Technology is an enabler. It gives us the ability to harvest big data, mobilize in ways unknown to previous generations, and shows us the means to improve every aspect of society. But that’s all. It just gives us the means, not the action. Some industry leaders are looking to turn means into action. One ofRead… Read more »
With the stagnant economy, cost control has become the new mantra of every business. Businesses are deploying various strategies to contain costs and maintain profitability. Amongst such strategies is control and visibility into spending with external suppliers. Spend analytics is the process of aggregating, cleansing, and analyzing corporate spending data for the purpose of reducingRead… Read more »
Whether you’re interviewing for an internship or for a job in the Senior Executive Service, your interviewer may ask you that old “What are your weaknesses?” question. But even interviewers who still ask that widely reviled question recognize its limitations. “No one realistically expects to receive brutally honest answers like, ‘I’m below-average intelligence and difficultRead… Read more »
As the market for talent acquisition software evolves, government agencies typically move through a process of identification, proposals, testing and selection to determine the best fit for their organization. There are the usual RFIs, RFPs, solution bake offs and pilot testing, with the goal to bring in the solution that will best help the organizationRead… Read more »
As summer’s barbecues and beach days wind down, so do the experiences of a select group of graduate and undergraduate students in GAO’s Student Intern Program. We talked to some of them about their experiences. Student interns are hired to contribute to our teams and gain experience in the roles of analysts, program staff, orRead… Read more »
There was a FERS open season held back in 1987-88 and 1998, allowing employees with at least five years of Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) service to voluntarily transfer to FERS during one of the two open seasons. When these individuals, called TransFERS retire, they receive both a CSRS annuity and a FERS annuity. TheseRead… Read more »
Well, not the entire Senate, yet. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) recently introduced a bill called the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) which would give federal employees a 3.3 percent pay raise in 2015. The proposed pay raise is welcomed news for Federal employees. Federal employees have endured a lot over theRead… Read more »
When you start a new job the onboarding process can seem endless. You have your technology trainings, security trainings, even getting your email set up can take a day or two to get set up. Seriously. Pennsylvania is working to streamline the onboarding process by going digital. “The state set up an online onboarding programRead… Read more »
In the human capital, human resources and talent management worlds, we hear more and more about the importance of these fields, how significant they are and why they matter. At the same time, there is also much written and discussed about elevating HR to a more strategic role and how to make that happen. ThereRead… Read more »
The “grey tsunami” was a big topic at my agency a few years back. The expectation was that up to 70% of the agency’s workforce would take early retirement. Massive amounts of tacit knowledge would be lost. In preparation, my team attempted to “crowdsource” the knowledge of the experienced staff. We wanted to convert thatRead… Read more »