2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 1

7/30/2010

Agency/Component: Railroad Retirement Board

Primary Action Planning Team  

  Lead: Keith Earley, Director of Human Resources

  Members: Celeste O’Keefe, Sue Chin, Shadia Nassar

2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

Hiring Reform Initiative:

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, rather than the “rule of 3” approach.  

Date:

July 13, 2010 

Describe the barrier, problem, or deficiency being addressed: 

Applicants are still applying for positions using KSA’s. We are working on developing appropriate

assessment methods in order to eliminate the need for KSA essays.  

Describe what is causing the barrier/problem (i.e., What is the root cause?): 

Barriers: Personnel Resources, workloads  

Several members of our staff attended training on various assessment tools during the month of June

but there are still some areas where we need training.  Additionally, it is difficult to dedicate continuous

staff time to developing alternate assessment methods due to heavy workloads.

Define success or the desired outcome upon completion of action steps below: 

Once we determine and implement valid assessment methods, we can eliminate the need for essay style

questions and will be able to accept plain language applications.  Our agency has already been using

category rating.

Action Steps

Actions to be Taken Key 

Deliverables/Output 

Start Date/ 

End Date 

Responsible 

Party (Parties) 

Budget, 

Resources, 

and 

Approvals 

Needed 

‐HR Specialists will attend

upcoming Chicago‐based

training sessions which

include “Using Multiple

Hurdles” and

‐Valid assessment

methods that will be

used for all positions

and eliminates the

requirement of KSA’s.

Ongoing/November

1,  2010

Human

Resources—

Workforce

Organizational

Management

Personnel

Resources

OPM

Training
2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 2

7/30/2010

“Assessment Strategy

Training.”

‐We are seeking MAT

assistance in the

following areas:

USAJobs

Assessment

Tools/Design

Options

‐Using job analysis for

selected positions, we

are developing

occupational

questionnaires with the

intention of using this

process for all

recruitment.

‐An advanced

understanding of

USAJobs’ features to

assist in speeding up

parts of the hiring

process.

Section   and

Assistance
2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 3

7/30/2010

2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan

Hiring Reform Initiative: 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.  

Date:

July 13, 2010  

Describe the barrier, problem, or deficiency being addressed:

Our agency’s hiring managers are already involved in workforce planning and the hiring process but we

have not yet measured their satisfaction with the process.  Part of the agency’s strategic plan focuses on

succession planning, recruitment, hiring and training.  Executives and managers performance plans link

to our strategic plan.  

Describe what is causing the barrier/problem (i.e., What is the root cause?):

Barrier: Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and limited Subject Matter Experts

Subject Matter Experts (SME) that are on the hiring panel are not allowed to be the selecting official.

This sometimes makes it difficult to involve a hiring manager if they are also an SME.

Define success or the desired outcome upon completion of action steps below:

Managers are involved in the hiring process and are satisfied with their selections.  Managers are

accountable for recruiting and hiring highly qualified employees and supporting their successful

transition into Federal service.  

Action Steps

Actions to be Taken Key Deliverables/Output Start Date/

End Date

Responsible

Party

(Parties)

Budget,

Resources,

and

Approvals

Needed

‐We released OPM’s

Management

Satisfaction Survey to

all hiring officials in

May 2010. HR

Specialists will follow

up with hiring officials

after a selection has

‐Survey results gauging

manager satisfaction

levels.

‐Support and cooperation

from agency

management and union

officials.  

Ongoing

Ongoing/October

2011

Performance

Review Period

October 1, 2010

Human

Resources—

Workforce

Organizational

Management

Section

Human

Personnel

Resources

OPM

Management

Satisfaction

Survey
2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 4

7/30/2010

been made and remind

them to fill out the

survey.  

‐We will brief the

agency’s hiring

managers, Executive

Committee, and Union

representatives on the

hiring reform initiatives

before the end of the

fiscal year. Hiring

managers received

guidelines on the

Interview Process in

May 2010.   

‐Hiring managers are

reminded of their role

and expected

involvement in the hiring

process.

Resources—

Director’s

Office
2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 5

7/30/2010

2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

Hiring Reform Initiative: Provide OPM and OMB timelines and targets to

1) improve the quality and speed of agency hiring by reducing

substantially the time it takes to hire mission‐critical and commonly filled

positions, measuring the quality and speed of the hiring process, and

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.

Date:

July 13, 2010 

Describe the barrier, problem, or deficiency being addressed:

Barriers: Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), budget, personnel resources

Describe what is causing the barrier/problem (i.e., What is the root cause?):  

Our hiring process can be lengthy (between 74 and 214 days) dependent upon the organization’s

internal business process, grade/level of the position being recruited and/or budget limitations (i.e.

continuing resolution).  Before external hiring can occur, we must refer to the CBA as it determines if a

public announcement can be posted at the same time as an internal announcement.  Otherwise, it must

be posted after the internal announcement has been posted.  Also, our staff is faced with heavy

workloads and limited resources, in addition to the lack of an automated system.  Merit Promotion

(internal and status outside agency) candidates are rated and ranked manually before a selection may

be made from any source.  

Define success or the desired outcome upon completion of action steps below: 

The time it takes to hire mission‐critical and commonly filled positions is reduced and hiring managers

are trained on effective, efficient, and timely ways to recruit and hire well‐qualified individuals.

Action Steps

Actions to be Taken Key 

Deliverables/Output 

Start Date/ 

End Date 

Responsible 

Party (Parties) 

Budget, 

Resources, 

and 

Approvals 

Needed 

‐We are seeking MAT

assistance in the

following areas:

USAJobs

Assessment

Tools/Design

Options

‐Using job analysis for

‐Valid assessment

methods that will be

used for all positions

and eliminates KSA

essays.

‐An advanced

understanding of

USAJobs’ features to

Ongoing/November

1, 2010

October 1, 2010

Ongoing/October

Human

Resources—

Workforce

Organizational

Management

Section

Human

Resources—

Personnel

Resources

(HR and

BIS)

OPM

Training

and

Assistance  
2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 6

7/30/2010

selected positions, we

are developing

occupational

questionnaires with the

intention of using this

process for all

recruitment.

‐We will brief the

agency’s hiring

managers, Executive

Committee, and Union

representatives on hiring

reform initiatives before

the end of the fiscal year.  

Hiring managers received

guidelines on the

Interview Process in May

2010.

‐ Although we have been

collecting and reporting

on the speed of our

hiring efforts, we are in

the process of developing

a way to track the entire

process with a Tracking

Database. The Database

has been an ongoing

project that we plan to

further refine to fit our

needs.   

assist in speeding up

parts of the hiring

process.

‐Support and

cooperation from

agency management

and union officials.  

‐Hiring managers are

aware of their role and

expected involvement

in the hiring process.  

‐A fully functional

tracking database that

will assist in measuring

the quality and speed

of our hiring process.

2, 2011 Director’s

Office
2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board 

844 North Rush Street 

Chicago Illinois, 60611-2092 

 

 

Phone: (312) 751-7139 

TTY: (312) 751-4701 

Web: 

 

http://www.rrb.gov

Page 7

7/30/2010

2010 Hiring Reform Action Plan 

Hiring Reform Initiative: 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.

Date:

July 13, 2010 

Describe the barrier, problem, or deficiency being addressed: 

We began utilizing this feature when it became available to us.  Individuals are notified about the status

of their application through USAJobs at four points of the process.  

Describe what is causing the barrier/problem (i.e., What is the root cause?):

N/A

Define success or the desired outcome upon completion of action steps below:

N/A

Action Steps

Actions to be Taken Key Deliverables/Output 

Start 

Date/ 

End 

Date 

Responsible 

Party 

(Parties) 

Budget, 

Resources, 

and 

Approvals 

Needed 

No actions are needed at this

time.

N/A N/A N/A N/A