TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT
04/30/10 12:11 pm ET
The Office of Personnel Management testified on Thursday that most agencies are going above and beyond when it comes to complying with a 2004 law that requires managers to undergo training on areas such as employee mentoring, conducting performance appraisals and dealing with poor performers.>>
04/29/10 01:29 pm ET
The U.S. high-tech industry shed a total of 245,600 jobs in 2009, for a total of 5.9 million workers, according to a new report by TechAmerica.>>
04/28/10 01:31 pm ET
Federal agencies must beef up incentive payment programs in order to recruit and retain future federal information technology workers, according to a new report by the Federal Chief Information Officers Council.>>
04/27/10 11:44 am ET
The Homeland Security Department on Friday released the results of its 2009 annual employee survey, and while most employees noted overall satisfaction with their jobs, only one-third agreed that the agency rewards creativity and innovation. >>
04/26/10 01:30 pm ET
The Office of Personnel Management on Monday released its 2011 capital asset plans to ensure its budgetary and resource decisions are in line with the Obama administration's priorities, and the plans include several notable investments in information technology. >>
04/26/10 12:28 pm ET
Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry announced at the Excellence in Government conference last week plans to create a new marketing campaign to improve the public's perceptions of federal employees. But Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is questioning whether such a campaign is a good idea. >>
04/23/10 04:21 pm ET
It's no secret that the federal government needs to attract, recruit and retain young workers to offset an upcoming wave of retirements, nor that it has some trouble doing so. A new report, released this month by the federal Chief Information Officers Council, examined the federal IT job market and found that agencies have some changes to make to attract the "Net Generation," or employees ages 17-31.>>
04/22/10 07:10 pm ET
Dana Bilyeu, whom President Obama has nominated to join the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, told a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on Thursday that the board needed to work harder to convince young military service members to begin saving early. From a Federal Times article:>>
04/21/10 05:44 pm ET
The Senior Executives Association released a report on "Taking the Helm: Attracting the Next Generation of Federal Leaders." The group surveyed GS-14 and GS-15 managers to find out their attitudes about moving up to top positions in government, the Senior Executive Service, which includes some important tech posts. The bottom line can be found in Finding 5:>>
04/20/10 11:39 am ET
American teens are texting up a storm, and many are more likely to text than talk, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. But as this generation moves into the workplace, will technology use cause their social skills, and therefore their job contributions, to suffer?>>
04/19/10 01:57 pm ET
The Federal Managers Association's new president, Patricia Niehaus, told Federal Times in an interview this month that technology could play a role in bargaining, but not to the extent of dictating what an agency should buy. An excerpt from the interview:>>
04/16/10 02:27 pm ET
When it comes to cybersecurity, lower level government employees are far more worried about the porous nature of federal networks than their top executives, according to a survey released this week. And the differences are stark and wide ranging.>>
04/15/10 12:43 pm ET
House members introduced a Defense Department acquisition bill on Wednesday that would directly impact procurement workers -- and some aren't too happy about it. Some of the provisions in the IMPROVE Acquisition Act are particularly tough for financial managers. According to a Government Executive article:>>
04/14/10 12:05 pm ET
The Navy is "milicruiting" veterans and military spouses to help beef up its cybersecurity workforce. The department plans to hold its Milicruit and Hire Heroes USA virtual career fair on April 29 for veterans and military spouses who are qualified in information technology disciplines to join the Navy's civilian ranks and help defend the department's networks. There are immediate cyber job openings in Norfolk, Va., and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Navy said.>>
04/13/10 01:22 pm ET
There's going to be sizeable growth in resources and investment in one of the technology sector's hottest job fields: cybersecurity. The latest edition of the Dice Report notes that professionals with "cyber" on their resume can command a 20 percent salary premium, particularly as the public and private sectors are looking to beef up their security talent pipelines. >>
04/13/10 12:44 pm ET
The Washington Post's Federal Player column on Monday highlighted the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Karen Turner in developing a global competition designed to spur innovative ideas for using mobile technology to solve problems in developing nations. What I found most interesting is that Turner, 53, has not only used the contest to improve the work and mission of USAID, but also to prove the value of Web 2.0 technology to many of her peers who are less tech-savvy than the agency's younger employees. >>
04/12/10 11:23 am ET
Are you a federal information security worker preparing for the Certified Information Systems Security Professional exam? (ISC)2 on Monday released the second edition of its official CISSP study guide, which reflects the evolving terminology and changing scope of information security jobs. The guide includes a CD with sample CISSP exams and grades, corrects and identifies areas where more study is needed. >>
04/12/10 12:16 pm ET
Alyssa Rosenberg writes at Government Executive about a new white paper that proposes scrapping the traditional competitive federal hiring process for graduate students in favor of a new internship program. The paper, written by the National Association of Public Affairs and Administration, notes that only 25 percent of graduate students who join the federal government are getting jobs through competitive hiring. This means the process is not serving the needs of students, particularly those who have education and skills but not much work experience, NASPAA noted.>>
04/09/10 12:46 pm ET
My former beat partner Alyssa Rosenberg writes at Government Executive that the Office of Personnel Management is launching a pilot project to test a new workplace flexibility program. The pilot, based on the results-only work environment, or ROWE, model created by Jody Thompson and Cali Ressler, will give 400 employees the freedom to decide where and when they work, as long as they meet high performance standards. >>
04/09/10 10:44 am ET
We've all heard about the importance of using buzzwords to punch up résumés. But there's a new buzzword entering the mix, particularly for information technology workers: "ninja." The Wall Street Journal reports that the term, which is becoming a popular buzzword on IT résumés, is meant to imply that the applicant can take on any challenge that's thrown at them. Social networking Web site LinkedIn reported that the growth of "ninja" as a new buzzword far outpaced the growth of other trendy titles in 2009. >>
04/08/10 11:38 am ET
The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday announced it has launched a new tool that will enable federal agencies to find top candidates for the most commonly hired positions, including those in information technology. >>
04/07/10 04:03 pm ET
The Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday released its open government plan, which leverages public input to enhance transparency and public participation as part of the Obama administration's open government initiative. >>
04/07/10 12:47 pm ET
Alyssa Rosenberg writes at Government Executive about a new Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government report that encourages federal officials to move forward on personnel reform while keeping in mind that technological and regulatory changes are not a cure-all for the government's hiring and recruiting challenges. >>
04/06/10 12:37 pm ET
There have been a lot of news headlines recently that claim that federal pay is significantly higher than private sector pay. A new survey by InformationWeek adds fuel to this claim, at least when comparing federal IT workers to their private sector counterparts. In fact, findings show that federal IT workers earn approximately 10 percent more than private sector IT employees. >>
04/06/10 11:30 am ET
Andrew Krzmarzick asks an interesting question on his Generation Shift blog: are civil servants too old and selfish to give in to social media platforms? Recent comments by blogger Stephen Dale note that more public sector decision makers fall into the Baby Boomer category than Generation X, and it's these older decision makers who are primarily responsible for blocking social media access at their agencies. >>
04/05/10 01:50 pm ET
Tom Fox of the Partnership for Public Service writes in The Washington Post's Federal Coach column on Monday about how the public sector faces unique challenges in order to collaborate effectively. Federal leaders are required to collaborate up and down their agencies' chain of command, among leaders in other agencies, with state and local partners, private sector insurers and 300 million citizens, Fox writes, pointing to such demands as the key reasons why public sector leadership is so challenging. >>
04/02/10 01:32 pm ET
NASA is in the process of creating an agencywide career Web site to help attract undergraduate and graduate students to NASA job opportunities, including those in science and technology, the agency announced Friday.>>
04/02/10 11:31 am ET
The Office of Personnel Management announced on Friday that the 2010 job fair for the Presidential Management Fellows Program was a great success, drawing more than 2,000 PMF participants from more than 87 federal agencies. The job fair, held March 30 through April 1 in Washington, D.C., resulted in a number of job offers, OPM said. To date, more than 7,000 PMF participants have joined the federal government. >>
04/01/10 11:48 am ET
The White House on Wednesday issued draft guidance that seeks to clarify the definition of work that should be performed by federal workers instead of private contractors. Federal News Radio reports that demonstration projects taking place at 24 federal agencies will examine how agencies are using contractors and whether they are relying too heavily on them. >>
