23,596 people for legal positions. And not everyone will be headed to the Justice Department. While Justice plans to hire 4,556 attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants; VA expects to hire 4,277 claims examiners. And the Treasury Department is looking to pick up 6,621 people in the legal field -- mostly contact representatives.

Other reasons for the hiring surge include an increase in retirements and more demands on agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and especially VA, Stier said. VA, which is dealing with a surge of veterans from two wars, plans to hire 48,159 people in mission-critical positions.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the government to restock its talent," he said.

The Partnership has predicted that in Obama's first term, agencies will bring on 600,000 employees, making a third of the federal workforce newly hired.

The report, "Where the Jobs Are," is released biannually. This is the third study.

http://www.govexec.com/pdfs/090209p1.pdf

Success story

I am very pleased to report a success story. A former co-worker was employed but I did not know she was seriously underemployed. She sent me her resume and let me know she needed something at a higher skill level. About two weeks later I saw an opening in the RUMCdigest for an accounting person and I forwarded the opening to her. The recruiter's name was listed so I contacted him through LinkedIn(and he is now a member of my network :) ) to let him know an excellent candidate would be applying for his job and gave her name.

She applied the same day and he interviewed her within 48 hours. After two interviews she got the job and is now in Jacksonville for training and they have taken her to a Jaguars game as a "welcome aboard" outing. She is back working at the skill level where she should be. Her income has increased significantly and it was all due to networking! The employer has a terrific employee and did not have to screen through 100 candidates.

I can't say it enough...network...network...network. I love watching God at work and happy to be an instrument of his love!

Creating Career Possibilities in Three Short Steps

KE Job Support Meeting: Tuesday, August 11 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Purpose - Open to members and non-members in the community who are currently seeking employment, in the process of a career transition, or returning to the workplace.

Networking and Resume Review from 7:00 - 7:30 PM

Agenda: Survive The Job Crisis: Creating Career Possibilities for Yourself in Three Short Steps

Learn three critical steps to take right now to survive the job crisis. For more information about Hallie Crawford please visit her website, http://www.halliecr awford.com

Presented By: Hallie Crawford, Certified Career Coach

Hallie helps professionals clarify their ideal career path and make it happen. She is regularly featured as a career expert in the media including Fox, CNN, Yahoo Hot Jobs, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Temple Kol Emeth, Social Hall
1415 Old Canton Rd.
Marietta, GA 30062
770-973-3533, ext. 216

http://www.kolemeth .net