Human Resources

A Federal Ghostland: Where Have All the Managers Gone?

Pay freezes, budget cuts, furloughs – it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, but after years of record low employee satisfaction, government’s senior executives are leaving the civil service at a rapidly increasing rate. According to a new report from the Senior Executive Service and George Washington University, this gap is creating the possibilityRead… Read more »

Federal Government Talent Acquisition — Streamlining the Process

Like many (some would say most or all) aspects of the United States Federal government, human capital management can prove to be more complex and more difficult to change for an agency than that of the private sector. Budget constraints, ingrained and inflexible procedures, limited staffing, complicated application processes, government regulations and hiring requirements, andRead… Read more »

Productive Mondays: 4 Ways to Deal With the Office “Timezapper”

Last week, we here at GovLoop hosted an online NextGen training called “Work Smarter, Faster and With Less Stress” where I and GovLoop Featured Blogger Chaeny Emanavin shared our best tools, tricks and advice for better office productivity. We expected the training to be popular — after all, who doesn’t want to be more effectiveRead… Read more »

The Importance of Employee Handbook in an Organisation

Every businesses want to have their policy in place. And therefore, create employee handbook that clearly communicate your workplace policies. The purpose of a clear concise employee handbook in a business cannot be underestimated. A definite employee policies can resolve disputes before they arise and protect both the employer and the employee from any sortRead… Read more »

World Cup Strategies for Better Public Sector Recruiting

After the US Men’s National Soccer Team lost in the World Cup, all the commentators lamented the state of US soccer. How are we going to develop great American soccer players when the best athletes are still choosing football and basketball? Listening to this discussion, I found a parallel between attracting great young athletes toRead… Read more »

Using Visual Language to Improve Your Verbal Communication

My favorite innovation techniques, such as brainwriting, come from some key books in my personal library: Gamestorming, Back of the Napkin, Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work, creatingminds.org, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Visual Explanations. Common to all of these resources is the concept of “visual language” or “visualRead… Read more »

The GovLoop Unofficial Guide to Getting a Federal Job

Approximately once a month, I get an email from a family member or friend that goes something like “My cousin/neighbor/babysitter is really interested in getting a federal job. S/he can’t figure out the process. Can you give her some inside guidance?” Whether OPM wants to admit it or not, the process is still way tooRead… Read more »

If You Really Want It — Be Persistent!

Here’s a FABULOUS ARTICLE for future Govies! Reprint of an article on LinkedIn by Elizabeth A. Medina I’ve been trying to get into Civil Service ever since I left my campus work study job as a Biology and Chemistry lab assistant 14 years ago. Obviously, all that changed less than a month ago and IRead… Read more »

Questions You’d Ask Your Boss — Anonymously

I recently heard a segment on the radio in which listeners submitted questions that they would ask their spouse or significant other anonymously. The submissions ranged from, “What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told your spouse?” to things much more scandalous. My first reaction was that if you have to ask your spouse anonymously, thenRead… Read more »