by Meredith Camp

For the second year in a row, government spending has been cut and federal pay freezes have continued.  Positions go unfilled because there is no funding to hire people in these roles.  This critical belt-tightening requires government organizations to get more strategic and deliberate about the people they do hire, as there is less room for the waste that comes with high turnover.  Having a strong acquisition plan in place is imperative in order to attract, hire, and retain top talent into the federal workforce.  Being able to get the right people in the door is only half the battle; getting those people in the right positions within the proper timeframe and budget requires more effort, and ensuring they last, are the biggest hurdles in this time of cutbacks and negative perceptions of the public sector in general.  Often, the recruiting and hiring process are both handled exclusively by the human resources department, and they are often bombarded with resumes, slowing down the placement process.  Even those organizations that have software programs to filter resumes by key words often end up passing over quality candidates simply because they lack the proper language in their CVs.  There are smarter, more efficient and effective ways to recruit, hire, and retain the talented individuals each institution wants and needs most, and it’s time that government agencies began utilizing them.