# Presentation: 187366

***Strategies for Recruiting Professionals ******Ira L. Hobbs **** **CIO, U.S. Department of the Treasury **Co-Chair, CIOC IT Workforce Committee** ** *

- North American Day 2006

## 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

## 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*

## Growing and Sustaining the             IT Workforce

*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

## Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies

*Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies*

**Policy and Organizational  **
** **
**Leadership/Managerial**
**Process/Change Management**
**Information Resources Strategy and Planning**
**Performance Assessment:                           Models and Methods**
**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

## 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*_

## 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

## Scholarship for Service Filling Critical Cyber Security Positions

*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 stipend

**2002-2005 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

## CIO University  

*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](http://www.gsa.gov/ciouniversity)_

## 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

## 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**_

**G2G**
_**Government to Government**_

## Recruitment and Retention FlexibilitiesIT 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).

## 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)

## 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.

* **Identifying the Critical Skill Needs*

- Source:  OMB FY07 IT Budget Report March 2006

## For more information...

- Ira L. Hobbs
- CIO, U.S. Department of the Treasury
- 202.622.1200
- _[ira.hobbs@do.treas.gov](mailto:ira.hobbs@do.treas.gov)__ _