In the federal workforce, it takes significant time and effort to get the right candidate into the right role. Making a bad hire can result in significant cost to an organization. In the federal realm, this can end up being what I like to call a “35-year mistake.” 

Taking the time to design and implement structured interview questions/procedures and employing benchmarking and metrics during interviews will result in getting the most qualified job candidate. Foregoing interviews for the more expedient “paper route” of simply reviewing a resume can have disastrous results. 

At OPM, we made a huge effort to help agencies improve their Senior Executive Service selection by combining a careful resume review with a structured interview process. We taught agencies how to go beyond the resume to develop interview questions that really get at the job characteristics required. 

Making quality hires is the first step in creating a robust workforce. The second step is employee engagement—remember the old chestnut “people don’t leave their organization, they leave their supervisor.” Supervisors play a key role in employee engagement. Frontline supervisors and managers need a good understanding of how to encourage and enhance engagement. New people come into an organization with drive and a willingness to put in extra effort to get the job done.  The best supervisors appreciate their workers and move heaven and Earth to get employees what they need to do their jobs.     

In the federal government, as well as in private industry, there are managers who have difficulty encouraging employee engagement.  In my experience, a mentoring approach is more effective than training. Having mentors in the workplace who understand engagement to help those who are learning provides a tangible experience that has far-reaching results. 

Hiring and maintaining a robust workforce are two key parts of driving organizational effectiveness. Agency leaders are consumed by many commitments and their time is limited. Allocating resources and effort toward quality selection procedures and following up by providing the mentoring needed to ensure that supervisors and managers have the tools needed to engage their workforce, will pay organizational dividends. 

Join me for my session, “Predictive Training: Hiring and Building a Resilient Workforce,” at Government Workforce: Learning Innovations. We will discuss how u****sing a strategic foresight methodology can help you identify several potential future scenarios and prepare for them.