The Federal Government’s human capital is its most important and critical asset. The federal workforce is aging rapidly, one-third will be eligible to retire between now and 2025, and only 6% of federal employees are under 30 years old. Therefore recruitment plays a key role in making sure that Federal Agencies are able to maintain an excellent-quality workforce.
This blog explains the challenges in Federal recruiting and recommends methods for developing and improving recruitment programs led by government contracting companies providing recruitment services to Federal Agencies.
Challenges in Federal Recruiting
Although Government Agencies are always optimistic with their recruitment efforts, they struggle to attract top talent due to the following reasons:
- Disorganized Recruitment Process: Agencies post their open positions on different job boards and wait for a response. However, posting the positions on these job boards alone does not help. Top talent stays uninformed of the opportunities in Federal Agencies due to a lack of effective recruiting strategies.
- Complex Hiring Process: On average, the Federal hiring process takes more than three months. As a result, professionals are unwilling to wait so long and pursue other opportunities.
- Competitive Federal Market: The Federal Agencies are competing not only with the private sector but also with other Federal Agencies. Some Agencies are at par in the competition due to a better employer brand, while others provide better compensation.
- Lack of Skilled Professionals: Another challenge that Agencies have to face is the shortage in the pool of qualified applicants in certain labor markets. Labor market shortages impact our industries at the local and national levels to the extent that projects are delayed or even stopped.
As a result of this, Federal Agencies often turn to Government contracts for recruitment services.
Excelling at Recruitment for Federal Agencies
Recruitment agencies employ diverse recruitment strategies to attract qualified candidates. The most effective recruitment method is planned after considering various factors such as location, the compensation offered, and the type of position. Different strategies that can be used for hassle-free recruitment at agencies are:
- Predefined Process for the Federal Recruitment Life Cycle: A predefined recruitment life cycle should be in place to avoid any blockages in the process. A clearly defined process followed by the recruitment agencies can be measured and improved over time to reduce the Days to Hire metric.
- Understanding How the Federal Market Works: Recruitment agencies providing support to Federal Agencies should keep an eye on the Federal market for different requests for proposals (RFPs) that are being published to elicit technical responses. Keeping up with the latest trends in the market helps recruitment agencies to anticipate future openings and thus prepare them ahead of time.
- Working on your Employer Brand: The brand of a company is an important aspect of how it communicates its identity to both potential and present employees. To establish its brand, a company needs to convey its values, vision, and mission to its stakeholders very effectively. Your employees are your brand ambassadors to build up your brand and must be part of your recruitment strategy.
- Job Postings and Social Media: Social media can be a powerful tool for recruiting. Social recruiting is a two-way communication platform where a company can easily share job postings with its network. Also, sharing pictures and videos from the company events and the day-to-day work life of the company provides candidates a glimpse of the company culture.
- Exploring Niche Job Boards: Niche job boards provide a simple way to locate qualified candidates for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) providing recruitment services to Federal Agencies. They are typically industry-specific and allow SMBs to post job openings so that targeted candidates can locate them in one place. A niche job board is a platform that allows an organization to attract top talent and deliver quality candidates with experience or interest in a specific industry.
- Considering Employee Referrals: The first step of any hiring process should be to ask your existing employees if they know someone good fit for the role. A referred hire is faster and cheaper, with a higher retention rate compared to a traditional hire.
Most of the Federal Agencies in the United States and government contractors providing services to them have turned to recruitment services to ensure that the process works smoothly and efficiently. iQuasar simplifies the process, provides insight, and gives SMBs access to talent that might otherwise be difficult to find. iQuasar employs tools designed exclusively for locating and sourcing competent Federal experts. We offer access to one of the most comprehensive and robust Federal resume databases available. We promote your company and work on your requisitions to attract the right talent. Whether you are interested only in resume sourcing, or sourcing plus recruitment, or talent development in full-cycle recruitment, we have the right solution for you.
