Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 93 / Friday, May 14, 2010 / Presidential Documents 27157 

Memorandum of May 11, 2010 

Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process 

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies 

To deliver the quality services and results the American people expect 

and deserve, the Federal Government must recruit and hire highly qualified 

employees, and public service should be a career of choice for the most 

talented Americans. Yet the complexity and inefficiency of today’s Federal 

hiring process deters many highly qualified individuals from seeking and 

obtaining jobs in the Federal Government. 

I therefore call on executive departments and agencies (agencies) to overhaul 

the way they recruit and hire our civilian workforce. Americans must be 

able to apply for Federal jobs through a commonsense hiring process and 

agencies must be able to select high-quality candidates efficiently and quickly. Moreover, agency managers and supervisors must assume a leadership 

role in recruiting and selecting employees from all segments of our society. 

Human resource offices must provide critical support for these efforts. The 

ability of agencies to perform their missions effectively and efficiently depends on a talented and engaged workforce, and we must reform our hiring 

system to further strengthen that workforce. 

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the 

laws of the United States, including section 3301 of title 5, United States 

Code, I hereby direct the following: 

Section 1. Directions to Agencies. Agency heads shall take the following 

actions no later than November 1, 2010: 

(a) consistent with merit system principles and other requirements of 

title 5, United States Code, and subject to guidance to be issued by the 

Office of Personnel Management (OPM), adopt hiring procedures that: 

(1) eliminate any requirement that applicants respond to essay-style questions when submitting their initial application materials for any Federal 

job; 

(2) allow individuals to apply for Federal employment by submitting 

resumes and cover letters or completing simple, plain language applications, and assess applicants using valid, reliable tools; and 

(3) provide for selection from among a larger number of qualified applicants 

by using the ‘‘category rating’’ approach (as authorized by section 3319 

of title 5, United States Code), rather than the ‘‘rule of 3’’ approach, 

under which managers may only select from among the three highest 

scoring applicants; 

(b) require that managers and supervisors with responsibility for hiring 

are: 

(1) more fully involved in the hiring process, including planning current 

and future workforce requirements, identifying the skills required for the 

job, and engaging actively in the recruitment and, when applicable, the 

interviewing process; and 

(2) accountable for recruiting and hiring highly qualified employees and 

supporting their successful transition into Federal service, beginning with 

the first performance review cycle starting after November 1, 2010; 

(c) provide the OPM and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

timelines and targets to: 


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27158 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 93 / Friday, May 14, 2010 / Presidential Documents 

(1) improve the quality and speed of agency hiring by: 

(i) reducing substantially the time it takes to hire mission-critical and 

commonly filled positions; 

(ii) measuring the quality and speed of the hiring process; and 

(iii) analyzing the causes of agency hiring problems and actions that 

will be taken to reduce them; and 

(2) provide every agency hiring manager training on effective, efficient, 

and timely ways to recruit and hire well-qualified individuals; 

(d) notify individuals applying for Federal employment through USAJOBS, 

an OPM-approved Federal web-based employment search portal, about the 

status of their application at key stages of the application process; and 

(e) identify a senior official accountable for leading agency implementation 

of this memorandum. 

Sec. 2. Directions to the OPM. The OPM shall take the following actions 

no later than 90 days after the date of this memorandum: 

(a) establish a Government-wide performance review and improvement 

process for hiring reform actions described in section 1 of this memorandum, 

including: 

(1) a timeline, benchmarks, and indicators of progress; 

(2) a goal-focused, data-driven system for holding agencies accountable 

for improving the quality and speed of agency hiring, achieving agency 

hiring reform targets, and satisfying merit system principles and veterans’ 

preference requirements; and 

(b) develop a plan to promote diversity in the Federal workforce, consistent 

with the merit system principle (codified at 5 U.S.C. 2301(b)(1)) that the 

Federal Government should endeavor to achieve a workforce from all segments of society; 

(c) evaluate the Federal Career Intern Program established by Executive 

Order 13162 of July 6, 2000, provide recommendations concerning the future 

of that program, and propose a framework for providing effective pathways 

into the Federal Government for college students and recent college graduates; 

(d) provide guidance or propose regulations, as appropriate, to streamline 

and improve the quality of job announcements for Federal employment 

to make sure they are easily understood by applicants; 

(e) evaluate the effectiveness of shared registers used in filling positions 

common across multiple agencies and develop a strategy for improving 

agencies’ use of these shared registers for commonly filled Governmentwide positions; 

(f) develop a plan to increase the capacity of USAJOBS to provide applicants, hiring managers, and human resource professionals with information 

to improve the recruitment and hiring processes; and 

(g) take such further administrative action as appropriate to implement 

sections 1 and 2 of this memorandum. 

Sec. 3. Senior Administration Officials. Agency heads and other senior administration officials visiting university or college campuses on official business 

are encouraged to discuss career opportunities in the Federal Government 

with students. 

Sec. 4. Reporting. (a) The OPM, in coordination with the OMB and in 

consultation with other agencies, shall develop a public human resources 

website to: 

(1) track key human resource data, including progress on hiring reform 

implementation; and 

(2) assist senior agency leaders, hiring managers, and human resource 

professionals with identifying and replicating best practices within the 

Federal Government for improving new employee quality and the hiring 

process. 


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(b) Each agency shall regularly review its key human resource performance 

and work with the OPM and the OMB to achieve timelines and targets 

for correcting agency hiring problems. 

(c) The OPM shall submit to the President an annual report on the impact 

of hiring initiatives set forth in this memorandum, including its recommendations for further improving the Federal Government’s hiring process. 

Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Except as expressly stated herein, nothing 

in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: 

(1) authority granted by law or Executive Order to an agency, or the 

head thereof; or 

(2) functions of the Director of the OMB relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. 

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable 

law and subject to the availability of appropriations. 

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right 

or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by 

any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, 

its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. 

(d) The Director of the OPM, in consultation with the OMB, may grant 

an exception to any of the requirements set forth in section 1 of this 

memorandum to an agency that demonstrates that exceptional circumstances 

prevent it from complying with that requirement. 

Sec. 6. Publication. The Director of the OPM is hereby authorized and 

directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

Washington, May 11, 2010 

[FR Doc. 2010–11733 

Filed 5–13–10; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 6325–01–P 


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