The memo also calls on OPM to establish by mid-August a government-wide performance review and improvement process for hiring reform including a timeline, benchmarks, and indicators of progress.
OPM also must establish 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 – as well as develop a plan to promote diversity in the federal workforce.
The memo directs OPM to review the Federal Career Intern Program to determine its future and to propose a framework for providing pathways into the federal government for college students and recent graduates.
The FCIP received considerable scrutiny at a recent hearing before the Senate federal workforce subcommittee, and the future of the program – popular among agencies for its flexibility but which unions say undermines competitive hiring – is in question. The assessments of OPM and key lawmakers ranged from neutral to favorable.
The hiring memo further directs OPM to provide guidance or propose regulations to improve the quality of job announcements; develop a plan to increase the capacity of USAJOBS to provide applicants, hiring managers, and HR professionals with information to improve the recruitment and hiring processes; and to develop a public-facing HR website to track key HR data including progress on hiring reform.