The bill provides that a qualifying examination includes a résumé review that is conducted by a subject matter expert. Image: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA bill to downplay the role of educational credentials in job qualifications and the role of self-evaluations in assessing federal job candidates is set for a vote soon in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, raising prospects of enactment before year’s end.
The bill, S-59, contains several provisions with bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress; the House passed a similar bill (HR-159) on a bipartisan vote early in 2023, in one of its first actions during this Congress on federal employment issues.
It would expand and put into law several changes to hiring policy that started during the Trump administration that are among that administration’s few policies that the Biden administration continued. A 2020 executive order initially required agencies to put many similar policies in place, and guidance issued in 2021 and 2022 told agencies to continue pursuing those policies.
The bill provides that a qualifying examination includes a résumé review that is conducted by a subject matter expert and prohibits examinations from consisting solely of a self-assessment from an automated examination, a résumé review that is not conducted by a subject matter expert, or any other method of assessing an applicant’s experience or education.
Agencies could use subject matter experts to develop position-specific technical assessments that allow applicants to demonstrate job-related skills, abilities, and knowledge; assessments may include structured interviews, work-related exercises, procedures to measure career-related qualifications and interests, or other similar assessments. The bill also allows agencies to establish talent teams to support and improve hiring practices.
OPM would have to create online platforms through which agencies may share and customize technical assessments and share the résumés of qualifying applicants; it also would have to create online platforms with information about the types of assessments used and hiring outcomes.
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