What the Coast Guard wants in an employee

The Coast Guard is trudging through the challenge of beefing up its acquisition workforce, and it seems to have a good strategy for moving forward.

Michael Tangora, deputy assistant commandant for acquisition, recently told the Coast Guard’s "Delivering the Goods" newsletter that the service hired about 90 new acquisition professionals in fiscal 2009. The new hires helped the Coast Guard. A year ago it had a 23 percent civilian vacancy rate for those positions. Today, though, the rate has fallen to 10 percent.

Tangora also said Congress approved 100 additional acquisition positions in the fiscal 2010 appropriations bill, “recognizing that the service needs more personnel to do a better job.”

But more people for those jobs doesn’t cut it, Tangora said.

“Your operation is only as good as your intellectual capital,” he told the newsletter. “The amount of people you have that are trained, have the experience and know what they’re doing is your intellectual capital.”

What does the Coast Guard want in an employee?

“When we’re looking at new hires, we’re looking for experience, education, competency and the ability to work under deadlines. We’re looking for critical thinkers who question assumptions and can look farther out than six months, and we’re looking for people who are team players,” Tangora said. He added that diversity of skills among the workforce is imperative.

And once the Coast Guard hires a new employee, Tangora said the service acquaints the employee with what’s happening outside of the office.

The Coast Guard recently developed an orientation program that takes newly hired acquisition professionals to see how the work they’re doing supports local operators out in the field, the newsletter reports.

Beyond even that, the service values its employees, wanting them to balance work and their personal lives, Tangora told the newsletter.

“When I look at the way senior Coast Guard management cares for its workforce, both military and civilian, it’s far superior to anything I’ve seen in government,” he said. “Mission is No. 1, but there are ways to get your mission accomplished and at the same time take care of your workforce. I think that permeates through this organization.”

Posted by Matthew Weigelt on Jan 29, 2010 at 2:28 PM