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Strategies for Recruiting Professionals

Ira L. Hobbs CIO, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Co-Chair, CIOC IT Workforce Committee

North American Day 2006

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Federal Chief Information Officers Council IT Workforce Committee

• Government’s key advocate for strategies to recruit, develop and maintain the federal IT workforce

• Close collaboration with government-wide and individual agency representatives, and • Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

• General Services Administration (GSA)

• Broad agenda encompasses the full employment life cycle: workforce planning, recruitment and retention, career development

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Strategic Focus on Recruiting

• 26% of federal IT employees surveyed indicate they plan to retire in the next 6 years – 2004 IT Workforce Capability Assessment Survey

• Agencies must attract top talent to meet mission needs and to close competency gaps

• We must grow the next generation of the federal IT workforce

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Growing and Sustaining the IT Workforce

• Seeding the Field• High School Outreach • Scholarship for Service

• Nurturing Growth • CIO University • IT Exchange Program

• Harvest and Sustainment • Recruitment and retention flexibilities• Virtual hiring • Targeted recruitment

• Preparing the Ground • Biennial update of Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies • Updating job classification/skills requirements

• IT Quarterly Forum • G2G EA/IA/ITPM Symposium

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Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies

1. Policy and Organizational 2. Leadership/Managerial

3. Process/Change Management

4. Information Resources Strategy and Planning

5. Performance Assessment: Models and Methods

6. Project/Program Management

7. Capital Planning and Investment Assessment

8. Acquisition

9. E-Government/Electronic Business/Electronic Commerce

10. IT Security/Information Assurance

11. Enterprise Architecture

12. Technical

• Established in 1997; updated biennially • Core knowledge requirements identified for CIO staff• 2006 update ongoing (to be released Summer 2006)

http://www.cio.gov/documents/2004_CCC_Learning_Objectives.doc

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Continuous Update of Job Categories and Requirements

• IT Specialist series established in 2001

• IT Project Management titling established in 2003

• Review of federal-wide project/program management skills/competencies ongoing

• Establishment of IT Architecture classification standards targeted for 2007

Ability to identify and target specialties in the dynamic IT field is critical to successful recruiting

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High School Outreach

Reach for talent begins early

• CIO Council representatives visit High School Career Days

• Agencies sponsor Groundhog Job Shadow Day- high school students visit federal agencies

• Lisa Winkler Memorial Scholarship- Awarded to high performing students to pursue IT studies

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Scholarship for Service Filling Critical Cyber Security Positions

• Bachelor’s and Graduate Degree scholarships to students enrolled in Information Assurance field at Centers of Academic Excellence

• Tuition, books, fees, annual stipend2002-2005 Graduates - 416 BS: 77; MS: 337; PhD: 2

2006 Graduates - 174 BS: 49; MS: 124; PhD: 1

2007 and later - 143 BS: 43; MS: 98; PhD: 2

• Summer internship

• Federal service requirement equal to length of scholarship

www.sfs.opm.gov

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CIO University

• Substantial growth since its inception six years ago

George Mason University

LaSalle University

Carnegie Mellon

Syracuse University

George Washington University

University of Maryland University

College

Providing Continuous Learning is a Key Recruitment Tool

• Virtual consortium of 6 prestigious universities– Curriculum based on Clinger-Cohen Core

Competencies – Master’s Degree/Graduate Level Certificate

Programs in IT Management

• Over 600 graduates to date

www.gsa.gov/ciouniversity

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IT Exchange Program (ITEP) Partnering with Industry

• Established by E-Government Act of 2002• Two basic features

– Temporary detail of civilian federal IT Management (ITM) employees to private sector

– Temporary detail of ITM private sector employees to Federal Government

• Initial assignments are 3 months to 1 year in length• Authorized for GS-11/above & career senior executives • Allows industry and government to learn from

each other• Enables Agencies to close skill gaps

www.usajobs.gov/itep.asp

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Federal IT Seminars

• Sponsored by GSA and IT Workforce Committee

• FREE forums featuring key government experts

• Focus on current hot topics– Enterprise Architecture– Emergency Preparedness

and Response– Employee and Contractor

Identification Standards (HSPD 12)

• New seminar under development

• Targeted to senior/mid-level employees

• Focus: Hot federal IT topics important to achieving the President’s Management Agenda– Enterprise Architecture– IT Project Management– Cyber Security

IT Quarterly Forum

G2GGovernment to Government

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Recruitment and Retention FlexibilitiesIT Special Salary Rates

• Established in 2001; used to address existing or likely significant gaps in recruiting or retaining well-qualified employees.

• Targeted towards entry-level and developmental-level Federal IT workers with the latest skills.

• At the time of inception, produced overall net increases of 7 percent to 33 percent for the IT workers.

• Skill areas authorized: Computer Scientists, Computer Engineers and IT Specialists (10 specialty areas).

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Recruitment and Retention Flexibilities

• Annual Leave Enhancement for newly appointed Federal workers (April 2005) – Earn vacation time faster

• Enhanced Recruitment, Relocation and Retention Bonuses (May 2005)

• Direct Hire Authority – Streamlined hiring process for critical skills personnel (June 2003 for IT security workforce)

• Compensatory Time Off for Travel (January 2005)

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The Value of Virtual Hiring

• In response to the slowing U.S. economy and failure of many “dot-coms”, in 2002, CIOC teamed with OPM to hold the first Virtual IT Job Fair.

• The website recorded nearly 2.3 million hits during the two weeks that it was active.

• The speed of the total hiring time was cut from 4-6 months to 4-6 weeks.

• Some agencies were able to make “on the spot” offers within 15 days of closing the web site and first person was on board within 3 weeks – unique for federal hiring.

• The overall skill caliber of the candidates was exceptionally high.

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Job Area# of Positions

on BoardFY 2006 # of

Positions to be FilledIT Project Management 4,619 600IT Security 9,030 488IT Architecture (Enterprise) 1,169 180IT Architecture (Solutions) 942 148Total 15,760 1,416

4,619

9,030

1,169 9420

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

IT ProjectManagement

IT Security IT Architecture(Enterprise)

IT Architecture(Solutions)

Summary of Positions Currently on Board

# o

f Pos

ition

s

600

488

180148

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

IT ProjectManagement

IT Security IT Architecture(Enterprise)

IT Architecture(Solutions)

Summary of Positions to be Filled by Job Area

FY 2

006

# of

Pos

ition

s

Identifying the Critical Skill Needs

Source: OMB FY07 IT Budget Report March 2006

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For more information…

Ira L. Hobbs CIO, U.S. Department of the Treasury

202.622.1200 ira.hobbs@do.treas.gov