USAJOBS

USAJOBS is the United States government's one-stop clearinghouse for civil service job opportunities with federal agencies. The site is operated by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

"On August 4, 2003, a thoroughly updated and revised USAJobs Web site came online. The new site was intended to provide one central location from which job seekers could find information on employment opportunities and federal agencies could find potential employees. The concept was labeled "Recruitment One-Stop." Far from simply allowing interested individuals to find information on job vacancies, however, technological advancements incorporated into Recruitment One-Stop have made it possible for those looking for jobs to actually apply for positions and complete preliminary examinations entirely online. In addition, job seekers can build up to five Web-based resumes and store them on the USAJobs Web site and recruiters from federal agencies can review applicant qualifications. Substantial publicity for the newly revised Web site has been provided by OPM through paid advertising, traditional job fairs and other means. From August 4, 2003 to November 2, 2003, there were more than 14.5 million unique hits on the Web site (www.usajobs.opm.gov), and job seekers created more than 185,000 resume profiles. (14) The Web site provides an array of services for potential applicants from application tips and tools to the capability of presenting the Web site in Spanish for those users who choose to do so. In the immediate future, the Recruitment One-Stop project will be further enhanced through the inclusion of a number of additional functions, including:

• A new Vacancy Announcement Builder for federal agencies, which will make vacancies more user friendly by displaying vacancy announcements in a tabular format, providing job summaries in a bullet format, and utilizing hyperlinks in order to provide information to specific audiences;
• The use of Resume & Application Technology that will allow applicants to utilize a standard template for the presentation of their qualifications. Agencies can then view the information in order to make eligibility determinations. Upon full project implementation, it is envisioned that these electronic resumes will serve as the standard application system for all positions open to the public;

• Improved Job Search Criteria to better match applicants and vacancies. It is envisioned that this improvement will reduce the number of ineligible applicants that apply for vacancies each year;
• Applicant status tracking, which will address a key criticism that current federal job applicants are unable to find out where their applications are in the review process; and
• Resume mining, which will allow federal recruiters to utilize search engines to locate potential candidates uniquely qualified for specific vacancies. (15)

Overall, OPM hopes that these new functions will enhance the efficiency of the recruitment process by reducing the time it takes for agencies to locate and attract exceptional candidates that may have been previously turned off by the complicated and sometimes confusing application process. (16) Given the fact that many of these changes will significantly impact the hiring process for both agencies and applicants, OPM has also highlighted a number of current requirements and practices that will not change. These include:

• Maintenance of the USAJobs Web address;
• The requirement for agencies to post all vacancies open to the public on the USAJobs Web site;
• The ability of agencies to post their vacancies on commercial or noncommercial Web sites;
• The ability of agencies to provide employment information on their own Web sites;
• The ability of agency Web sites to link to specific vacancies on the USAJobs Web site;
• The automated process of posting agency vacancies on the USAJobs Web site;
• The USAJobs telephone capability;
• The ability of applicants to submit paper-based applications. (17)

Ultimately, OPM envisions USAJobs as becoming the central location from which federal job seekers locate vacancies and initiate the application process... One of the primary objectives of the initiative is to allow applicants to build an electronic resume on the USAJobs Web site which would allow the applicant to apply for numerous identical positions throughout the government without having to create duplicate resumes on other agency systems. The problem, however, lies in the fact that Monster.com's software, which allows applicants to build resumes, is not automatically compatible with competing software packages currently in use by various agencies throughout the government. In order for Recruitment One-Stop to provide a seamless application process to the end user (the applicant), agencies must work with their current software providers to adapt to the standards set by Monster.com. Essentially, what has been created is a system of competing contractor interests. This conflict was highlighted in a FederalTimes.com article in which it was revealed that Avue, a Washington state based recruitment software company that contracts with approximately 20 agencies, had lobbied Senator Patty Murray of Washington to propose legislation that would prevent OPM from mandating that agency software be compatible with the USAJobs software developed by Monster.com. (37) Ultimately, language to this effect was included in the FY2004 omnibus spending bill, effectively stopping OPM from prohibiting agencies from using automated recruitment systems that are not compatible with the Recruitment OneStop system developed by Monster.com. According to Avue, this legislation frees them from cooperating with OPM in the electronic job application process. Currently, Avue's software does not allow for seamless integration because it is based on a system of questions and answers instead of an actual resume."

Monster (Monster.com) first integrated its hiring software, QuickHire, with USAJobs.gov in 2004 after winning a contract in 2003 . In 2005, Monster won another contract to maintain USAJobs.gov . In 2008, Monster and OPM announced Monster had been compromised, leading to 146,000 records being stolen by a malicious source. Though social security numbers were not leaked, names and email addresses were.

Website: http://www.usajobs.gov/