iCIMS Hire Expectations™

It was quite a celebration - the event called by US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director John Berry last week to announce the long awaited Federal Hiring Reforms, that is.  Anticipation had been growing for months, fueled by hints dropped by Director Berry since taking office, critical evaluations of the hiring process by private sector human resources managers, and the earlier release of a strategic plan for improving the federal hiring process.  But all the chatter leading up to the event did not detract from the excitement in the least.  In fact, when Director Berry finally uttered his now famous words, "We are switching to résumés," the packed OPM auditorium erupted into applause. 

Other reform measures announced by the OPM that promise to change the entire Federal recruiting game include:

• Dramatically reducing the time between when a job is announced and when it is filled
• Eliminating essays as an initial application requirement
• Using shorter, plain-language job announcements (Check out Dan Rosenblum's post for some tips!)
• Accepting resumes and cover letters from applicants, instead of requiring them to submit complex applications through outdated systems
• Allowing hiring managers to choose from among a group of best qualified candidates, rather than limiting their choice to just three names
• Notifying applicants of their status in a timely manner (and at four points in the process), thus eliminating the "black hole" that applicants often feel when they don't get a response to their applications

But now that the announcement party is over, the auditorium folding chairs have been put away, you have read the inaugural Hiring Reform Blog, joined the Hiring Reform Fan Page on Facebook, and are following Reform developments on Twitter, you have returned to your desk to find it inundated by resumes!  Now what?

After years of honing your skills at reading and evaluating the now defunct KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) essays, formally the opening step in the application process for many Federal positions, you must now shift your focus to sifting through piles of resumes to find the best candidates for your agency.  I am happy to report, however, that there are solutions out there that can make this new task as effortless as a walk in the park, namely Applicant Tracking and e-Recruitment Systems.  And not only can these solutions automate much of your new recruiting processes, the delivery of many of these solutions as Software-as-a-Service means that you can start taking advantage of their time saving functionality as early as tomorrow, rather than waiting for your IT resources to build you a system. And, as you look to the OPM resources listed above for guidance on how to reformulate your recruiting processes, I also invite you to follow our own little iBlog for additional tips on handling that growing pile of resumes on your desk.