We have all heard the downside about posting personal information on social-networking sites. Future employers might be put off by that party photo you included or your not-so-funny comments.
Now the Merit Systems Protection Board has cautioned hiring officials about using online search engines to vet job applicants. In the September “
Issues of Merit” newsletter, MSPB describes the pitfalls of using Internet information, even casually, in the pre-selection process.
The article uses the example of an information technology manager who, being tech savvy, decides to google the three applicants in the best-qualified group to see what other information he can find before interviewing them. He finds the family Web site for a female candidate, which mentions that her husband often travels. He worries that she might not be able to do the travel required in the job.
He googles the second candidate and finds news stories naming him as a suspect in an Internet fraud scheme. The third candidate expresses support for a presidential candidate on his MySpace blog.
The article points out that the selecting official might find information on the Internet that he is not permitted to know, such as marital status, race, sexual orientation or political affiliation. Once such information is learned, it is hard to unlearn it, which can leave a manager vulnerable to discrimination charges.
Also, news reports may or may not be about the same applicant if the name is common or if the person is a victim of identity theft.
Bottom line: If you are planning to use Internet searches to learn more about applicants, you could be setting yourself up for claims of discrimination, or you could disqualify applications on the basis of false information.
MSPB advises organizations to take care when using Internet searches during the selection process.
Judy Welles
Posted on Oct 02, 2008 at 9:15 AM1 comments
The government’s use of monetary incentives to recruit, retain and relocate employees must be helping. At least we can hope so because agencies using those incentives significantly increased the number and amount in 2007, the most recent reporting year.
With the retirement wave of departing workers, agencies have been under pressure to retain and recruit employees to fill staffing needs. Financial incentives have been part of the arsenal of ways to attract workers for several years. The Office of Personnel Management reported to Congress that, last year, use of those incentives increased by more than 95 percent over the previous year.
Overall, 41 federal agencies paid 32,484 recruitment, relocation and retention incentives worth more than $207 million in calendar year 2007. Incentive payments ranged from $1,500 to $20,000, depending on the skill level of the position and type of incentive.
Agencies paid recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives to employees in critical occupations such as health care, engineering, security and information technology.
The single occupation for which recruitment incentives were most used was patent examining.
Retention incentives were used to retain employees in health care, engineering, security and information technology management occupations.
The use of retention incentives was spread over a wide range of grade or work levels. More than 53 percent of the recruitment incentives paid to General Schedule employees were used to recruit new employees into entry- and development-level positions (e.g., at GS-05 to GS-09), and more than 76 percent of relocation incentives used for General Schedule employees were paid to employees in intermediate- and upper-level positions (e.g., at GS-11 to GS-14).
An agency may pay a recruitment incentive to a new employee or a relocation incentive to a current employee who must relocate to accept a position in a different geographic area when the agency determines a position will be difficult to fill without an incentive.
A retention incentive may be paid if the agency determines the unusually high or unique qualifications of the employee or a special need of the agency for the employee’s services makes it essential to retain the employee, who would otherwise leave federal service.
Posted on Sep 23, 2008 at 9:15 AM0 comments
At the National Active and Retired Federal Employees 30th Biennial National Convention, held last week in Louisville, Ky., delegates approved NARFE’s legislative program for the next Congress.
Pursuing two new benefits, the organization will support legislation allowing Federal Employees Retirement System employees to credit their unused sick leave toward retirement. NARFE will also support legislation to enable dependents of federal employees and retirees to remain covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program until age 25.
The association reaffirmed its support for legislation which would allow federal civilian and military retirees to pay for their share of health insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars, a benefit afforded currently only to federal employees.
NARFE will also continue to seek repeal or reform of the onerous Social Security Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision which reduce social security benefits to federal retirees who also worked in the private sector.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Sammies at ball gameFederal government winners of the 2008 Sammies
Service to America Medal – will be announced tonight at a gala and honored again by on-field recognition before the Nats game (vs. San Diego Padres) on Saturday, Sept. 20, 7 p.m.
You can get discounted tickets at
www.ourpublicservice.org , and you don’t have to be a federal employee.
The
Service to America Medals are presented annually by the Partnership for Public Serrvice to celebrate excellence in federal civil service. Get there early to cheer for the winners (feds and players, too) at this final Saturday night home game of the year.
Posted on Sep 16, 2008 at 9:15 AM2 comments
While federal workers are wrapping up another fiscal year, September is also the time to plan ahead, both programmatically and personally. This is a good time to get networking.
Studies show that successful executives spend between a quarter and a third of their time at work in building relationships and coalitions. The time is viewed as critical to accomplishing their goals.
Networking is the cornerstone of project planning, career development, professional advancement, or finding a job. After summer vacations, professional associations are putting events and luncheons on their calendars and some, like
Women in Technology, are starting networking sessions.
In a new approach to working a room, WIT is offering
speed networking in which participants spend no more than two minutes talking with others to hone some networking skills. Getting involved in committees, projects and social activities outside of your immediate office can also give you visibility and help advance your career.
But today, networking does not require being an extrovert, witty or glib. It does not even require any face-to-face contact. With social-networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and GovLoop, you can discuss work issues, interview tips, and job openings anonymously if you want to in a virtual chat. One active chat on GovLoop discussed what to wear to an interview.
Still, face-to-face time continues to be important, especially in interacting and networking with colleagues informally about project and team plans. That kind of networking can be done over coffee or lunch as well as it could be done via casual hallway meetings.
The main idea is not to miss opportunities for casual interactions that can impart helpful information and set the stage for more formal work sessions. In short, small talk isn’t wasting time; it can be the building block for important relationships.
Posted on Sep 10, 2008 at 9:15 AM0 comments
We’re past Labor Day, kids are in school, and the fiscal year is ending. Wrapping up the year takes a lot of effort, and so does preparing for the coming change in government leadership.
With major campaigning revving up after the conventions, I continue to think, or perhaps hope, that somewhere in government, folks are gearing up for the transition time to a new administration.
I asked an agency Webmaster whether he had heard anything about going digital for transition briefing materials. “That’s a great idea,” he said. But the Webmaster noted that not only had he heard nothing about using technology for briefing presentations, he also had heard nothing at all about any transition planning. He recalled someone saying there might be a possible meeting in a week or two to discuss it, but he wasn’t sure.
So I ask again, will agencies be dusting off and using those bulky notebook-style briefing books or will there be any use of any technology beyond the old PowerPoint standby?
Some of you would rather not think about this because you are counting down the days to your retirement from government at the end of the year. If you are thinking about retirement, you should be checking with your human resources office about the steps you need to take now.
For those of you planning to be here next year, a transition offers an opportunity for IT staffs to get creative, not necessarily with pretty graphics, but with modern high-tech ways of presenting information. What are some of those ways you’d like to see? Or is everyone too busy right now to think about anything beyond September?
Posted on Sep 04, 2008 at 9:15 AM0 comments
This week before Labor Day is often the last chance people have to get away from work. With schools starting earlier in many locations, it may be a short vacation, but it provides a needed break.
The first observance of a Labor Day was a parade of 10,000 workers on Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. By 1893, more than half of the states were observing a Labor Day of some sort. In 1894, Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
Today, there are some 154.5 million people 16 and older in the nation’s labor force, including 82.6 million men and 71.9 million women. More than two million of them labor for the federal government.
Some 82 percent of full-time workers are covered by health insurance and 77 percent receive a paid vacation as one of their benefits. That's another sign that government workers, who are offered both health insurance and paid vacation among other benefits, have it pretty good.
Forecasters expect the labor force to grow in technology jobs at a faster rate than in any other occupation. The upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, Table 598 projects a 53 percent growth between 2006 and 2016 in the number of network systems and data communication analysts.
This Labor Day, while recognizing the contributions of a productive work force, take some time to enjoy the break!
Posted on Aug 22, 2008 at 9:15 AM0 comments
It isn’t always easy, but you can say no to your boss. The technique, experts say, is not to use the “no” word. Instead, help your boss understand that it might be better if you did not do what he or she asks.
Consider the example of a federal worker who got a promotion and a new job in another city. He rented a place that luckily would be available two weeks before his new job began. He planned to take a much-needed vacation first.
Soon after, his new boss telephoned him to tell him about a training session that was offered several weeks before the job began. He said it would be good to “hit the ground running” by taking the earlier training session instead of one that started a week after the employee was to arrive at the new job.
The employee did not want to start off on the wrong foot with his new boss or appear disinterested in work.
In this instance, rather than pointing to any personal hardship, the employee responded that he agreed on the importance of starting out quickly in the job. He mentioned that his previous years of experience in the federal government and the job area would certainly help.
Because he had received new employee training at other agencies, he asked if he could take only the second week of training when he planned to move to the city. He added that once he was settled in his apartment, he would be in the best position to make sure everything at work fell into place quickly.
Most employers are reasonable, and in this instance, the employee’s approach worked. He was excused from the first week of training.
Managers want people they can rely on, and that does not mean saying yes all the time.
Do you agree with what this employee did? How would you have handled the boss’ request?
Judy Welles
Posted on Aug 19, 2008 at 9:15 AM0 comments
The advance guard of a new appointee is an administration transition team. The members will pore over the briefing books and talk selectively with various agency executives.
Of course, sometimes a new administration appointee will sit in the wings, not really visible. However, the unseen presence lets everyone know that change will soon come.
One time I was called to a hotel to meet a prospective appointee. He asked about my background, but did not discuss any agency issues. It turned out that he just wanted to meet those people who would ultimately be some of his direct reports. After he was confirmed, he hired some appointees to fill designated positions but made no changes among the career staff.
So, do you stand up and get yourself known to the new team, or do you hang back and wait to be asked? Consider this:
- You may be able to help newbies find their way around.
- Presenting ideas before a new agenda is known can backfire.
- Standing out makes a good target.
- Colleagues might despise you.
- No risk, no gain.
- You won’t be seen as a desk-hugger.
There’s still time to plan how you will deal with the transition.
Judy Welles
Posted on Aug 11, 2008 at 9:15 AM0 comments