The Senior Executive Service: Background and Options for Reform

[Excerpt] The Senior Executive Service (SES) was established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA; P.L. 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111). Congress created the SES to provide a government-wide, mobile corps of managers within federal agencies. The SES, comprising mostly career appointees who are chosen through a merit staffing process, is the link between the politically appointed heads of agencies and the career civil servants within those agencies. The creators of the SES envisioned it as a cadre of high-level managers in the government who would provide leadership for agencies across administrations and ensure productivity and efficiency within the government. The CSRA incentivized good performance among senior executives by basing their compensation on their performance. Over the three decades of the SES’s operation, various ideas and suggestions have been offered as to how it may be improved. Although a few statutory changes have been implemented since its creation, many argue that the current state of the SES calls for more comprehensive reforms. The most recent change made to the SES was a revision of its pay system enacted in 2004. Advocates for additional changes to the SES argue that further changes would improve the efficiency and the management of government programs and the government workforce. Some of the changes they call for include improvement in recruiting efforts, more opportunities for onboard training and career development of senior executives, and further changes to the current pay structure. This report provides a history and background of the SES, examines the central features of the SES, and discusses some areas in which advocates for SES reform have called for change

Connecting community service to careers in public service

Sponsored by the Marjorie J. and Richard L.D. Morse Family and Community Public Policy ScholarshipCitation: Peele, L. (2009). Connecting community service to careers in public service. Unpublished manuscript, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.This paper summarizes research done in conjunction with my summer fellowship with the Government Affairs Team at the Partnership for Public Service in Washington, D.C. I particpated in a conference call on July 21 with the "United We Serve" public affairs team (sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service), who connected me with surveys and research conducted by AmeriCorps. From this research, I learned that not only is community service on the rise despite current economic challenges, but participation in organized community service has a direct link to a career in public service

Appendix D: Some Background Information on Workplace Flexibility in Federal Agencies

Some background information on Workplace Flexibility in federal agencies from the event: Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing held April 30, 2008 for Workplace Flexibility 2010

Selected Events on Workplace Flexibility in the Federal Government

Selected events on Workplace Flexibility in the federal government from the event: Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing held April 30, 2008 for Workplace Flexibility 2010

Winning the Talent War, for Good: A Call to Engage, Retain, and Build the Market for Top Talent in Impact Careers

Today, there remains a striking disconnect between talented people and careers of social impact. There is little data on how and why young people choose their careers and limited understanding of what it would take to encourage a greater share to commit themselves to advancing the public interest. This makes it difficult for impact organizations, those organizations striving to achieve an explicit social mission, to effectively identify, recruit, and retain great talent -- and for service-minded young people to find opportunities to make a difference. Ensuring that the best talent is working to solve these critical social challenges is a shared responsibility. However, it is ultimately our responsibility as Millennials to create and commit to impact careers. Winning the Talent War, for Good includes a range of strategies created by and for impact practitioners and young talent alike to address this challenge. In addition to underscoring the need for top talent in this field, this Aspen Institute Impact Careers Initiative (ICI) report seeks to help practitioners better understand the drivers of career choices among top talent and undertake key strategies for engaging, retaining, and building the market for the next generation of top talent in impact careers

Higher Education and Social Impact: Which Colleges and Universities Develop the Next Generation of Leaders for Nonprofits and Government?

This Impact Careers Initiative (ICI) report highlights the colleges and universities that are developing social sector leaders and supporting impact careers. This report was made possible by LinkedIn, which shared data identifying colleges and universities that successfully launch graduates to careers in the nonprofit and government sectors. This report will be followed by an analysis of the best practices of colleges and universities producing public servants

The Federal Cybersecurity Workforce: Background and Congressional Oversight Issues for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security

[Excerpt] This report examines congressional oversight of two strategies undertaken by Congress and the executive branch to strengthen the federal cybersecurity workforce: (1) initiatives to define and identify the federal cybersecurity workforce, and (2) hiring and pay flexibilities applicable to cybersecurity positions at DOD and DHS. This report focuses on DOD and DHS because of their key roles in federal cybersecurity and because the majority of hiring and pay flexibilities for cybersecurity professionals authorized by Congress apply to DOD and DHS

A Future of Failure? The Flow of Technology Talent into Government and Civil Society

This report is an evaluation of the technology talent landscape shows a severe paucity of individuals with technical skills in computer science, data science, and the Internet or other information technology expertise in civil society and government. It investigates broadly the health of the talent pipeline that connects individuals studying or working in information technology-related disciplines to careers in public sector and civil society institutions. Barriers to recruitment and retention of individuals with the requisite skills include compensation, a perceived inability to pursue groundbreaking work, and cultural aversion to innovation

A Time for Talent: Improving Federal Recruiting and Hiring

As the United States works to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus and blunt the pandemic's economic fallout, the need for an effective and efficient federal government has never been clearer. Indeed, there may be no institution more important to the health, safety and financial wellbeing of the nation than the federal government. To deliver for the American people now and in the future, and competently respond to inevitable crises, the government must be able to recruit and hire a world-class workforce. Yet the federal recruiting and hiring process is in drastic need of repair.The federal government has long struggled to attract the talent it needs, handicapped in part by a General Schedule pay system that makes it difficult to compete with the private sector. Too often, the applicant experience is miserable, plagued by confusing job announcements, a USAJobs platform that is difficult to use, and a cumbersome hiring process that can take months to complete. Even after collecting resumes, agencies rely too frequently on outdated methods to evaluate candidates, causing them to overlook the most qualified.While there are a number of well-documented steps that Congress and the Office of Personnel Management could take to reform the recruiting and hiring process, agencies can do a great deal on their own.1 Made possible by generous support from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and informed by interviews with human resources leaders in government and the private sector, this report describes approaches that agency leaders and human resources specialists can take right now to strengthen the federal workforce.Particularly as new staff are added to deal with a range of issues stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, agencies should:- Strategically identify their talent needs for both today and tomorrow.- Recruit more effectively and efficiently by being proactive, promoting their brand, keeping in touch with former employees and targeting young people.- Ensure that they hire the best applicants by creating a better candidate experience and using innovative techniques to identify who is most qualified.- Look inward for the next generation of talent. This report describes what these strategies look like in practice, sharing replicable examples from across the federal government

Unconfirmed: Why Reducing the Number of Senate-confirmed Positions Can Make Government More Effective

The federal workforce is composed of about 2 million civil servants who provide continuity across presidential administrations and another 4,000 political appointees who are selected by the president. About 1,200 of these political appointees require Senate approval. Despite presidential interest in filling positions across government to advance political and policy objectives, the number of Senate-confirmed positions, along with the complexity of the appointment process, has resulted in a slowdown of confirmations and an increase in vacancies. This situation limits agency operations and reduces the president's capacity to govern and the Senate's power to hold officials accountable.Using appointments data from the Political Appointee Tracker compiled by the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post along with expert analysis, this report highlights key trends in filling Senate-confirmed positions and in the nomination and confirmation process. These trends generate serious barriers to government effectiveness, responsiveness and agility. The Senate, in collaboration with the executive branch, has occasionally taken steps to reduce the number of political appointees and make the confirmation process more efficient. However, the number of Senate-confirmed positions poses a daunting challenge for any president, often leading to vacancies that undermine the execution of responsibilities that Congress has established and the taxpayer's fund.This report offers seven potential approaches to streamline the political appointment process for those positions requiring Senate confirmation and assesses when each of these approaches could be most useful and feasible, setting the stage for a reduction or rescoping of Senate-confirmed positions in favor of longer term, nonconfirmed or career alternatives while preserving the Senate's constitutional role and oversight function