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Obama wants federal agencies to hit the gas on hiring
The Washington Post ^ | May 11, 2010 | Joe Davidson and Ed O'Keefe

Posted on 05/10/2010 9:34:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

If you've spent months trying to get a job with the federal government, things are about to get easier.

President Obama plans to instruct federal agencies to radically overhaul the process now used to hire government workers. The change is expected to cut in half the time it takes to fill vacancies and allow the government to better compete with the private sector for top talent.

It's been a long time coming. The Government Accountability Office has been calling for changes since 2001, and a host of outside voices have criticized the byzantine nature of federal hiring, with its stacks of paperwork and endless rounds of interviews that can keep an applicant hanging for months.

"You want to pull your hair out, you want to scream, you want to shout," said Stephanie Jones, 32, of Hyattsville, who lamented that she is only "killing trees" with her 75 federal job applications over the past three years.

David T. Ellwood, dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, describes it as a "19th-century hiring system" in which applications disappear into a "black hole." The process, "even at the best of times," he added, "can take nine months or a year."

Those seeking federal jobs apply through the USAjobs.gov Web site, which categorizes available positions by city and type. They must write essays, known as KSAs, that assess their knowledge, skills and abilities. Once the KSAs are submitted, a response can take months, if applicants get one at all.

Obama's plan, to be announced Tuesday morning, would cut hiring time to about 80 days from the date a vacancy is announced to the point a candidate is hired. In some agencies, it can take up to 200 days to process a hire, and 140 days is not uncommon.(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bho44; bureaucrats; economy; obama
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Meanwhile, the private economy tanks, U3 unemployment is almost 10% while the U6 is almost 20%!!
1 posted on 05/10/2010 9:34:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We think the Feds hire bums now, wait till this gets going. It’s a consolation prize for the likes of Acorn.


2 posted on 05/10/2010 9:36:49 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s all part of the shell game.


3 posted on 05/10/2010 9:37:52 PM PDT by South40 ("Islam has a long tradition of tolerance." ~Hussein Obama, June 4, 2009, Cairo, Egypt)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"it can take up to 200 days to process a hire, and 140 days is not uncommon"

In other words, the government is incompetent.

4 posted on 05/10/2010 9:39:04 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (The Quran and Mein Kampf: if you've read one you've read them both.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Everybody is gonna work for the U.S. gubmint!!! Woo Hoo! Just like in Greece!!!


5 posted on 05/10/2010 9:39:17 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Had enough "history" yet?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

of COURSE he does!

That’s what he’s all about: having a massive federal government, with him at the helm.


6 posted on 05/10/2010 9:44:16 PM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D.: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hey, you guys, I’ve been submitting applications and trying to get work for a year, and have had virtually no responses. One phone interview. I’d be thrilled to get a federal job. I’m certainly not going to get hired in the private sector. You don’t want me to have my home go into foreclosure and go into welfare to suck up tax dollars, do you? Wouldn’t you rather that people like me get a federal job and pay taxes rather than starve and freeze?


7 posted on 05/10/2010 9:45:36 PM PDT by ottbmare (I could agree wth you, but then we'd both be wrong.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
...cut in half the time it takes to fill vacancies...

No more of those pesky background checks. Show up with "a compelling life story" and you're in!

8 posted on 05/10/2010 9:52:57 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Had enough "history" yet?)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

“it can take up to 200 days to process a hire, and 140 days is not uncommon”

And it won’t be long until we will be saying “it can take up to 200 days to get an x-ray, and 140 days is not uncommon”


9 posted on 05/10/2010 9:53:25 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Healthcare adds 16,000 new IRS agents and zero new doctors???)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He needs all those thousands of IRS agents to get their boots on the necks of the taxpayers. And he needs all those workers to spy on our bank accounts and credit cards. There’s much evil to be done, and it can’t done until the people are hired to do it!


10 posted on 05/10/2010 9:53:34 PM PDT by Enterprise (Dan Rather said Obama is so incompetent he couldn't sell watermelons.)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

Wait and see the ACORN type bureaucrats that OK those x-rays.

Oh, wait.....You are a FReeper, you attend Tea Parties, etc. Outa luck.


11 posted on 05/10/2010 9:56:39 PM PDT by unkus
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To: unkus

LOL! That sounds about right.


12 posted on 05/10/2010 9:59:29 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Healthcare adds 16,000 new IRS agents and zero new doctors???)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The change is expected to cut in half the time it takes to fill vacancies and allow the government to better compete with the private sector for top talent.

I've got news for Obama. The private sector is not hiring unemployed top talent at this time.

This is a ruse to get more people off the unemployment roles just in time for the November elections.

13 posted on 05/10/2010 10:01:53 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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To: ottbmare

“Wouldn’t you rather that people like me get a federal job and pay taxes rather than starve and freeze?”

Those aren’t jobs, they are positions created oout of thin air and have no purpose except to pay people like you.

IN THE REAL WORLD IT’S CALLED WELFARE.

Instead of hiring the government should be firing over 50% of the current pay collectors!


14 posted on 05/10/2010 10:09:32 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Yup, remember where the term “going postal” came from.


15 posted on 05/10/2010 10:14:12 PM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things)
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To: Nachum; Cindy

ping


16 posted on 05/10/2010 10:15:29 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (*)
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To: ottbmare

I worked in a contract position for the NSA. There were only 5 others in the whole country who did what I did and it took them three years to assemble our team. Four years ago I quit to go to college. Now I’ve applied to go back to the agency, and I’m told it’s a 6-10 month wait.

Efficient.


17 posted on 05/10/2010 10:15:29 PM PDT by Skenderbej (No muhammadan practices his religion peacefully.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The affirmative action socialist just realized how well the Greek model of over growing the government employee system fits with the Cloward-Piven strategy. He’s stupid, but he’s so evil he can’t miss with the father of lies on his side.


18 posted on 05/10/2010 10:18:01 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Obots, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when they are deceived.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The change is expected to.... and allow the government to better compete with the private sector for top talent.

What a monumental waste of talent that will be. I can’t say that I wish Obummer luck in this venture.


19 posted on 05/10/2010 10:26:27 PM PDT by haroldeveryman
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To: mlocher

And broaden the gov’t. Who is going to pay for this?


20 posted on 05/10/2010 10:26:45 PM PDT by presently no screen name ( Repeal ZeroCare!)
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