According to an article on Reuters, the Partnership for Public Service released results of a survey estimating that the federal government will be looking to fill more than 270,000 positions, and Monster Government Solutions (MGS) has teamed up with the Partnership to help federal agencies attract and onboard qualified candidates.
The survey is called WHERE THE JOBS ARE 2009: Mission-Critical Opportunities for America, and it outlines government-wide projected hiring needs for the next three years, estimating that the federal government will hire nearly 273,000 new workers for mission-critical jobs by the fall of 2012 — a 41 percent increase in comparison to the previous three fiscal years.
The majority of new federal hires are expected to come in five broad professional fields: medical and public health, security and protection, compliance and enforcement, legal occupations, and administration and program management.
“For federal agencies, this is a great opportunity to capitalize on the number of skilled candidates who are in the market right now,” said Joyce Ceconi, vice president of sales, MGS. “But agencies need to do things differently if they truly want to capture the job seeker audience effectively and drive enough qualified candidates to available jobs. This dramatic hiring need requires a new approach to recruitment. Posting in one place and hoping for the best won’t drive results. At MGS, we work with federal agencies to provide solutions and advice to attract, assess, hire and onboard the top talent they will need to fill these mission critical positions.”
Popularity: 5% [?]
September 4th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Monster Government runs the job board for the Feds (OPM) with USAJobs.gov. And they get compensated handsomely for it under a 5 year contract with OPM. So Monster is basically saying that USAJobs isn’t effective, you need to buy more of our commercial offerings? “Posting in one place and hoping for the best won’t drive results”. I wonder what OPM thinks of that?
September 8th, 2009 at 6:08 am
What I dont understand is why the federal government suddenly need an extra 270,000 employees, where has the demand come from? Obviously I’m not complaining, this is great news for the economy and the many unemployed out there. Such a huge recruitment drive is going to require a lot of work from MGS, there will no doubt be countless applications to get through!
September 10th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Fedhead has the same problem that most current federal HR folks have, MYOPIA! He (she) thinks that you can find the best people by sticking a sign on telephone pole for 14 days and hoping for the best. The BEST people already have good jobs and are appreciated by their employers and are paid well BUT would consider a job in public service, if asked. Those are passive seekers and you have to search harder for them!
HREditor, where have you been! Government payments for “services,” other than employees have doubled in the last 5 years, you know, Blackwater, Double Canopy, Lochheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman. Also, the government has just about as many employees now as it had in 1965… and MOST will be eligible to retire soon. The feds need more people to privide oversight to the hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money that is being spent on your behalf!
September 11th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
ED,
You missed my point. The Federal Government has severely handicapped themselves in the competition for the “best and brightest” with their arcane recruitment processes. I find it funny that Monster Government was being positioned as a potential savior, when they are part of the problem. They run USAJobs – shouldn’t they have been working w/ OPM over the last 5 years to improve the federal recruitment process? The Monster.com platform doesn’t enable agencies to tap into your “passive seekers” anyway – Monster has no Social Media platform suitable for finding passive candidates. USAJobs never evolved beyond a basic job board and resume database – so why should the government trust Monster or Monster Government with their recruitment dollars?
September 14th, 2009 at 10:01 am
The fact that the federal hiring process is arcane is a given! It is based on hundreds of laws, legal decisions, etc. that have frequently been in direct conflict and have had to be reconciled in the regulatoty process. Federal hiring is like federal procurement — regulation and rule-bound to ensure transparency and fairness and to ensure that decisions are based on merit. The only way to truly reform it is to change the law.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:09 am
On social networking, paraphrasing Linda Springer in 2008, OPM doesn’t want to create a social networking platform on USAJOBS. Instead, it wants to find a way to leverage existing social networks like Facebook, MySpace, etc. (The “etc.” could include the 25 and growing number of social networks that Monster created for military men and women, military spouses, transitioning military, nurses, police, firemen, teachers, healthcare workers, administrative assistants, professional women, government workers, HR professionals,and so on. Check our Military.com and Affinity Networks.)
September 14th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
ED,
So what does OPM pay Monster so much money for now? That’s the root of my original question. Ms Cecori came out and said it herself – “Posting in one place and hoping for the best won’t drive results”. So let’s all admit that USAJobs may have served it’s purpose 5 years ago, but that the government has gotten diminishing returns on their investment here. Maybe OPM will wise up next time around and avoid another long-term committment with a single vendor. I was just curious to what OPM would think if they heard that Monster came out and said that posting to USAJobs “won’t drive results”, especially since OPM is paying Monster a lot of $$$$$$$ to drive results. My guess is that you work for Monster, so my apologies if I offend. Maybe the Monster spokespeople just needs a PR lesson or two.