The project will survey all federal agencies to identify the most innovative recruitment initiatives, examine common lessons learned, review measures of performance, and evaluate overall recruitment success. 

Strategic management of human capital has been established under the President’s Management Agenda to deal with the long-term human capital “crisis” facing the federal government.  While a number of studies have examined the human capital crisis in government and promoted awareness, none has gone so far as to catalogue what is actually going on in each federal agency, let alone what kinds of recruitment initiatives are working best. 

Innovative recruitment initiatives for each federal agency will be provided as “case studies” in the report. From the case studies, the report will identify and suggest a step-by-step process for the development and implementation of a “strategic recruitment” anchor of an agency’s human capital plan.  This process will include strategies for the recruitment of a qualified and diverse workforce, use of civil service flexibilities, and implementation of performance measures to evaluate recruitment success. 

The report will be issued to Office of Management and Budget, Office of Personnel Management, HR offices in federal agencies and the Congress. 

Federal human resource managers will be interviewed in October and November to gather information on innovations. Participation in the research study comes at no cost to the agencies and federal human resource managers will all have access to the final report.

Expected Research Outcomes

Section One: Update on Trends and Data on the Federal Government’s Human Capital Crisis
The report will summarize the current trends and human capital shortfalls facing federal agencies in 2002 and projected through 2007.  A list of the top 10 needed human capital skills areas will be identified. 

Section Two: Catalogue of Innovative Recruitment Initiatives from Federal Agencies
Case studies for each agency will be presented based on the recruitment initiatives shared by agencies with the research team.  Particular attention will be paid to measures of success and human resource and strategic plan integration.

Section Three: Framework for Devising, Implementing and Measuring Strategic Recruitment Initiatives
The report will examine the following components of a comprehensive recruitment strategy:

• Conducting a Workforce Analysis to Identify Recruitment Needs

• Developing a Human Capital Plan to Set Recruitment Goals

• Taking Advantage of Civil Service Reform Flexibilities

• Focusing on Diversity and Demographics in Recruitment

• Tracking Success with Performance Measures