**Human Capital Survey**

**December 2005**

**Question 18**

Question: The biggest problem with hiring new people to NRCS is:

Response: Other \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

1.  agency lacks a consistent hiring strategy - depends entirely on
    budget each year, highest priority is always to fill PFT positions -
    maybe that needs to be rethought. Some mix of filling existing
    positions AND hiring new students each year?

2.  Insufficient funds to hire new people

3.  Retention seems to be real problem - good people leave for better
    pay, more flexibility in work, greater openness to new ideas, less
    mobility, etc.

4.  Agency operation climate not attractive to the worker of today.

5.  Nepotism and cronyism

6.  training budgets

7.  lacks competitive IT pay scales

8.  Budgets do not support hiring new people

9.  limited budget for the impending job gap

10. Don\'t really see a problem.

11. Budget does not allow for more people

12. budgets won\'t support new hires

13. No Budget for it. Getting smaller every year!!

14. money to hire

15. Agency does not have enough money to hire.

16. NRCS does not hire ENOUGH, as well as ,NEEDED areas such as more
    Technicians and Program Assistants!

17. Agency does not have adequate monetary resources.

18. USA jobs is unwieldy

19. agency does not people with practical experiences related to the
    position. Too many people as well read but can\'t apply
    practicality.

20. no funds

21. Pay at entry level jobs is low

22. don\'t believe there is one

23. We hire too many not for their skills and abilities, but for their
    ethnic background.

24. agency doesn\'t have many openings in my area.

25. Filling positions with unqualified people because of EEO/CR

26. doesn\'t seen to be a problem

27. Hiring people that really aren\'t qualified for the job.
    Conservation is a lot like farming. It\'s got to be in your blood.
    Your have believe in the

28. starting positions do not have job security. I believe employees are
    using NRCS as a stepping stone, getting experienc from us then
    moving on.

29. not providing permanant jobs. I believe NRCS is being used as a
    stepping stone for new employees, they get experience with us then
    leave.

30. unqualified candidates

31. Job application process is an absolute nightmare

32. budget constraints &hiring preferences

33. they lack Ag experience

34. Either our budget constraints or our inexperienced managers in
    charge of hiring create

35. Providing OJT

36. SCS was a famous gov agency. NRCS is just another bureaucracy

37. politial correctness

38. A budget that changes yearly

39. often they are promoted too quickly

40. NRCS ISN\'T hiring new people (not enough)

41. Young people don\'t want to work for Fed. government (NRCS) b/c
    everything is about politics, bean counting, and adding more
    paperwork \-- emphasis sould be conservation on the ground \-- at
    the present it is definitely NOT. Private sector more satisfying.

42. Lack of committment by the agency

43. Agency hires too many part-time

44. Reverse discrimination

45. A combination of many of the above. Our work is very complex and it
    constantly changing. USDA is asking our agency to manage to many
    programs. Field office employees are being asked to do more with
    less all the time. Pay scales are low.

46. lack of openings during job fairs

47. Qualification standards are not updated to reflect college courses
    offered today. We make it too hard for people to apply and qualify
    for jobs.

48. Budgetary constraints

49. insufficient funding

50. Never has sufficient budget.

51. too restrictive course requirements

52. There is close to 50% unfair, preferential hiring

53. not enough \$ in the budget to hire them

54. 457 series education requirements

55. budget doesn\'t seem to allow state to hire more employees and
    people don\'t want to move to an extreme rural part of our state

56. I didn\'t know we had a hiring problem.

57. The agency looks inward for hiring instead of externally

58. nothing

59. Some states do not have job openings for interns and students

60. trying to get them trained

61. no money

62. Field staff needs to be involved in recruiting rather than just the
    HR staff.

63. unknown to people and college curriculums for soil science are far
    and few now

64. Buget problems don\'t allow hiring

65. budget

66. high cost area

67. lack of resources for states to hire people

68. NRCS does not have the funds to hire them and enough experienced
    mentors to give them on the job training.

69. State NRCS Budget

70. Lack of staffing funds

71. Lack of funding for new positions

72. no space in the job roster-positions all full

73. Position filled without being posted

74. federal funding lacking to accomplish NRCS goals and objectives

75. Red tape-interns/students who come to work for us are overwhelmed
    with the beauracracy

76. Starting pay is not competitive

77. budget

78. Few openings to advertise.

79. most employees dont have an agricultural degree

80. College education does not equip the person for the job. Only on the
    job training will yield a productive employee. It takes two or three
    years to get a productive employee. Spending the time to train the
    new employee in the field is strain on field staff

81. We don\'t hire because of budget!

82. The budget restricts it.

83. Not enough high quality training locations

84. Don\'t currently have the budget in this state

85. budget not enough to hire additional employees

86. Political slaming of Federal jobs

87. The amount of time spent in the field versus the amount of paperwork
    to be completed in the office.

88. We\'re not hiring enough new people

89. Not removing unqualified individual during probation period

90. Did not know there was a problem in hiring staff.

91. lack of people willing to supervise

92. budget

93. Federal Budgets and Direction

94. Not enough real farm background

95. when potential new people to NRCS ask older workers about working
    with NRCS they are usually told work could be satisfying but there
    doesn\'t seem to be the respect from the state office and national
    office personnel toward the field.

96. Lack of funds

97. EEO and funds availability trump strategic, mission-based hiring and
    training.

98. Prospective quality employees are not interested in performing the
    extreme amount of administrative duties that are required.

99. Inequity in the hiring process

100. Threats of competitive outsourcing

101. NHQ does not provide sufficient budget to keep the current staff
     employed.

102. Out Budget is tight right now

103. Agency does not send a clear message as to what it strives to
     accomplish or protect.

104. budget constraints, hiring ceilings

105. making people be mobile

106. Poor selection process.

107. time required to provide training, along with already busy
     workload.

108. Too many people are hired without agriculture backgrounds

109. All of the above

110. Budget problems prevent new hires

111. Lack of budget to hire new employees

112. The agency tends to hire from within the agency.

113. Not filling the most needed positions

114. Agency lacks competitive pay scales at lower grades

115. lack financial resources

116. Positions are not necessarily in locations where people want to
     live.

117. funds

118. Qualified, motivated candidates.

119. Agency does not act quickly enough to hire the good candidates.

120. Real job experience in the field can not be used if one additional
     credit of college is needed. Therefore can not hire qualified
     individuals. The requirements needed for new fields have not been
     reviewed for decades by OPM.

121. management and budget decisions

122. Length of time for the hiring process is unacceptable. By the time
     a selection is made, many applicants have already been hired by
     others.

123. Candidates have heard about the overwhelming paperwork

124. No agricultural background

125. Budget

126. Budget constraints

127. Lack of recruiting.

128. Hiring an adequate number of people to accomplish the job NRCS has
     to do is not a priority.

129. No introduction/orientation. New employees are thrown into the fire
     with little direction.

130. Most newcomers don\'t have the strong Agricultural Background
     needed to talk to the farmers on a level playing field comfortably.

131. Hiring is too often to fill quotas, and not enough attention to the
     individuals capabilities

132. NRCS does not target the right people

133. We don\'t build loyality amoung the new employees

134. Too bureaucratic

135. States having the funds to hire them.

136. They are hiring very few people.

137. Budget

138. Apparently budgets

139. Agency does not have enough interns

140. You can\'t narrow it down to one. It is a combination of severval.
     Not enough interns and students being hired and trained to be ready
     to handle a District Conservationist job. Pay scale needs to be
     looked at so, we can be more competitive. Need farm b

141. Funding to states

142. Jobs are not being replaced by the retirees

143. Other than a lack of funding for new employees I didn\'t know NRCS
     had a problem hiring new people.

144. NOT FILLING VACANT JOBS

145. budget

146. Funds usually scarce

147. Agency needs more farm background recruitment

148. We have enough office managers, we need field oriented employees.
     Get more field experienced employees into administrative positions
     to help the prospective of what\'s needed in the field.

149. Budget

150. Budget

151. Budget conditions prevent new hirings

152. Like of interest in agriculture. Today

153. Too much money spent on interns

154. People do not think they will be hired because we do not hire
     enough people.

155. Agency has a bad reputation

156. budget constraints

157. hiring freezes

158. The Agency is very Cloistered in their hiring. In Most States there
     is a huge reluctance to bring in outsiders, most people attend the
     land grant college in their state, work as interns, then are hired
     by that state.

159. NRCS has lost its FOCUS. We are an ag agency , many new hires know
     nothing about Agriculture.

160. employee\'s advancement are restricted by job series/classification

161. staff does not have time to train

162. EEO quota requirements

163. Budget cuts

164. Possible employees have no idea what qualifies them for the
     position.

165. Budget too low to hire enough people.

166. Bureaucratic crap

167. All of the above

168. being able to get rid of them when you\'ve made a mistake by hiring
     them

169. No funds for hiring.

170. undesirable locations

171. Qualifications on the environment

172. people are scared to work for the government

173. they can master the computer but not know a thing about farmers or
     ranchers needs

174. too slow about desiding to hire

175. Hiring is based entirely on who you know

176. too much emphasis on race in hiring

177. Threat of re-assignment (forced mobility)

178. Agency sometimes cannot move quick enough to hire a new employee,
     especially one just completing college.

179. Race is considered over competence

180. hiring criteria for % balance

181. Recruitment is too focused on EEO

182. It takes HR forever to prepare a cert & for officials to do
     interviews; the cert expires or people have accepted other jobs.

183. Sometimes existing attitudes and office politics, with resistence
     to any change, discourages new and potential employees.

184. Pay Scales, Federal Benefits not competive

185. Not enough TA funds to hire needed employees

186. workload

187. Agency wants to start a employee with a low pay grade even if they
     have a PhD.

188. not recruiting highly qualtified students

189. rating system needs revamping!

190. unqualified people are being hired

191. Agency interprets eligibility to fit who they want or don not want.

192. New employees lack work ethics.

193. In my state,hiring ignorant, lazy people

194. lack of finances to hire employees.

195. Agency lacks competitive pay scales for technical positions.

196. The people hired off the street do not have the experience of
     working with farmers, partners, etc. They do not know how the
     individual programs work. Degree doesn\'t mean they know how to
     perform the job.

197. The agency always is having budget problems

198. Ag carreers are not in vogue.

199. Agency has lost focas of making hiring decisions based on merit and
     merit alone.

200. Budget constraints

201. The budget to hire more people.

202. The job is overwhelming and highly stressful and people quit.

203. Hiring freezes

204. Budget

205. Agency tends to hire people with no or little knowledge of the real
     world and how it works.

206. Need on the job federal in software

207. Biggest constraint I see is hiring people. There are qualified
     people out there that would work for NRCS if given the opportunity
     (No job openings). In some offices personnel are doing the work of
     2 people.

208. So few job opportunities in the recent decade or so has led to a
     decline in the number of individuals entering university programs
     geared toward the NRCS mission.

209. Hiring new employees only because they are minorities, not because
     they are the best qualified applicants for the jobs! Many well
     qualified potential employees are turned away because of their
     gender and race!

210. Budget and/or Hiring Freezes

211. Budget Driven Hiring

212. The lack of a consistent agency budget strategy.

213. Doesn\'t hire the most excellant employee over the educated
     employee.

214. Most states will not pay moving expenses to the lower beginning
     level grades.

215. Having to move

216. Scares them off with the threat of mobility

217. Budget

218. budgets and staffing plans

219. We don\'t hire enough people and we overload them with work

220. Budget, and wanting college grads,could hire without degrees and
     promote with inservice training/experience

221. lack of funds

222. Budget related

223. budget constraints

224. the problem seems to be post-hire

225. As an Agriculture Department Agency, we are not hiring people with
     a strong agriculture backgroundto work in the field.

226. Agency needs to hire people that have a working knowledge of
     agriculture. It really makes a difference and would make the work
     easier for the new employees.

227. management not being honest with new hires

228. lack of dollars for proper training

229. budget limitations

230. \...that we haven\'t hired enough young people over the course of
     several years to handle the

231. budget - no money for new hires

232. There are plenty of good people to do the job

233. Perception of the agency similar to a

234. Hiring Freezes and budget limitations

235. Hiring decisions seem to be made by those least qualified to hire
     people. Good potential employees are rejected because of decisions
     made by a few administrators who are far from qualified to to make
     those decisions. I ran out of space to finish this.

236. Too much uncertainty in State budgets to make committments.

237. budget is not there for new hires in my state.

238. Budget problems

239. Unfair hiring practices used to meet EEO quotas.

240. wrong people are recruited

241. Hiring

242. I think it is a combination of most of the above

243. Adequate funding to offset attrition before losses occur.

244. Can not hire fast enough, go elsewhere

245. combination of being unknown and lack of competitive pay scale

246. Funding

247. We hire great interns & students and then cut them when we think we
     have a budget crunch (but really do not. I\'ve seen this happen
     three times.

248. NRCS workload is too severe

249. Budget driven if can afford to hire new individuals or even interns
     or students.

250. budget

251. Constant change causes job insecurity, contracting out, office
     closings

252. Potential employees have no idea about their potential hire date
     because of budget problems and seek other employment because they
     do not know when of if they will be hired within a reasonable time
     frame.

253. Not flexible enough to hire people we need.

254. Agency does not hire enough people with farm background, and you
     cannot get this type of common sense education in Colleges and
     Universities.

255. Many people have misunderstandings about agriculture.

256. Agency in unknown by all age groups

257. The budget keeps going down, so we can fill fewer and fewer
     positions. Thus no regular hiring process to create people ready
     for uplevel vacancies.

258. lack of budget, employees are spread too thin

259. lack of funding to bring new hires on

260. don\'t consider experience

261. Not being place in the location as would like

262. Staffing limitations

263. job openings may not be in areas people want to live

264. The agency does not have the funding

265. a qualified person can earn a lot more money for the same job in
     the private sector or other federal agencies

266. Funding

267. forced to hire minorities even if they can not do the job.

268. bad reputation in how management works with staff and field

269. budget and priorities of what type of employees NRCS wants is not
     good.

270. Ability to hire good students under budget constraits.

271. No budget

272. we aren\'t hiring them because of the budget!!!

273. Agency is hiring resource people to be managers and administrators.

274. BUDGET

275. the time to train effectively

276. Hiring people with non-ag background.

277. budget cuts

278. NRCS is understaffed and workload burns out new employees

279. why hire outside when the agency has qualified people to work but
     yet are willing to terminate that person due to

280. NOT HIRING ADEQUATE NUMBERS

281. An honest showing of what the

282. Budget

283. budget

284. Budget

285. unpredictability of individual states\' budgets

286. no field experience

287. Lack of Knowledge to do the job

288. Dont believe there is one more than enough applicants for all jobs.

289. Younger Employees have different Mind-Set than Baby Boomers, they
     tend to think they are right all the time.

290. need to hire people from outside the agency.

291. Lack good general knowledge of agriculture

292. Budget restraints

293. lack of needed employees, budget

294. New employees are not trained.

295. More than 1 problem, pay, agency unknown, bad hiring strategires,
     too much time taken for processing & notifications on announcements

296. Agency doesn\'t advertise jobs well

297. Budget restrictions

298. Agency hiring to fulfill civil rights expectation, not quality
     people

299. hiring freezes; no money in budget

300. on again - off again hiring

301. it seems you need to know someone

302. Bootcamp

303. Hiring underqualified employees based on completion of a summer
     internships, supervisors do not give honest opinions of summer
     interns, and they end up getting hired.

304. not enough speciaslists to effectively train new people

305. They hire people who lack experience in the area they are working
     in.

306. They have no way of telling how much experience a person has. A
     person could put down that they know more then they do and get a
     higher pay scale for it.

307. Getting young people to stay in small rural areas

308. I\'d have to mention more that one. I understand the need for
     mobility, but I\'ve seen good people runoff because they didn\'t
     want to play the game that way. We don\'t have enough interns,
     students, andtemp employes to evaluate from. Don\'t look close to
     home

309. Not enough funding to hire

310. Poor quality applicants and poor quality judgement in the employees
     that are hire.

311. The agency passes up qualified people and hires lesser qualified
     people because they are minorities.

312. affirmative action

313. Quotas

314. Hiring young people with an agricultural background is not
     promoted. Many have no background in farming so the agency is going
     to have to do some basic training in use of equipment, operators
     and owners differing roles in agriculture.

315. In my position I believe the agency is over looking good people
     with practical experience and only looking at a college degree.

316. Sometimes we hire people to fulfil Ethics issues instead of who is
     really qualified. We need to perform interviews and not choose
     people off paper!

317. providing funds for keeping the good employees on.

318. Agency does not train or support new hires

319. Our work is mainly in rural areas and many younger people are
     interested in bigger cities with more entertainment options. I
     don\'t believe that we can provide enough financial incentives to
     get someone to work for us.

320. Agency does not allow enough FT positions

321. New people need training and there hasn\'t been enough money for
     training.

322. not enough agricultural students

323. NRCS needs to hire people based on skills and not quotas from
     Special Emphisis programs.

324. We are hiring to meet diversity goals, ignoring a large pool of
     potential employees.

325. It\'s viewed as a white male (archaic) agency

326. No funds to hire and train employees to replace the technical
     expertise and mangers we are losing. We are just able to pay what
     we have.

327. Funding

328. For the RC&D program, the agency does not have an intern program
     and is eliminating key personnel (program mgmt. asst.) and making
     it more difficult to accomplish things due to ethic policies. WOULD
     YOU WANT TO APPLY FOR A RCD COORDINATOR POSITION ?

329. Combination of lacking competitive pay and benefits

330. Our image is now one of policing the farmers, telling them what
     they can and cannot do, instead of one of helping the farmers solve
     conservation problems.

331. budget is lacking - can not afford to hire enough new employees.

332. Soil Conservationist/Technician application process isn\'t
     understood

333. The agency has to operate under staff constraints. There are no
     positions to bring staff on unless there is a vacancy and if there
     isn\'t a budget shortfall. No one seems to know from year to year
     how many new employees that can be hired.

334. Agency needs to be more up front early on as to job expectations.

335. Time it take to train them to make them an asset.

336. The good students are not hired because of budget short falls

337. Low Budget

338. Starting pay.

339. Money

340. Taking kids of the streets and throwing them into the country does
     not work.

341. Reverse discrimination excludes a huge pool of potential employees.
     Marginally qualified hires compromise the reputation of our agency
     and reflect poorly on the very group that is under-represented.
     Hiring should be without regard for race or gender.

342. insufficient budget to hire new people

343. Agency does not hire best quality potential employees available

344. selecting the best employees

345. Lack of interest in agriculture

346. Managers who can\'t supervise

347. fluctuation in budget causes us not to be able to hire good people
     when they are available

348. I think if we are hiring people for field work they should have
     some kind of farming background.

349. Hiring quotas for certain types of people. We are in an industry
     that is almost all white males. Let us hire the best qualified
     people reguardless of race or sex.

350. budget restraints

351. Concentrate more on reaching minority/female quotas rather than
     qualilfications and abililties.

352. Budgets won\'t allow it.

353. there has been too long hiring freezes so that most colleges don\'t
     offer curriculum or degrees for what we need

354. lack of jobs and agency unwillingness to spend the time to train
     new employess

355. To many interns

356. not always selecting the best person for the job

357. Having the time to properly train them from the ground floor up

358. Our agency needs to look at hiring people with more bussiness
     skills, as it is today we only look at the technical skills.

359. Word has it we will not promote the best and brightest

360. the agency is so focused on obtaining numbers, it overlooks truly
     qualified people.

361. About the only way to be hired is if you were a student intern.
     More grade 5 soil cons should be hired without being an intern.

362. Budget restrictions and red tape

363. Not enough young people in Agriculture.

364. Many NRCS managers seem reluctant to hire people they do not
     personally know.

365. most Gvt jobs (except entry) seem to only want prior Gvt employees-
     read the job announcements -1 yr at next lower grade required, read
     the acronyms & abbreviations which tactfully say

366. It is difficult to match timing of graduates and the budget
     decisions.

367. affirmative action

368. Unfair hring, People not qualfiied

369. No training programs for new hires on technical issues.

370. Trying too hard to meet EEO goals.

371. Typically we do not have a problem

372. Some are not qualified to do their job.

373. NRCS is shifting to a funds transfer agency

374. Financial Resources

375. Agency selects only who they want. Don\'t give outsiders a chance.

376. budget

377. Lack of funding or staffing positions

378. Do not actively replace positions when they are vacated

379. no money in budget

380. There are too many restrictions on which employee should be hired,
     etc. Race, disabilities, VA

381. Few minorities interested in ag or NR

382. Not enough emphasis on ag. background

383. Lack of help with employment of the spouse.

384. Lack of good strategies for retaining top performers

385. Hiring freeze

386. all of the above

387. One target area

388. funds

389. Hiring freezes and RIFs due to budget problems make the job seem
     unstable

390. enabling employee\'s to advance without degrees

391. Too worried with quotas and not actually hiring folks that are
     qualified

392. The persons hired typically do not have an agriculture background
     and find it difficult to communicate with producers about everyday
     problems and concerns.

393. Lack of funds in budget

394. A move toward downsizing and outsourcing of the agency

395. I didn\'t know the agency had a problem hiring employees, just a
     problem with letting them go when the work runs out. This wouldn\'t
     happen if our leaders knew where the agency was going.

396. NRCS is failing to recognize that many of the qualities needed in
     our work are the same qualities held by FSA personnel that would
     have been impacted by a streamlining of the FSA. NRCS needs to
     employ by agreement FSA personnel that have experience.

397. The Agency has had the appearence of focusing on diversity in the
     past.

398. Agency tries to meet demographic quotas. (They say don\'t exist.)

399. Training for FO people

400. The time it takes from applying for job and receiving employmnet
     call

401. Mobility & Red Tape

402. Inconsistency in training and mentoring people through the first
     year or two.

403. NRCS comes across as desperate agency because it hires anybody who
     acts interested.

404. interns get a look at what realy goes on and don\'t want any part
     of it.

405. IN AREAS DIFFICULT TO STAFF TURN OVER IS HIGH. TRAINING SOMEONE
     EVERY 3 YEARS NO WAY TO GO.

406. Stigma about working for federal gov\'t

407. Supervisors are unable to train them

408. Don\'t hire the people who are interested. NRCS focuses too much on
     trying to hire people who really aren\'t that interested in an ag
     career, but take the job for the sole reason it\'s a job.

409. The agency doesn\'t hire wualified people.

410. THE AGENCY SHOULD FIND THE VERY BEST

411. Lack of money to hire

412. Buget does not allow new hiring.

413. State Budgets

414. Budget restraints

415. Budget, and mobility

416. The agency is hiring students with little or no agricultural
     background and less people skills.

417. Some student interns do NOT have an agriculture background,
     therefore hindering their abilities to communicate with landowners.

418. Budget Restraints

419. Lack of available jobs

420. Agency only hires minorities so lots of qualified applicants don\'t
     pursue and the hiring strategies are very time consuming

421. Public no longer interested in Ag

422. Budgeting

423. Hire to many interns and students who are not qualified or
     interested in conservation.

424. Young people are not interested in Agriculture as a vocation.

425. Needs more intense interviews

426. Agency refuses to hire

427. They hire people off the street instead of the temps that know the
     system already.

428. We hire employees without an agricultural background.

429. we hire enthiticity and not best employees

430. More often than not, they have NO skills and have to be trained by
     employees who make less than them when they start.

431. hiring the wrong kinds of individuals

432. What new people?

433. State NRCS Budgets

434. NRCS is hiring persons for positions where they are not capable.
     NRCS hires because of race, gender, specific education, and in
     doing so, is passing over good, qualified people because they are
     not of a specific race, gender, or because of educational\...

435. Filling quotas not qualifications

436. budget

437. We hire nough peolple we can\'t retain them due to lack of field
     work

438. All of the above!

439. At least 8 of 10 items above

440. low starting salary

441. we don\'t do what we say we do

442. Agency doen\'t have enough financial resoures

443. frustrating working for government

444. NRCS needs to concentrate on hiring with ag backgrounds rather than
     the civil rights (I know they have to), minority, etc. Today they
     hire those who know computers and meet the

445. Many of our work locations are too remote to attract quality
     people.

446. Must generally come in at a relatively low pay grade, even if they
     have high degree of technical skills and/or experience in ag or
     conservation.

447. low budget and irrational hiring choices

448. retnetion of employees after training period

449. Allocation of the budget

450. Most young people want to work for NRCS for the planning work and
     being in the field. It is discouraging to deal with the contracts,
     being behind the computer all the time, paperwork, etc. Many have
     told me

451. Budget shortfalls

452. quotas

453. local budget restrictions

454. Lack of Agri students

455. BUDGET - money is always the issue

456. Need to hire qualified outside people for high management jobs. Not
     long time NRCS

457. Budget restrictions

458. Funds

459. The KSAs are intregral to hiring qualified individuals. It should
     be tough.

460. The hiring process is ridiculously unwieldy. Takes too much time to
     hire. Good people have already taken jobs. End up hiring people who
     are good at working the system.

461. hiring freeze, train is lacking for new

462. Budget \$

463. pressure put upon employees doesnot equal pay recieved. If searched
     for better, much higher paying jobs with considerable less
     responsibility can be found easily.

464. personnel manager is not following correct guidelines in hiring
     employees

465. Should hire someone that has lived on a farm\...

466. I think we are doing a good job

467. Buddy system, where friends get jobs over better qualified people.

468. none

469. Moving them from office to office during their training time.

470. Agency lacks clarity & is not selective enough

471. They lack an agricultural back ground

472. Life experience is not compensated

473. The decreasing number of people with interest or background in
     agriculture

474. Many of the new people do not have a solid background or
     understanding of the day to day operations involved with farming
     and ranching.

475. Constant relocation

476. Often too focused on hiring minorities with minimal qualifications

477. Horrible Human Resource Dept.

478. does recruit good people

479. Appear to recruit students/interns who have no interest in working
     fior NRCS or have the right qualifications

480. not selecting based on qualifications

481. Hiring is not based on the right reasons

482. Budget restricts hiring enough people

483. They lack basic knowledge of agriculture.

484. We pass by good potentials that were not in the interns/student
     programs.

485. Micro-management from the purse string

486. Lack of consistant budgets to hire and retain, train, and support
     new hires. Quite frankly it may already be to late to do this as
     the brain drain is accelerating with the fast pace of retirements

487. We don\'t have good students and interns & they don\'t stay on
     anyway

488. too few student in agricultural majors

489. HR problems

490. Hiring is not based on technical abilities.

491. Funding to support interns and students

492. not offering job series promised

493. No one seems interested in Nevada

494. I don\'t think there\'s a problem

495. Local impression of NRCS

496. Reputation and internal conflicts

497. Worry to much on hiring minorities

498. Lack of new hires with Farm background.

499. Funding limitations

500. lack natural resource work experience

501. lack of students with a agriculture background.

502. I\'m not sure if this is correct,but I wonder if the agency hires
     enough people that have not been interns or students.

503. Mid career individuals that have never worked for NRCS can\'t start

504. The agency doesn\'t always hire the most qualified person.

505. budget restraints

506. No budget to support new hires

507. Many of the interns and students are from out of state with no ag
     related background. Most quit or transfer in first two years.

508. Many new hires seem to be lacking knowledge of NRCS basics. Plus we
     seem to have few interns and students that want to stay with the
     agency so there are few new hires to replace the quality employees
     that are retirement age.

509. Recruiting non-interested employees

510. lack of farm background

511. not always the most family friendly

512. potential employees don\'t know about us.

513. Budgets do not allow hiring needed people

514. Federal service isn\'t as attractive to this generation

515. ou own budget constraints, there are plenty of well qualified soil
     scientists who would love to work for NRCS

516. always a budget problem to get new people

517. continually piling more work on fewer people

518. Hiring on diversity rather than skills

519. they aren\'t hiring new people. I have been a temporary employee
     for 2 years

520. We do not have enough support to train new employees to a quality
     level.

521. Our agency no longer offers the work environment and duties that it
     once did. Young people who either just started with us, or might
     have, tell me that they are dissapointed at the lack of field work
     versus all the documentation on the computer .

522. We seem to hire people because they are a minority, not because
     they are qualified or interested in Conservation!!!

523. How the agency is run

524. Adequate funding

525. No budget/money for more employees

526. Compatition for good people

527. The agency does not use the field office to provide adequate
     evaluation of potential employees.

528. qualified people don\'t want to work for NRCS.

529. Funding available - hiring freezes

530. They hire them put place them in the State Offices.

531. We need to look at other sources not just colleges.

532. Hiring someone based on KSA\'s does not get the best person hired.

533. Some things may not be all set up when you get to your office. You
     may not get all the paperwork you need for insurance and etc.

534. Need more technical mentors

535. Getting people who want to work and meet the agencies goals.

536. The hiring process for GS-5/7 is professionals is unnecessarily
     burdensome

537. Lack of vision in matching the current direction of the agency with
     hirees.

538. Too much emphasis on hiring students rather than trained,
     experienced, educated people that wish to come to work for NRCS.
     Also some remote work locations discourage employees or the spouses

539. Difficult to find young people w/ag background.

540. The dollars to be able to spend on the hiring process and offering
     incentives.

541. the hiring freeze that comes and goes. It is hard to get into the
     agency if you are fresh out of school, and don\'t happen to catch a
     time where there is not hiring freeze.

542. Agency will take what they can get rather than look for more
     qualified personnel.

543. Agency does not hire enough new employees because of lack of funds.

544. Once they are hired the red tape to get them computer passwords and
     logins is embarrassing. It takes way too long.

545. training

546. hiring people without farm background

547. Lack of job security

548. Too much desk time, not enough field work.

549. forced mobility

550. minorities\--The NRCS in Nebraska says it wants to hire Indians,
     but puts too high a standard for them.

551. inconsistent availability of permanent jobs

552. Lack of Agricultral Exposure (on-farm)

553. I don\'t think there is a problem with hiring new people, there are
     plenty of college graduates looking for work.

554. Consistency of training from Personnel on how to access important
     records, etc. when first hired

555. HR in a lot of states are flunkies

556. it is getting harder to find people with an ag background

557. Supervisors making the employment decision lack choices and do a
     poor job completing the task

558. Selection is based on grades and not on performance.

559. less attractive job duties and flexible work hours than
     agencies/companies competing for same candidates

560. People doing the hiring do not have adequate skills in evaluating
     people for positions and do not listen to input from the people who
     can assist

561. the agency has become so program driven, that conservation is not
     what new hires are doing for work

562. Budget Driven! Not enough money

563. Performing work not-related to job series classification.

564. NOt enough time to train new employees

565. Low pay, Farmers are not profitable and are depented on gov
     welfare. Farmers hurt the US economy

566. Spend more time on administration and computers than actually
     working with producers.

567. application procedures are confusing

568. Agency has to quit hiring acquaintances, similar to the FEMA
     incident, and hire the old fashioned way \-- civil service exams
     \-- remember those?

569. Hire too many family members of producers

570. One thing, in this state, is that I know of a few potential new
     employees that will not apply for NRCS because they do not want to
     be Required to relocate within a year or two after they get on.

571. moving requirements

572. We need a better reputation of getting conservtion on ground

573. some HR is unaware of individual\'s qualification

574. Budget uncertainties

575. Not have the proper training to conduct NRCS work

576. who cares

577. Funding-good people are waiting to come on board

578. Lack of job opportunities and lack of advancement potential.

579. Training them in a timely manner. (Boot camp is not the answer!!!)

580. I did not know we had a problem.

581. Many new employees do not have an agricultural background prior to
     college education. Producer relations, decision-making, and
     planning are easier for those who do have an Ag background.

582. 1,3 , &4 above

583. Getting competent, experienced people

584. we do not provide adequate training

585. Positions are to complex, people like specialized positions, ie.
     agronimist, engineer, IT, ; Conservationist positions require a
     jack of all trades and this burns people out.,

586. Agency direction has changed

587. Do not avertise jobs in state news papers.

588. People do not stay due to the lack of salary when initially hired.
     Consequently, they stay get job experience and leave.

589. current policy puts a premium on youth for conservationist jobs

590. Clear attractive agency commission that they can relate to

591. Not a priority to have more Field Office level personnel

592. Funding?

593. Agency has people hiring that don\'t understand what we are doing
     in the field and what is needed in an employee

594. Hiring Freeze/No Budget for

595. I don\'t think there is a problem

596. NRCS limits study disciplines coming in

597. Prejudices (Hispanic preference vs qualifications)

598. Complexity of Agency Policy

599. Meaningful training when they are hired so they don\'t feel like
     they are wasting time

600. Students dislike working in rural areas.

601. Funding

602. desire to continue to work for NRCS depends on the personality of
     the employee

603. Lack of funding

604. All the above play a part in finding qualified employees

605. Not enough jobs and too many interns

606. Don\'t have enough time to train due to high workload.

607. poor outreach and advertising

608. not full time position

609. agency uses a job series that does not transfer well into or out of
     the agency (e.g. GS-457 series) and leaves the agency too focused
     inwards.

610. Lack of funds to create permanent positions for employees

611. no protocol for new hirees training/set up (computer access,
     permissions etc.)

612. Agriculture is not attracting new employees in general.

613. We advertise that we are a conservation agency, but it is a
     misrepresentation. We are a contracting and reporting agency. We
     don\'t have very much field time anymore. We are too busy with
     paperwork and computer work.

614. Agency doesn\'t always provide the security of a permanent position
     to qualified interns who have put time and money into pursuing a
     career with the agency. Politics play too large a hand in who is
     hired and who is not.

615. Cannot offer permanent positions

616. Not having enough time to train new staff, this area has a large
     amount of contracts.

617. the current rateing system completed by admin instead of by
     employees in the same discipline resulting in odd pannel selections

618. Not a problem with my group.

619. Hiring preferences

620. agency takes too long to hire people with all the freezes that
     happen

621. hiring freezes, and budget

622. no clear vision of agency future

623. no interview required. It sure be.

624. We seek to hire those who think like we do instead of those who
     question.

625. Technical Assistance Funds

626. Lack of flexibility in series for some positions

627. Seem to hire most of the time from within

628. Agency has bad public reputation

629. Lack of recruitment/preparation at college level.

630. Agency hires

631. Not enough employees to provide on the job training for a
     sufficient amount of time.

632. ifluenced by civil rights

633. The rating system utilizing the KSA\'s is too confusing. If
     applicant\'s don\'t use the right key words, they won\'t qualify.

634. agency has a reputation of pushing paper rather than doing good
     conservation on the ground

635. lack of budget

636. we currently are not hiring

637. budget restraints

638. don\'t/can\'t plan for succrssion.

639. lack of budget

640. Lack of field time.

641. Agency does not have enough funds to hire all the people they need.

642. Managers don\'t see the need to hire new technicians

643. field positions are low priority to management compared to area and
     state office positions

644. New hires don\'t realize that they won\'t be working in their
     technical field but will be asked no technical duties such as
     Admin, clerical, contracting etc..

645. often our field offices are in small agricultural communities,
     where there are no jobs for spouses, no restaurants, no shopping,
     etc.

646. finding people interested in our work/mission

647. IT\'S HARD TO HIRE NEW PEOPLE WITH DECLINING BUDGETS

648. lack of funding to hire

649. Inadequate budget to the states

650. shrinking budget

651. Lack of training once hired

652. The agency is losing alot of knowledge to retirement, little
     knowledge is passed on.

653. New employees have to be trained which take time away from getting
     jobs accomplished.

654. The agency is not hiring enough people now so that they will be
     trained & have sufficient OJT to be able to step in and perform
     independently when the older employees really start to retire

655. All of the above - we could look at each topic to better ourselves.

656. We don\'t have the budget to hire what we need

657. After permanent status, they coast. Poor work ethic of student
     trainees.

658. We just let go of 22 interns due to budget

659. early tasks are computer intensive, not training intensive

660. Spiritual immaturity of available hires

661. combo of hiring strat, pay, and strict educational qualifications.

662. Agency often pays bonus to hire but does not keep up long term with
     pay for similar private sector work.

663. The hiring process does not reward and very seldom does it
     recognize other employement that helps make a new hire a more
     rounded employee with that many more views.

664. Federal Budget Reductions

665. lacking competitive pay scales, mobility, racial and gender bias,
     need better hiring strategies

666. costs of housing in california

667. internal politics

668. it was a mistake to limit this to just one choice- there are many-
     unknown agency, pay, benefits, and that ag gets a bad rap in terms
     of the media

669. Getting qualified applicants to apply

670. Budget Can\'t afford

671. do we have a hiring strategy?

672. Shift in Agency focus from CTA to FA based programs

673. Reputation, It is preceived that all we do is sit behind a computer
     and manage contracts

674. The younger emplyees want to be GS-12\'s right outs of school.

675. Private sector pays more

676. housing cost

677. few entry level positions to apply for

678. Hiring as Term employees

679. Remoteness of some locations.

680. It is hard to recomend the job when you cant stand the bureaucracy
     yourself.

681. budget

682. poor strategy the agency focuses on high school gr ads (aka college
     students)

683. There are 5 selection (starting from top) #2,3,7, 9, 10

684. Budget

685. Unpredictability of future of agency.

686. Lack of appropiate training

687. MONEY

688. Too many Ag Eco graduates hired

689. Not enough high quality Ag students in college

690. all of the above minus the first one

691. unstable federal budget year to year

692. NRCS budgets often don\'t allow retention

693. Positions are not available

694. There is nothing wrong with hiring new people.

695. Funding

696. Funding

697. Mentality that employees have to be mobile to get promoted. Many
     leave our agency rather than move after they are trained.

698. Hiring of personnel with no background

699. being able to hire those with farming background

700. Budget - lack of funds

701. uninterested college students

702. Getting them to stay

703. The \'best\' students or hires are not willing to put up with the
     government ineffienct operations.

704. The potential new hires figure out that they are about to be a
     dunce working for agency with a poor public image

705. Demographic Quotas

706. 457 series encompasses many fields of employees that do more than
     field work but this is a general requirement for most entry level
     positions. Need to have more specialized positions for interns and
     students.

707. The agency takes too long to contact potential employees about a
     position and most have taken another job because they couldn\'t
     wait

708. Open competition based on merit is not as common as one is led to
     believe

709. Budget Constraints

710. Bias toward hiring current NRCS employee to fill a position versus
     hiring someone with greater skills but not familiar with NRCS
     procedures, bureaucracy, etc.

711. It is hard to learn of job opportunities or the find out how to
     qualify especialy in clerical positions

712. Agency does not replace jobs and puts to many constraints on the
     hiring process

713. workplace atmosphere is stifling

714. Employee are not trained for the job

715. Public\'s perception of federal government .

716. May not be a problem in hiring, but somewhere we seem to have lost
     the desire to look at the resources in the field and work to
     conserve all of them. Is it the attitude of the new employee or the
     direction given to them from their supervisors?

717. Budget

718. Very little resurces are placed to building local capasity in young
     people in much of the USDA and Natural resources work

719. Too much focus on other traits rather than pure ability and
     competency.

720. lack of confidence in Job longevity

721. Budget, so I am told.

722. Inability to just hire people when needed.

723. Agency does not communicate a clear mission or understanding of job
     and career responsibles.

724. advertising

725. Length of time to complete hiring

726. Agency budget is not stable enough for long term placement

727. Time involved in application and hiring process

728. Time from application to hire too long

729. No funds

730. In PR Language barriers

731. Agency gives low budgets to states

732. Monetary constraints

733. agency lacks money to hire new employees

734. lack of funds in the state

735. We don\'t have the funds to fill all the vacant positions. No
     money, no hiring.

736. Funding

737. must allow NRCS local hires for 2 step positions when there is no
     room for an outside hire

738. Having enough really good trainers to expose the interns and
     students to all that NRCS is and providing challenging enough
     assignments both in the field and in the office to keep the new
     hires enthusiastic about the job.

739. Too much of the money our state recieves is having to go out to
     fund programs rather than hiring any new employees.

740. Image is too narrowly focused on agriculture and not on all natural
     resources.

741. government work has bad reputation in general

742. Should have technical staff assist HR with application review and
     selection commitee

743. Agriculture has bad reputation in certain circles- such as ecology.

744. Most new employees are not dedicated to becoming proficient, move
     on or up too quickly

745. We are getting GREAT new employees, I am just afraid that we have
     such a huge gap that there will not be enough young ones to replace
     those who will retire.

746. Non position available ..Reduction of personel !!!

747. Agency does not have local open positions.

748. Agency dos not have available position.

749. Management is not hiring new people based on budget restraint and
     not interested in maintaining permanent employee in their
     workforce.

750. Don\'t hire enough people

751. It is difficult to fill positions at the lower levels since there
     are usually not enough training programs and staff available to
     them

752. lack good background check on applicants

753. Cost of living to high in the State of Hawaii.

754. The agency hires interns and students from its developement
     programs even though alot of those participants are not good hires.
     It seems that the agency feels it has too much time invested into
     these people and makes a bad hire on that basis.

755. We are program driven

756. You can be stuck in a position that does not allow for training,
     because that position is not seen as part of the

757. Management still hires white males and then half way through the
     year starts looking and sometimes gets a body because of color or
     sex and not quality.

758. Instaed of hiring available interested, competent, and strong
     candidates, the agency has targeted minority and female candidates
     that have little or no interest in conservation. For NRCS to become
     better, it must go after potential employees who have the

759. Race is looked at before qualifications

760. Budget to hire

761. training

762. Hiring freezes, smaller federal budget

763. Lack of funds

764. we don\'t have a problem hiring in Wisconsin although mobility is
     an issue for dual income families.

765. entry level jobs are often mundane, and do not meet the

766. requirement for Bachelors degree

767. Management already has chosen the applicant before the vacancy
     announcement goes out.

768. AGENCY DOESN\'T HIRE TECHNICAL PEOPLE, THEY HIRE EMPLOYEES TO MEET
     THE AGENCY GOALS, AND THE AGENCY EMPLOYEES HAVE TO CARRY THE EXTRA
     WEIGHT (WORKLOAD) BECAUSE THE EMPLOYEE THE AGENCY HIRED IS
     INCOMPETENT.

769. No lower grade positions available

770. Budgets are too uncertain to offer security

771. in this state, Little turn-over, few positions,

772. limited position

773. FTE caps per state and state budgets usually preclude the hiring of
     good people when they are available for employment.

774. Tight budgets restrict filling vacant positions. Above selections 1
     and 2 also are important.

775. The agency focus wants people that can do many things. They want to
     be an accountant, engineer, planner, administrator, computer
     specialist, biologist, policy and program specialist, etc..

776. Funding or Budget

777. Still in Scientific

778. NRCS doesn\'t have true competition in hiring. Many jobs are
     already pegged. Need to allow more non-interns to compete for jobs.

779. Agency lacks sufficient funds.

780. lack if skilled personel to train the new people

781. not qualified to answer

782. Job security

783. hiring people to be computer entry clerks instead of
     conservationists

784. lack of budget

785. Hiring based on filling diversity quotas rather than qualifications
     of individuals

786. budget

787. Employees need to have an agriculture background

788. Hiring freezes & dumping problem employees into non-existant slots
     in Div. We started with 5 15\'s and have one now. Can\'t hire from
     outside, must contract\...but getting a contractor in DC is a joke.

789. Most are not speciality qualified

790. Lack of effective mentoring program

791. Agency does not support or train new employees

792. Tight Federal Budgets

793. no problem

794. inadequate supervisors

795. Not aware of a problem

796. budget and personality

797. Not enought or correct type of training

798. We are not going after new employees based on their education,
     qualifications, GPA etc\...

799. A great deal of training is involved.

800. no funding

801. agency red tape

802. that they are not interested in the agency just advancing their
     career

803. we don\'t promote within - no upward mobility in NHQ

804. Implementation of a hiring strategy/workforce plan

805. Budget Constraints

806. The mission of NRCS and its importance, is commonly known by
     farmers and landowners, but not familiiar to the average American
     who is not involved with agriculture;

807. Outdated thinking and slow processing by human resource specialists

808. we do hire new people, the problem is retaining high quality staff
     that is the difficulty and that is more related to job satisfaction
     and the ability to be competitive with other employment options

809. Do we hire new people?

810. Selling the agency as a long term career.

811. Bureaucracy\--Position management committee and associate chief
     approvals.

812. Govt reductions overall reduce the interest in any govt job by the
     really good prospects.

813. refusing to hire deaf persons

814. Federal bureaucracy

815. Recruitment from HBCU\'s

816. Undermined confidence of commitment to Federal employees due to
     A-76 competitive sourcing actions and other similar efforts that
     make a Federal career seem insecure.

817. Budgetary restrictions and a policy preference, in general, that
     small govenment meas less public employment.

818. they don\'t take care of the old ones.

819. Budget

820. agency does not have an IT plan.

821. Lack of clear expectation of nature of job

822. The agency has intern and student but donÆt use them to their
     fullest potential. I am student and IÆm very eager for challenging
     work but mostly I just answer the phone. I have asked for more work
     and my requests have gone unfulfilled.

823. People don\'t know what the agency can do for them.

824. work environment lacks flexibility for young employees. Innovation
     and creativity not rewarded. Stay until skills are gained and move
     on.

825. not enough money in budget/freez

826. Lack of funding

827. Bad work ethics, check work history before hiring,

828. Too much info, always changing policy

829. cost of living where offices are

830. Low numbers of qualified graduates = more competition from other
     agencies and the private sector

831. Budget cuts - cannot recruit without ability to hire

832. lacks competitve pay scales and offers a lackluster career path

833. Just not hiring enough people

834. Not enough money in the state budget

835. the agency is too focused on hiring minorities and women and ends
     up hiring people who do not have the background, interest or proper
     training to do the job.

836. we ask too much for too little pay

837. The agency lacks the budget to hire and then train new employees.

838. Federal Budget Cuts

839. Technical assistance funding limits hiring permanent staff

840. The agency does not always hire on qualifications

841. Poorly Defined Career Paths

842. Young people blocked by vets

843. We need additional NRCS employees employeed in the field offices!
     If money is what it takes to make that happen then funding to do so
     needs to be approved!

844. Budget - It affects/influences many of these statements

845. Nepotism and favoritism

846. New employees are not recrutied from the population as a whole.
     They are generally freinds of, or related to, present employees.

847. We pick up

848. few educated young folks want to live in rural towns.

849. We dont have a problem hiring new employees.

850. Not enough equal opportunities for all races.

851. Budget

852. We do not hire enough people

853. Lack basic farming knowledge

854. We do not have a clear message to tell recruits. Technically
     trainined and educated recruites want to work in technical fields
     doing techncial things, not spending money on farm bill programs!

855. Hiring Freezes

856. Positions are not advertised.

857. RETAINING the really good ones. Frustration causes many to leave.

858. Poor personel managers

859. Budget constraints - tend to select from within

860. several of the above - lacks of competitive pay scales, lack of
     hiring incentives, not enough GOOD interns and students, and our
     state keeps hiring relatives and friends

861. Just select the best candidates

862. negative budgets don\'t allow good strategies

863. We don\'t hire enough people

864. Too much emphasis on ag not enough on managig natural resources

865. Policy to not hire Soil Conservationists

866. Our agency is program, paperwork and computer driven. Instead of
     being able to spend most of their time in the field, employees
     quickly see that we are driven by incessant program signups, etc.,
     leaving us with little time to do effective planning.