Federal Manager's Daily Report

The Navy, noting that it has in its computer science and IT management workforce has grown by more than 16 percent since 2010, recently held a conference of HR officials to map out its plans for staffing those occupations moving ahead.

Cyber capability is a “very significant operational need and it’s something that our HR community has really taken the lead on in defining that requirement and making sure we get the people in place,” an official said in a summary of the conference released by the Navy.

“Cyber has become the next big thing – let’s make sure we give the level of effort that it requires – this is just as critical a capability as ship building,” another official was quoted as saying.

One approach, the announcement said, has been to establish, at an civilian HR operations center at Norfolk, Va., a cyber-recruitment Center of Excellence to serve as a central repository of HR best practices, recruiting sources and cyber recruiting expertise.

The center is developing broad-based cyber expertise and recruiting strategies, starting with certain number of positions within the Fleet Cyber Command, and is committed to working with academic institutions to attract the best talent, it said.