Human Resources

Arrive, Survive, and Thrive…It’s Not Necessarily a Good Thing

Ever heard of the International Day For Biological Diversity (IDB)? The United Nations declared May 22nd the official date this year, and Invasive Alien Species is the theme. Invasive Aliens Species are widely recognized as a major component of human-induced global environmental change. Globalization allows that the transportation of animals, plants and microorganism to provideRead… Read more »

Recruiting and Vetting Job Candidates Using Social Tools

From LocalGov20.com – Government agencies, especially municipalities, face many challenges in adapting HR divisions to best practices for recruiting, vetting and retaining the best and the brightest of the under-40 workforce. In San Francisco, the workforce now averages 46 years old, and recruitment of Generation X and Millennial Generation workers is constrained. To address this,Read… Read more »

This could happen to You

I’m posting an additional blog this week asking for some advice from all you fine folks on GovLoop for a friend of mine. He too is a government employee of long standing. He works in an agency known as a dumping ground for outgoing political appointees who now need government jobs and unfortunately he isRead… Read more »

5 Ways Government’s Using Social Media for Recruitment

Originally published at FedManager’s E-Report on behalf of Young Government Leaders. In an essay entitled Federal Brain Drain to Brain Gain: Fixing Government College Recruitment released in mid-April, Stephen Anders (a Masters of Public Policy Candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School) recommended that Federal agencies should “increase their presence on social networking sites” like FacebookRead… Read more »

Managing Performance Based Contracts For Success

As I closely follow developments in the current wave of acquisition reform, there certainly seems to be a focus on awarding more fixed price contracts, and the reduction of other contract types such as cost type and time and materials. What I find interesting in all this talk about commercial best practices and streamlining theRead… Read more »

Federal Domestic Partner Benefits

Government Executive’s cover story this month is the often neglected debate on federal domestic partner benefits. Though the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act has been introduced every session since 1997 it’s never been voted on by either the House or Senate, and only got its first hearing last fall. External gay rights groups haveRead… Read more »

VistA makes another toehold in the outside world

Some of you already know that VistA adoption has spawned several companies using the open source business model – i.e. take a free product and make money by offering installation, customization and support for the base product. One such player is MedSphere, offering VistA support services. There is another instance of a significant VistA adoptionRead… Read more »

Hiring in Government

I just read an interesting article from the Washington Post. I encourage you to read it, especially those of you who may be responsible for hiring, or communications. Did you know that in the next four years, approximately 1/3 of government (Federal) jobs will need to be filled? With 3/4 of its workforce being overRead… Read more »