OPM: Veterans’ Recruitment and Employment Strategic Plan

The Office of Personnel Management released the first strategic plan last month to increase the hiring of Veterans in the Federal Government. Below is a summary of the main points outlined in the strategic plan.

First, some Veteran hiring facts:

– Federal Government is the Nation’s leading employer of Veterans.
– Veterans make up more than 1/4 Federal workers.
– FY08 hiring data shows federal agencies employ 476,684 Veterans.
– Total Veteran new hires in the Federal Government have increased from 52,452 in FY07 to 65,631 in FY08.
– When compared to the private sector, the Federal Government hires 3x the percentage of Veterans, 7x the percentage of disabled Veterans, and 10x the percentage of severely injured Veterans.
– Nearly 80% of Veterans are employed in three Departments – Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. These Departments make up approximately 58% of the workforce.

During the development of the Government-wide Veterans’ Recruitment and Employment Strategic Plan, five key barriers to increasing the number of Veterans employed in the Federal Government were identified:

– Lack of clear leadership regarding the value and importance of hiring Veterans
– Infrastructure that does not support advocacy of Veterans’ employment within Federal agencies
– Insufficient understanding of Veterans’ Preference and utilization of special hiring authorities by our HR professionals and hiring officials
– Inadequate understanding of Veterans’ Preference and the Federal hiring process by our Veterans and transitioning service members; and
– Absence of systems to match Veterans’ skills and education to positions within the Federal Government.

Solutions to these five key barriers:

– Leadership Commitment – establishes a governance structure and infrastructure dedicated solely to the employment of Veterans in the Federal Government;
– Skills Development and Employment – focuses on providing employment counseling and aligning the talents and aspirations of Veterans and transitioning service members with civil service career opportunities;
– Marketing Veterans’ Employment – creates a marketing campaign targeted to Veterans and transitioning service members on the benefits of continuing their careers with the Federal civil service as well as targeted to hiring officials on how Veterans can meet skills demands in their organizations; and
– Information Gateway – creates a single-source website for disseminating accurate and consistent Veteran employment information and resources for Veterans, human resources (HR) professionals, and hiring officials.

Interesting initiatives under Skills Development and Employment

– Developing an interactive program to translate military skills to Federal civilian occupations and produce a document for Veterans and transitioning service members outlining potential Federal careers based on their military experience

– Developing a transitioning service member, Veteran, and spouse resume bank/skills inventory so hiring officials are able to easily search and identify Veterans with skills to meet staffing needs

The entire strategic plan can be read here.