. Page 1 . 1 >> Welcome back. Apparently this morning some people 2 expressed an interest in the survey data that Martha 3 Johnson presented, and the report "trust matters." 4 And Martha asked me to tell you that if you would like to 5 see this data, it is on the website for the Council for 6 Excellence in Government. And their website is: 7 www.excelgov.org. And so you can get your own copy of the 8 study right there. 9 We were talking about positive portrayals of government. 10 Did any of you see the article two days ago in the style 11 section? When the blue chips are down, in Gov we trust. 12 I didn't know if you saw that or not. I thought this was 13 really quite remarkable. I even fired off an e-mail to 14 the author. And it said let us now rejoice in the glory 15 of your tax dollars at work. Drug what you're doing and 16 hug a GS14. So I got this off of the washingtonpost.com 17 website. And the person who wrote it is Paul Farhy. 18 Everybody at the Post has the same e-mail address, it's 19 their last name and then their first initial. So it was 20 easy to find him. And he thought that this was a natural 21 story. I wanted to know why he would suddenly write 22 something positive about government. And he said well, 23 another friend and I were talking about this, and we were 24 talking about the fact that these big corporations are 25 losing so much of people's money, and at least -- he . Page 2 . 1 mentioned this in the article. At least if you were going 2 to lose 54 billion dollars, as one company did, if it were 3 the government we would have some fighter planes to show 4 for that amount of money or something else. So it was 5 kind of positive. 6 We're going to give you a chance to use your electronic 7 recording devices and tell us what you think. If there is 8 one on the floor or near you, if you don't have one near 9 you, perhaps you can reach out. We have a few around 10 here. And we want to get your opinions as we start our 11 panel this afternoon. 12 Now, this is what we would like to ask you. In your 13 opinion, the media accurately portrays public service: 14 Always, most of the time, sometimes, rarely. Or never. 15 So give us your opinion on this. How do you think we are 16 portrayed? Do we have results yet Mark? Sometimes. 17 Okay. Always, 1 percent. Yes. Mark, you've got some 18 work to do there. 19 Okay. Now, let's move on. In your opinion, how long will 20 the post 9/11 positive media coverage of government 21 service continue? Of course, if you think there is 22 positive government media coverage. So most of us think 23 it's not going to last. 24 And thirdly, in your opinion, how long will the post 9/11 25 public trust in government continue? The trust in . Page 3 . 1 government. So we all have our work cut out for us this 2 afternoon. That's a good lead in for our panel. And I'm 3 delighted to introduce our moderator, Lark McCarthy. If 4 any of you watch the morning news on Fox, she starts your 5 day off right. I told Lark that I turned on my TV this 6 morning to get the weather report and traffic, wondering 7 how I was going to get here and she wasn't there, but it's 8 because I turned it on before 7 A.M. 9 So that's when she joins us. She explores, issue, 10 personalities and places making new, before coming to fox 11 she was the White House correspondent for ABC, where her 12 assignments took her across the country and across much of 13 the world. She covered the Paris economic summit and the 14 NATO meetings in Brussels. She has been a substitute 15 anchor on "Good Morning America," "World News This 16 Morning", "Weekend Report" and "Newsbreak." Please join 17 me in welcoming Lark McCarthy. 18 (Applause.) 19 >> LARK McCARTHY: Thank you, Carol, and good afternoon. 20 Thank you all for coming. I think we will have a lot of 21 fun today and I'm fascinated by this cool technology. I'm 22 sure my bosses would love to use it for the ratings. So 23 we have to tell them about this. I also do have to 24 mention the weather forecast. It was sunny when we came 25 in. Tom Saler, our meteorologist, said that would be . Page 4 . 1 changing. Right after this panel, you have to check the 2 forecast. Tom says -- 3 >> We are leaving at five. 4 >> LARK McCARTHY: You should be able to get in your 5 networking and the other events, but if you are heading 6 west, check the forecast after the panel. I love the 7 topic of this panel about branding government agencies. 8 We in the media love a well branded, well-defined agency. 9 We spend much of our time on the phone just trying to 10 figure out the right person to get to and then trying to 11 figure out will anyone in the correct agency actually talk 12 to us in a timely manner? So I'm looking forward to 13 hearing what our very distinguished panel has to say this 14 afternoon. We will start off with Allen Holmes. The 15 editor in chief of the group that publishes civic.com 16 magazines and Federal Computer Week. And he covers the 17 computer problems and the Y2K problem, so for that he 18 deserves an award. Let's get started. 19 >> ALLEN HOLMES: You said that if someone loses 54 20 billion and you have fighter planes to show for it. Well, 21 the IRS lost 3.3 billion on a modernization effort, and 22 they have nothing to show for it. They are trying again 23 now, so it's something that we cover a lot. 24 (Coughing from the audience.) 25 That's not a good way to start. No. Really, Federal . Page 5 . 1 Computer Week covers how the federal government buys, 2 manages, and uses information technology. A lot of people 3 think, when I tell people what I do and they hear the word 4 "computer" their eyes glaze over, but it's incredibly 5 interesting work. Any of you here do work on the computer 6 systems for the federal government, it really is cutting 7 edge stuff. Despite some of the mistakes, believe me the 8 private sector makes mistakes, too, you just don't hear 9 about them because they're private. 10 (Laughter.) 11 And the IT sector in the federal government is facing 12 about a 50 percent reduction in the workforce through 13 retirement in the next five years, so they have their work 14 cut out for them, the CIOs do. And I think one of the 15 things that always strikes me, and when we come across 16 stories, is that it really is fascinating work. We have 17 written stories on the system at random Mars path finding, 18 to bioterrorism systems to people that work on linking 19 databases to help find the causes of cancer, environmental 20 causes for cancer. And these are incredibly important 21 work. It's incredibly important. And sometimes I don't 22 think when young people look at, at least computer 23 programmers or managers look to the government, they don't 24 think about the government doing that type of work. And 25 the more you can get that message out, I think the better . Page 6 . 1 you are. 2 And I'll just give one example of a website that is doing 3 a really good job that we have written about an awful lot 4 on the Army online recruiting website. It's about 18 5 months old. I didn't bring any stories with me on it, but 6 if you do a search on FCW.com for Army and recruiting, it 7 will pop up. It's fairly recent. But they increased 8 their recruiting on this website, they are getting ready 9 to really do some updates and upgrades on it. But they 10 offer chats, threaded discussions, Q and A. And it's very 11 interactive, where young people can go on, ask questions 12 about what it's like to be in boot camp or what it's like 13 to be in the Army, any type of questions. They get 14 responses. And the Army has noticed that the number of 15 candidates coming -- that go on the website and ask 16 questions, they actually have a much higher rate of people 17 going into the Army from this. So it's something that is 18 working for them very well and probably would work really 19 well for civilian agencies as well to get out the word 20 about that type of work that you're doing, because it 21 really is fascinating. And our reporters are -- we have a 22 very low turnover, and one of the reasons I think is that 23 the reporters love writing about this. It's exciting for 24 them. They feel like they're writing about something that 25 really means things to the country. Yes, we write about . Page 7 . 1 things that don't work, but we also write about things 2 that do. And it's part of the mission of our magazine. 3 Thank you. 4 >> LARK McCARTHY: We do want to mention that after we 5 heard from all of our panel member, we will leave time for 6 questions and answers. So just save your questions for 7 after our Q and A. Now we want to bring to the microphone 8 Robert Bard, the president and CEO of LATINA Style 9 Magazine. He is president of the company that specializes 10 in the Hispanic market, The Bard Company, and I'm sure he 11 will talk about this growing market, underserved 12 population and a population that we are often trying to 13 reach. So we look forward to hearing his presentation. 14 Robert Bard. 15 >> ROBERT BARD: Good afternoon, everyone. LATINA Style 16 Magazine, the magazine which I head, is a magazine for 17 professional working women. For women, in general, the 18 federal government in our community, it's really 19 invisible. For us, I was indicating before coming from 20 California, you know, I feel that -- I've been here 21 already for eight years, DC is like a country. The rest 22 of the country thinks it's a foreign country. You see it 23 in CNN and you think it looks like someplace else. For 24 the Hispanic community it's difficult to identify with. 25 The first thing we look at is other faces that look like . Page 8 . 1 us. Do I recognize the name? Is it maybe a name in my 2 family history? And on top of that, we don't have a 3 tradition of actually serving in the federal government. 4 For Hispanics, you know, the biggest, for a long time, the 5 biggest word was Lamirarda, immigration is here. Or the 6 IRS, okay, who would really want to work there? 7 (Laughter.) 8 Especially when they're going to come after more of my 9 money, right, to make up for the shortfalls. But the 10 truth is that to most people, and to our community in 11 particular, the government is an enigma. You can tell me 12 you can work at the Department of Defense. Well, what 13 does that mean? It's probably 100 different agencies 14 within the department, with 100 different specialties. 15 You probably have doctors and lawyers as well as soldiers 16 and technicians. And there's probably, you know, 2000 17 different professions that you can access through there. 18 And we don't even know about it. 19 The most important thing I think for us, when we're in the 20 media and we look at the federal government, is for them, 21 first of all, to put it in a recognizable face. There is 22 a lot of trust that has to be built. Since we have no 23 tradition in the federal government, you know, he need to 24 bring faces that look like us. So the first thing that 25 you should do is actually your recruiters should be . Page 9 . 1 Hispanic, if you are trying to hire Hispanics, because 2 they will have a relationship with your audience, with the 3 people that you're trying to bring in, that is going to be 4 quite unique. 5 When my company was in Los Angeles, I was responsible for 6 doing the recruitment for the City of Los Angeles for all 7 minorities. And it presented a real serious problem for 8 us, because word of mouth is one of the things that brings 9 a lot of employees to the federal government. At least 10 for the local government for Los Angeles in the city, we 11 would run all these different programs to attract all 12 minorities. And the fact is that the African-American 13 community that had a longer presence, that had an 14 established tradition with the government, you know, they 15 would come in large groups. The Hispanic community, we 16 couldn't get them in. The Asian American community, even 17 less. 18 We have to begin, then, to put a face to the jobs. 19 Because that, you know, to say come and work for the 20 federal government and you're going to be working in 21 whatever agency it is, in whatever responsibility it is, 22 unless you have the face of somebody there that you can 23 recognize, and the jobs become the face, becomes that 24 person. 25 We're a community that is very -- pays very close . Page 10 . 1 attention to the kind of impressions people make on us. 2 We deal a lot with corporate America; that is one of the 3 main things that our magazine does. And when corporate 4 America tries to hire Hispanics, they traditionally have 5 Hispanics that are trying to do the job, or at least they 6 have somebody there that can represent them. And unless 7 you develop a consistent effort that regularly, you know, 8 you see what the agency has to offer as much as jobs, and 9 not even jobs, you're looking at careers. Because you 10 know I know very few people, besides political appointees 11 that actually have Hispanics making careers in the federal 12 government. So the perception has to be changed, and the 13 only way you can do that is through consistent effort. 14 And it's so right that we get bombarded with press 15 releases, faxes, and e-mails every day, and from every 16 possible new product that comes on the market to every 17 possible illness that exists, to every possible job that 18 exists. We are bombarded every day, and we have to sort 19 all that out. But it's the personal relationships that 20 make the whole thing work. If I get a phone call from 21 somebody that I know, you know, that tells me well my 22 department is looking for somebody with these 23 qualifications, you know we will go out of our way to 24 really make that work. 25 So press releases work sometimes. But it's really the . Page 11 . 1 personal relationships that you have to establish. And 2 how do you do that? In our community, the best chance to 3 develop personal relationships is to develop it through 4 Hispanic organizations. We have LATINA and Hispanic 5 organizations all over the country. Recruitment is 6 particularly a very, very important component of the 7 priorities of our community, because we look at education 8 issues, that's the number one issue that is really 9 affecting our community. And jobs is the second most 10 important issue for us. 11 So I would advise, you know, begin to work through the 12 organizations, begin to use whatever media you have 13 available. But the way we, you know, we work with our 14 clients that really want to get exposure in our market, 15 you need to develop a consistent presence. You need to 16 begin to identify within the organization who are the key 17 people there? Most corporations, what they do is 18 establish Hispanic organizations or ethnic organizations 19 within their own companies. So like companies like IBM, 20 for instance, or State Farm or Allstate or whatever, I'm 21 not trying to push any one of them, but most corporate -- 22 in corporate America most companies are developing those 23 types of recruitment tools that they put their people on 24 the job. And even though they're not recruiters, I mean, 25 you can have the best advertising campaign to bring in or . Page 12 . 1 present your product. I mean, if you're an insurance 2 company and you have the best campaign, the best rates, 3 the best service, and your insurance agent is insulting 4 somebody in the community, you wasted all your money. 5 The reverse side of that is if you have somebody that is 6 really good and the community really respects and you make 7 an effort to show them to the community, you'll get an 8 excellent response. 9 So in conclusion, I would say how to present, you know, 10 put a face to your agency, is begin by identifying the 11 Hispanics that are already there, especially -- you know, 12 everybody, you know, the agencies are fairly large 13 companies, in a way. You must have Hispanics that have 14 done very well in all kinds of different positions, but 15 they're doing their job. But I don't care if it's a 16 computer analyst, to me it's more important to see 17 somebody like that than to see a recruiter that doesn't 18 look like me at all or doesn't look, you know, doesn't 19 know our community. 20 So the first thing I would do is just begin to identify 21 who within the organizations are the people that we can 22 really profile. Because media, Hispanic media in general, 23 I think minority media, probably, will be much more 24 responsive to a story like that coming in. And instead of 25 doing straight recruitment pitches, I think profile and do . Page 13 . 1 the stories of these people and the kinds of success and 2 how they have achieved it within your agencies. If you 3 don't have people like that onboard, I would really advise 4 you to begin to establish relationships with Hispanics. 5 The Hispanic organization of colleges and universities, 6 for instance. Every major Hispanic organization is 7 headquartered right here in town. They are probably ten 8 minutes from this building. You have an opportunity to 9 begin to work -- and every one of them has a component 10 that has to do with careers. So I would really advise you 11 to go to them. 12 And, finally, I would really encourage you to begin to 13 work with the Hispanic media in a consistent manner. A 14 lot of the questions that we get is whether Hispanics are 15 to be addressed in Spanish or in English. I don't know 16 how many Spanish jobs you guys have, so that kind of makes 17 sense to me that you need to find a media that is probably 18 addressed in at least a bilingual format. Other than 19 that, I wish you the best of luck. We are ready to help 20 in any way we can. The image of the federal government, 21 it's true, has improved a lot since September 116789 in 22 the Hispanic community, a community that I inherently is 23 patriotic, anything that we can do to help our country, we 24 are ready to stand for it. Thank you. 25 (Applause.) . Page 14 . 1 >> LARK McCARTHY: Thank you so much. We appreciate it. 2 Now we are going to get an inside perspective on this 3 whole recruitment issue. When you need to hire hundreds 4 of people, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people, who 5 is going to help us out with that? Tyra Dent Smith. She 6 is the chief of the human resources division at the U.S. 7 Census Bureau, the Department of Commerce, and of course 8 worked on the 2000 census, and she is a certified group 9 facilitator, so we know things will go very smoothly with 10 Tyra. 11 >> TYRA DENT SMITH: Thank you, Lark. I need to bring 12 this closer. Am I heard in the back? Good afternoon. 13 I'm grateful for the invitation to participate with this 14 panel of distinguished guests. And I'm delighted to have 15 an opportunity to share a story, a good story, that is, 16 about an experience from the Census Bureau regarding our 17 efforts to recruit the best and the brightest. And I'm 18 just going to pause here to say that I am really delighted 19 to have an opportunity to engage in this kind of forum. I 20 would bet that there are good stories out there among all 21 of the agencies that you all represent, so this is 22 probably just one in the drop of the bucket. But, before 23 I share that story, let me take a little time to talk 24 about recruiting talent for the public sector. As you are 25 all aware, recruiting talent has been a core service of . Page 15 . 1 the HR community and an important service to our managers, 2 who are tasked with accomplishing the agency goals and 3 objectives. Consistent with this, there are principles. 4 And working closely with the managers, the human resource 5 professional has the responsibility to put the face on the 6 agency and develop advertisements, better known as vacancy 7 announcements. They also are responsible for reviewing 8 and determining qualifications of these applicants, which 9 depending on the job and other conditions of the 10 recruitment effort, could be a handful of applications to 11 hundreds of applications, as was recently the case in the 12 Census Bureau. 13 This core group of professionals recommend highly 14 qualified candidates to the management selecting 15 officials. They then make job offers. They facilitate 16 the orientation process to get these selected individuals 17 onboard and oriented to the agency. And then they provide 18 ongoing and continuous HR services to the customer. 19 So what's the perception? That this is a long, 20 burdensome, lengthy, cumbersome, intensive, paper laden 21 process. And the reality, there are opportunities for 22 improvement. So here's the story: Right around 1997, as 23 the Census Bureau was gearing up to conduct the census 24 2000, the HR office was informed that we needed to hire 25 approximately 400 individuals or employees in our three . Page 16 . 1 primary occupations, which are statistician, mathematical 2 statistician and computer specialist. Now, in HR lingo, 3 that translated to approximately 3,000 applications 4 streaming through the door on any given day that would 5 require reviews and analysis and more importantly the 6 ability to track the movement of all that paper between 7 the HR office and between the manager. 8 That in and of itself presented quite a challenge for the 9 HR office. But there was more. We were directed to 10 significantly reduce the cycle time, which at that point 11 was averaging around 107 days. In other words, the 12 mandate was to hire talent fast. The entire task, at the 13 outset, seemed quite insurmountable as you might imagine. 14 However, it didn't take us long to realize that if we were 15 going to support the mission of the census 2000, and by 16 the way nothing less was acceptable, we had to develop a 17 radically reengineered process. Efforts in energy were 18 directed towards establishing partnerships between the 19 Department of Commerce, census, and with the Office of 20 Personnel Management. 21 Additionally, a very close and solid relationship was 22 formed between the HR office and the managers. This was 23 accomplished by forming what we called a hiring 24 coordinator's group, and that group worked to clearly 25 define the process requirements and expected outcomes. . Page 17 . 1 Over a 12 to 18 month period, a web-based electronic 2 filing system was developed and implemented. Through this 3 system, the managers were able to view resumes, 4 transcripts, college interviewee valuations and other 5 supporting documents online. They could search the 6 applicant database. They could request the certificates 7 of eligible candidates. They could make a selection with 8 automatic notification to the human resources office. 9 Now, notwithstanding all of the benefits to the internal 10 customer, the manager, this improved service to another 11 customer group; the applicant. What I'd like to point out 12 here in illustrating this is that our applicants today, as 13 many of you know, are younger, more competitive, highly 14 sought by industry for more money, I might add, and less 15 inclined to tolerate the ills of our traditional hiring 16 system. So this process enabled the applicant from his or 17 her desktop PC to actually apply for the job online. 18 This group does not want to here feedback such as: Yes, 19 we received your application. However, it will be 4 to 6 20 weeks before we make a final selection. Call back then. 21 Or when inquiring about the status of an application, be 22 responded by: I have to call you back. Let me check on 23 that. 24 The 21st century applicant wants immediate feedback and 25 timely response. Attracting and recruiting the best and . Page 18 . 1 the brightest will require processes and systems that 2 support this outcome. 3 So on with the story. The best part is the incredible 4 improvements in reducing the cycle time from start to 5 finish in the hiring process. Bottom line, at the end of 6 the day we have gone from a cycle time of, as I mentioned, 7 approximately 107 days, to roughly 7 days. So how were we 8 able to realize such impressive improvements in this 9 process? Well, as we have looked back, as we have done 10 often since then on some of the lessons learned that 11 contributed to the success, we always come back to a 12 handful. 13 Strategize. We had to stop at the outset and determine 14 how we were going to go about attacking this issue, this 15 challenge. 16 Forming effective partnerships. As I mentioned, that was 17 a very effective mechanism in insuring that we had the 18 support to enable us to achieve these outcomes. 19 Clearly defined outcomes linked to the agency mission, 20 spoken in very simple terms. We knew very clearly what 21 the mission of the census was as it prepared to conduct 22 the census 2000. We knew that individuals with talent, 23 requisite skills and competencies had to come onboard, and 24 we knew that that had to happen very quickly. And the 25 individuals that participated in this effort were very . Page 19 . 1 clear about what their roles were to support those 2 outcomes. 3 Close examination and re-engineering of the existing 4 process before any design or development of automation. 5 This is key. There wasn't a reaction in solving this 6 dilemma. As I mentioned, we strategized, we thought, we 7 deliberated, although on short order because we were on a 8 very tight time frame. But we didn't automate the 9 existing process. We looked for opportunities to 10 streamline and improve the existing process, and then 11 automate it. 12 We trained a diverse group of recruiters, and this 13 amplifies the point that my colleague here, Robert, was 14 making, about launching or deploying recruiters out that 15 represent the face of the agency. We trained over 125 16 recruiters within the agency whose responsibility it was 17 to go out to the colleges and universities and recruit the 18 candidates that we needed to fill some of these jobs. 19 Engaging the subject matter experts in the development, 20 design, and implementation. In other words, engaging 21 subject matter experts early and continuously. 22 Maintaining ongoing communication forums to facilitate 23 feedback, continuous assessment and improvement. 24 These were, as I pointed out, the primary or critical, 25 critical components of what we attribute to the success of . Page 20 . 1 that effort back in the late '90s. And as I also pointed 2 out, I'm sure that there are stories that abound in this 3 executive branch that demonstrate some of those same 4 successes. 5 So I'm delighted to have had the opportunity to share that 6 story with you today. Thank you. 7 (Applause.) 8 >> LARK McCARTHY: Thanks. Quite a tale in reducing that 9 turn around time. I'm sure other agency want to continue 10 that. Betsy Kravitz is a program manager at the Office of 11 Disability Employment Policy, and she works in recruiting 12 people with disabilities and travels across the country in 13 that effort. So, Betsy, we look forward to hearing from 14 you. 15 >> BETSY KRAVITZ: Thank you. Good afternoon. I'm here 16 it talk to you about sort of a bit of different twist 17 about what you've been hearing about all day, which is the 18 idea that the federal government really wants to sell 19 itself to people so that people will want to come work for 20 the government, as we all do -- well, some of us do in the 21 audience here. And how difficult that may be. 22 But I'm here to talk to you about a population that is 23 just waiting for you to recruit them. And that is people 24 with disabilities. In this country, people with 25 disabilities have an unemployment rate that hovers around . Page 21 . 1 75 percent, which is really phenomenal when you think 2 about the unemployment rate in the general population, 3 which means, you talk about recruiting the best and the 4 brightest, there must be lots of best and brightest people 5 out there who are not being touched by other companies, by 6 other organizations that might otherwise hire them, if 7 they did not have a disability. 8 And when you talk about people with disabilities, you're 9 talking about as diverse a population as you can possibly 10 get. You're talking to people who were born with 11 disabilities, you're talking about people who have become 12 disabled later in life. This morning we had one of the 13 ladies in the audience talking about people working, 14 changing jobs midstream, mid -- sort of later in life and 15 that is a lot of times the case, where someone will work 16 for many years in an organization and experience a 17 disabling condition and then their company doesn't want 18 them anymore. 19 And I think a lot of it -- well, we could sit here all day 20 and talk about why that is. But the point is, there's a 21 huge opportunity for you as human resource people and 22 equal employment opportunity specialists and just managers 23 to go out there and find some fantastic people who are 24 just waiting to be hired and who, in my experience, have a 25 very strong interest in working for the federal . Page 22 . 1 government, because of things -- because the word out 2 there is the government has great benefits, which is 3 something that a lot of people with disabilities think 4 about. 5 Health benefits, work -- job security, and the opportunity 6 to do a lot of good work. And one of the things that we 7 like to focus on at the Office of Disability Employment 8 Policy, and I think in the Department of Labor, it has 9 become a real push is to really be that model employer and 10 to make the government a welcoming place for people with 11 disabilities to work. And we do have a lot of programs 12 out there that are designed to make that the case. 13 And a lot of times, you know, I go out and talk about -- 14 talk to -- a lot of the people I talk to are college 15 students with disabilities, but I talk to people in 16 general and employers and things, and one of the things 17 that I like to stress is that this isn't about charity. 18 This is about business sense. There are good people out 19 there looking for jobs. And very often -- I could tell 20 you a hundred different stories the last ten years or so 21 I've been doing this, how many people I met who have 22 wonderful experiences and who have become disabled later 23 in life and their company doesn't want them back. Or who 24 have wonderful, unbelievable skills, and can't get a job 25 once they have gone in for an interview and their . Page 23 . 1 disability has been acknowledged because it was a visible 2 disability. 3 It really is just plain silly not to hire people for that 4 reason. I can't think of another way to put it. 5 And in reflecting on the September 11th events, which a 6 lot of people have talked about today, and one of the 7 things that you think about from that situation or from 8 any kind of a situation like these tornados that just 9 touched down two days ago, you have people who become 10 injured every day. Disability does not discriminate. It 11 doesn't matter how old you are, what your ethnic 12 background is, how long you haven't had a disability, you 13 may find yourself an hour from now with a disability, or 14 your spouse, husband, child. And if we make it a place 15 that has people with disabilities, you may find yourself 16 saying hey, I can still do my job. So there are a lot of 17 issues that surround the concept of hiring people with 18 disabilities. I won't go into that now, but I can talk to 19 you later about it. 20 There are programs in place in the government in general 21 and one is the schedule A hiring authority. I don't know 22 how many of you are familiar with that. But that is the 23 hiring authority by which you can bring in an applicant 24 with a disability who has been certified by a vocational 25 rehabilitation counselor as having a disability, you can . Page 24 . 1 bring them in noncompetitively. Which means you have a 2 job opening, the person qualifies for the job, you don't 3 have to do anything but hire them. There is no 4 competition, there is no announcing the position. And 5 there are lots of ways to put that schedule A hiring 6 authority into effect. And if you talk to your human 7 resources office about it, if you're not in human 8 resources, or in the EEO office about it, or you can 9 contact me if you'd like. I can give you me e-mail 10 address, which is my name backwards, it's 11 kravitz-betsy@dol.gov. And we have lots and lots of 12 materials that we can give you. 13 The second program that I would just like to mention is a 14 program started by the Department of Defense, which is 15 called the Computer Electronic Accommodations Program. By 16 which they provide accommodations, mostly related to 17 computer software and things of that nature for any 18 employee with a disability in DOD. And they have now 19 expanded it to many of the large federal agencies and a 20 lot of the small one, too, have agreements with CAEP for 21 providing this equipment. I know labor has it. Several 22 agencies have it and if you're not sure whether yours has 23 it or not, , you can find out. But that means if you need 24 to provide someone with an accommodation, you can do it 25 for free. It doesn't come out of your manager's budget. . Page 25 . 1 And there are two programs that I want to mention within 2 OPED, the Office of disability employment policy, the 3 first one I work on, the workforce recruitment program. 4 And what we do is go around to colleges around the country 5 and introduce college students with disabilities who are 6 looking for summer jobs or permanent jobs. So we do all 7 your work for you. We come up with a database, this year 8 we had 1800 students in our database and everything from 9 law students to students with 2 year colleges around the 10 country. And these students have gone through a process. 11 They didn't just submit a resume, they sat down, been 12 interviewed, passed through that hurdle, gotten their 13 resume in, gotten all their information in, and they are 14 out there waiting for you to hire them. As of today, I 15 think we have 240 summer hires. But I would love for any 16 of you to get the CD-ROM, who are interested in it, and we 17 have all these students on there who are interested in 18 jobs and again we have done your work for you. So that's 19 easy. 20 And then we have another program called EARN, which is a 21 program that a contractor runs for us. And the idea is to 22 match employers and people with disabilities who are 23 looking for jobs. And any federal agency can register for 24 free as an employer. They offer call kinds of services 25 for you. Again they do your work for you. You call them, . Page 26 . 1 you say I have this open, they will do a lot of legwork 2 and they will find potential candidates that fit that job 3 and then they give you the information and let you do the 4 follow through. All of the information is at 5 www.earnworks.com. And again, it's all free and it's a 6 tremendous service. 7 So, I'm going to be quiet now and I can answer questions 8 later if you'd like. But thank you for listening. 9 >> LARK McCARTHY: And thank you. 10 (Applause.) 11 Well, our clean up hitter on this part of the program has 12 worn many hats, Dale Collins is the chief, human resources 13 management division at the defense contract agency. But 14 he works also for the IRS and the state department. Let's 15 hear from Dale. And he even has a Power Point 16 presentation for us. 17 >> DALE COLLINS: A little change of pace. Thanks for 18 having me. And for about the next 8 to 10 minutes, I'd 19 like to go through approximately 15 slides, because I 20 think pictures best demonstrate what our kind of branding 21 was all about in the defense contract audit agency. There 22 should be approximately 20 packages that are mustard 23 color, you basically can't miss them, out on the front 24 table. They are yours for the taking. That represents a 25 collection of all of our branded items for recruitment . Page 27 . 1 purposes. If the supply runs out or otherwise disappears, 2 I'll be glad to send anybody a complete package if they 3 would just e-mail me. And my e-mail address is on the 4 presentation, which I understand is going to be on the 5 website. 6 Without further ado, if we could -- Mark, if we could have 7 that slide. That's fine. What we are and what we do. A 8 little basic information. We are an independent agency of 9 the defense department. One of the smaller ones at 4,000 10 people. I think very significantly, we are all civilian. 11 We don't have any military, which is unusual in the 12 defense department. We are all career, and that is very 13 unusual in the defense department. And we essentially a 14 single occupation, which while it is a challenge, makes 15 things a lot easier in terms of recruitment. Our single 16 occupation is the auditor, professional auditor 17 occupation. 18 What we do is we audit. We audit the defense contractors, 19 and we have a reimbursable program sort of on the side 20 which gives us extra money when we are invited in for a 21 fee to audit civilian agency contracts. 22 What we did is evolve over about a 35 year period, which 23 is how old we are. We resolved a recruitment program. 24 And I thought it might be interesting if we looked first 25 at where we were shortly after we were created in 1970. . Page 28 . 1 And what we saw. Because I -- to get ready for this 2 presentation, I went through some old recruitment 3 literature, at least it didn't disintegrate in my hands, 4 but almost. And it was a pamphlet dated 1970. It was two 5 colors, blue and white. It was hand stapled. And it was 6 mostly, I'd say 95 percent, narrative, single spaced type. 7 And that was our state of the art recruitment program, 8 approximately 30 years ago. 9 At least we felt then according to some notes that went 10 along with the pamphlet that the federal government was 11 definitely an employer of choice, and that marketing 12 essentially, if it existed at all was done entirely via 13 paper. And that we fudged, we hedged, we tried to put the 14 best face on a, in 1970, on a process that was described 15 by Tyra a few minutes ago that still exists; namely, a 16 very manual and paper intensive application process. 17 It was virtually impossible for many years, at least 18 within the Department of Defense, to develop any kind of 19 media brochures, because there was of course a special 20 board at the department level that passed judgment on 21 every single brochure that was at least offered up for 22 publication. And at least the smaller agencies, very, 23 very seldom got anything like that approved. It was a 24 very bureaucratic process. That board, by the way, I'm 25 happy to say no longer exists. . Page 29 . 1 There was in our case no consistent look for DCAA. At the 2 time we had six regions. Each region was on their own and 3 they made up all kinds of material, some of which was 4 contradictory to what was being put out by the 5 headquarters. Some looked homemade and some was 6 reasonably professional. But now in the branding now we 7 want a corporate look and image for every part of our 8 agency, and we had 6 or 7 very different images from about 9 1970 through 1990. 10 All of our marketing material, with one exception, was 11 developed internally. We did not go through any kind of 12 contracting process from 1970 until approximately 1999. 13 Long on narrative, short on design, if it had any design 14 at all, short on pictures, short on graphs, very short an 15 eye catching material. 16 Our cutting edge at that time was an 11 minute videotape, 17 which we had both made in VHS and in beta, because we 18 relied on colleges to tell us what format they could 19 accommodate and our recruitment trip would be completely 20 scuttled if we brought the wrong format videotape. We 21 asked our recruiters to lug these around the country and 22 we were completely reliant on college placement offices to 23 provide the appropriate proper audio visual material. And 24 if there was a glitch there, much of our recruitment pitch 25 was basically ad libbed. . Page 30 . 1 In 1987 and then again in 1989, we had our very first 2 major spike in recruitment and hiring in our agency, and 3 that ties in with the Reagan years and the defense 4 buildup. In those two years, '87 and '89, we hired over 5 5,000 auditors. We did it with the material I described 6 to you, but we had one very, very important advantage. We 7 had something which the Office of Personnel Management 8 calls direct hire authority. And the best way to explain 9 that, I know many of you know exactly what I'm talking 10 about, the best way to explain that is if the person met 11 the basic qualifications for our job, and in our case 12 remember it's auditor. So we are talking about 24 13 semester hours of accounting, if the person met that, and 14 we liked him, we hired him. It doesn't get -- at least in 15 our experience, anymore direct than that. 16 In 1990, we went on hiatus, the downsizing began shortly 17 thereafter and we didn't hire from outside an entry level 18 auditor for 10 years, we went from an agency size of 7200 19 to our current size of about 4100. And all of a sudden 20 the spike came again. It wasn't nearly as big as it was 21 in 87 or 89, but it was a spike, and we were off and 22 trying to hire 600 entry level auditors who recently 23 graduated from college. 24 What we found almost immediately was, gee, the federal 25 government was no longer the employer of choice. In fact, . Page 31 . 1 it was a little bit hard to get attention. It was very 2 hard to get attention. 3 We also found that Internet access, which barely existed 4 in '89 and didn't exist at all in the '70s, was not only 5 existing, but it was demanded of us that we better build 6 the capability to at least market ourselves in large part 7 through the Internet and to tie our recruitment and hiring 8 processes as best we could to the Internet, because 9 college students weren't flocking to the college placement 10 agency anymore. They liked to apply for jobs sitting in 11 their dorm rooms. And if you couldn't accommodate that, 12 we learned that you were not tapping a large and important 13 recruitment market. 14 Our corporate branding was designed to leverage and 15 capture the attention of what we found to be a very 16 visually oriented young college population. 17 We had nothing but outdated materials, as I've told you. 18 And we decided that our major competition was not 19 necessarily other federal agencies, but it was the big 20 four -- I guess it's now big four, big five, big six, 21 whatever it is, private accounting firms. 22 And having made that decision, we really had to revamp our 23 recruitment program in a very serious way. I think the 24 key to our revamping was that we formed a partnership at 25 about $70,000 a year. I guess that's a meaningful way of . Page 32 . 1 describing a partnership, with the OPM office in 2 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There is a gentleman up there 3 who is a very important part of that office, whose name is 4 Joe Stix. He is an OPM employee. And, frankly, he made 5 it happen for us. Because what he did, he wasn't 6 empowered to give us special authority, although we asked 7 him three times to give us hiring authority like we used 8 to have. That wasn't an option. We had to work with the 9 existing cumbersome procedures. All I can tell you right 10 now in the very limited space of time is he and his very 11 small staff working with us made that examination 12 cumbersome, paper laden examination process work. And 13 again, if any of you want additional information, I'd be 14 happy to provide it to you. 15 We tapped into the electronic aspects of recruitment, we 16 coordinated carefully with his office and we weren't as 17 good as Tyra, but we typically turned around from a stop 18 at a college campus and interview, finding people we 19 liked, we typically turned that into a list from which we 20 could select, in about two weeks. And then of course, it 21 is problematic in terms of how fast you actually get them 22 into the door, because that depends primarily on their 23 schedule. And college kids, we found out, like sometimes 24 to take their time, they like to go to the beach. They 25 like to do other things before they come to work for you. . Page 33 . 1 In any event, what this partnership has done, and we're in 2 our third year of it, it really has created a seamless 3 recruitment process. I think it's entirely invisible to 4 the applicant. It is a lot of work. But it does take the 5 current system without any special hiring authority and 6 turn it into something that works fast to get the good 7 people, because I don't think I need to tell anybody in 8 this room, from our view, speed is the most important 9 aspect in terms of trying to be competitive in the 10 recruitment and hiring market. 11 Where are we now? Well, we do have a selection of branded 12 material, and Mark that's about slide number 11. I'm 13 jumping two slides ahead. We have tabletop displays, if 14 you can get to -- tabletop displays. This is pictured 15 right behind. We have the recruitment brochure with a 16 mini brochure inside. We have a CD-ROM. It's actually -- 17 in fact, it's a CD which is designed to go out to schools, 18 primarily to the accounting and auditing departments in 19 our case, where the professors can show their classes in 20 advance of our coming. What we do, and it's, if I do say 21 so, it's a pretty spiffy product. 22 The latest thing we have done in terms of trying to 23 attract ourselves to the Web is that's our tabletop 24 display. You can see that that mustard color, and I -- 25 I'm almost color blind, so it looks black and white to me, . Page 34 . 1 but I'm told at least by people who like it and by people 2 who don't, at least it's distinctive. I guess that's a 3 way of dealing with it. 4 But what you have on the screen, and this is my second 5 last slide, is our latest entree into online recruitment. 6 You can see that little strip. That's a carry through of 7 our band, if you want to put it that way, and what we have 8 done is we have put our -- a little bit about ourselves 9 and a lot about our jobs right on the websites of about 10 130 colleges. Because we found that the colleges and 11 universities, for the most part, are very eager to have 12 that information. 13 And we have exported it. So that, again, the student can 14 sit in his or her dorm room. Surf the net and if they 15 feel like it, apply to a job without ever going to the 16 college placement office or to class. You know, they may 17 not want to go to an accounting class, and at least that 18 way we still have a crack at them. 19 The last slide, Mark, where we are going now. What I want 20 to say about the logo shirts very quickly is that the 21 lawyers are looking into it. That may be too much of a 22 reach, but at least we're trying. The mini CD, I would 23 guess many of you have seen that, it really is -- it looks 24 to me like a business card. But what it is is a business 25 card version of the CD-ROM about our agency. And you give . Page 35 . 1 them out at recruitment visits, job fairs. And again, the 2 person can go home and on his or her own computer plug in 3 this little mini CD and learn a little bit more about our 4 agency. 5 And if they really want to, they can send us an electronic 6 application. And that's all I have. Thanks very much, 7 folks. 8 (Applause.) 9 >> LARK McCARTHY: Thank you so much, Dale. Well, now we 10 will open it up for questions and hopefully pertinent 11 answers. We have at least one person going around with a 12 microphone, just one or two. There they are, our two 13 people. That can be Vanna White with the microphone. And 14 while we are focusing on branding and recruiting issue, 15 Carol said it's okay to throw in a few media questions as 16 well. And I'll just jump in and say that I think the 17 Internet has been one of the most useful tools in terms of 18 getting active participation. I can assure you that in 19 the cry circumstances we will go first to your website 20 just to try to get basic information about your agency, 21 who you are, what you do, so if there is something on 22 there that is wrong, guess what? That's what the whole 23 world is going to learn about. So it's a very useful way 24 for us to get basic information to get news releases 25 quickly, without having to have it faxed. So I would . Page 36 . 1 encourage you to keep your websites up to date. But we 2 will see what kind of questions you have for our panel. 3 Let's again. 4 >> I'm Karen Shree from the SSA. Betsy, I enjoyed your 5 presentation on the value of hiring people with 6 disabilities. And I'd just like to encourage everybody 7 not to over look that source of talent for your questions. 8 And also, to tell you about one additional new government 9 program that can help you with that. And it's a Social 10 Security program for Social Security beneficiaries called 11 the ticket to work program. And what that does is 12 establish employment networks in community-based 13 employment networks across the country. And these are 14 service providers who provide the services that people 15 with disabilities may need in order to get and maintain 16 employment. 17 But they're not reimbursed or paid directly for their 18 service, and that's what I think is going to make this 19 program really successful. They're paid based on 20 outcomes, on the person getting a job and maintaining the 21 job. So that will be available to help the individual 22 that you might hire, through any difficulties they have 23 transitioning to work or doing the work process. And you 24 can find out more about that program and how to get in 25 touch with the employment networks that would be able to . Page 37 . 1 have people with disabilities available for employment by 2 looking on SSA's website at SSA.gov/work. It's called the 3 ticket to work program. And I think you'll find that 4 helpful in your recruitment efforts. Thanks. 5 >> LARK McCARTHY: I did want to mention one thing that I 6 forgot to mention earlier, which is when you go out 7 recruit, when you go to colleges and you have a 8 relationship with them, most colleges have a student 9 services office for students with disabilities, and you 10 either through the career center or through the deep of 11 students a love of times you can get in touch with that 12 office and make it known that your agency is interested in 13 hiring people with disabilities and, you know, sort of get 14 the word out a bit. And the organization for those 15 people, the student services providers on college campuses 16 is called AHEAD. And it just so happens that their 17 national conference is in D.C. this summer. Not that I'm 18 promoting them, but I'm promoting them. And if you go to 19 their -- their website I think is AHEAD.org. And all of 20 the information on their national conference is on there, 21 and it's going to be I believe in July, in Crystal City, I 22 think. It's a great opportunity -- Bill is waving his 23 hand back there. 24 >> The 10th. 25 >> Thank you. He was signing. I didn't know it. The . Page 38 . 1 10th of July. It's that week. We have gone for several 2 years having a booth there. A lot of other federal 3 agencies do exhibit there. And while there are not some 4 of the students there, there is a lot of -- a lot of the 5 providers are there and it's a good way to make 6 connections. So sorry, I just wanted to mention that, 7 because I did forget earlier. 8 >> Great. Writing that down. Possible story. Let's see, 9 another question, we will get a microphone to you, Denise, 10 do you have someone? There we go. This is going to be 11 webcast eventually. 12 >> Richard Regan, USDA. I'd like to ask a question 13 regarding the web-based recruitment trend that we see 14 everywhere, and talk about something talked about during 15 the panel. For one population in this country, American 16 Indians and Alaskan natives, the information highway has 17 not made it in the parts of those communities yet. And 18 based on a per capita formula, they have the lowest 19 computer use of any group in this country. So for a group 20 like that, how would you go about a recruitment strategy 21 based on the fact that the information highway hasn't made 22 it into parts of Indian country? 23 >> LARK McCARTHY: Tyra and then maybe Dale? 24 >> TYRA DENT SMITH: Well, I think initially we would look 25 at strategies that have been offered to us just here today . Page 39 . 1 by Robert Bard, in terms of making contacts with those 2 groups out in the community that could certainly 3 facilitate contacts and expand contacts with potential 4 applicants for a job, and learn more about other effective 5 ways to reach those communities. I think it's important 6 to note here that, as we share best practices and 7 strategize for the most effective vehicles or mechanisms 8 to do the best job we can do at recruiting, we are in 9 large part very reliant on ideas and suggestions from the 10 communities to help guide us in those directions. 11 >> LARK McCARTHY: Dale, any thoughts on that? 12 >> DALE COLLINS: I would just specifically target 13 geographically those groups, by touching base in our case 14 with schools, either high schools or colleges. And 15 realizing that the Internet is not going to be helpful or 16 particularly helpful. I think we have to go back to more 17 traditional methods of on-site presence and visits. 18 I was talking to Mr. Bard just before, and part of our 19 effort, we did want to build up our Hispanic and Latino 20 representation significantly, so we made personal visits 21 to Puerto Rico and ended up hiring approximately 40 22 auditors and auditors to be. And we would do the same 23 kind of thing for the groups that you mentioned. 24 >> ROBERT BARD: You know something that occurs to me, 25 that sometimes to reach populations that have not been . Page 40 . 1 traditionally been addressed before, you may have to use 2 methods that are unconventional, if you will, that in the 3 Hispanic community you can recruit people by just having a 4 presence at a festival. 5 There are many ways -- if you'd like -- if you identify 6 the dates and the issues that are really, you know, 7 important to a specific community and you find a way to 8 have a presence and participate in those, it may not look 9 like a traditional way of how you recruit people, but 10 believe me, you can be successful by addressing, you know, 11 those types of environments. 12 You know, if you -- you know, we have done so many things 13 over the years, trying to find different ways to approach 14 things. You know, we produced calendars of events. You 15 produce all kinds of things. But if you approach the 16 community respectfully in whatever environment you find 17 them, whether it is, for us, you know, big dates are like 18 Cinco de Mayo, which is in a couple of days, the 16th of 19 September, and Hispanic heritage month, you just find ways 20 to have participation. It doesn't mean that you bring 21 Chiquitas to sing to the audience, but at least you have a 22 presence there, I think it would work for you. And we 23 have tried those things in the past and they have been 24 successful. 25 >> LARK McCARTHY: Question from this side? Wait for the . Page 41 . 1 microphone. 2 >> I'm from the USDA. I'm a Hispanic. And I am the 3 president of the Argentina group here in Arlington, 4 Virginia. And I've been a coordinator, not a pat. 5 Argentina has too many presidents. And I want to be a 6 good neighbor. And this is a good opportunity for me to 7 say that I work on the Hispanic heritage of arts of 8 Arlington county. That is part of Arlington County. And 9 they want to have an institute there and it's easy to find 10 out. Just go to the website. And it's it's not only 11 Argentina, there are different communities, and usually 12 it's during the independence day of these countries. And 13 I just wanted to share with you that. And you can 14 identify me. I'm a Hispanic. I work at the U.S. 15 Department of Agriculture. Thank you very much. 16 >> LARK McCARTHY: Great networking idea. Someone in the 17 back. 18 >> I started working for the Social Security 19 Administration about a month ago. And my experience with 20 the community is that (inaudible) the trust in the 21 community because of the government. It's the first 22 government agency that we come -- come close to is the 23 Negra. And some of us are afraid of that. 24 And another issue I want to comment on is the 25 nontraditional ways of reaching the community. First of . Page 42 . 1 all, I strongly agree with you, and most of the work that 2 I have done in the last month is also targeting churches, 3 because that's where the families come together, the 4 church, the family. And I think that when we have a place 5 in which the community can trust us and see ourselves as 6 role models for the community, most people would be 7 willing to come and work for the federal government. 8 >> LARK McCARTHY: Robert, do you have a comment on that? 9 >> ROBERT BARD: Well, I definitely agree with you. 10 Government -- it's a difficult word. You know, even for 11 Hispanics that are recent arrivals, the whole thing is 12 kind of confusing. For instance, you look on TV and you 13 see the secretary of whatever department, and people, you 14 know, recent arrivals think they're the secretary of the 15 president, so they do their paper work kind of thing. 16 Because to them, the word would probably be minister. You 17 know, the assistants, the top jobs close to the president 18 in the Hispanic countries is a minister, not the 19 secretary. 20 So there is so much education that has to be done. And I 21 can't emphasize enough, it has to be an ongoing sustained 22 effort. It doesn't have to be a major effort. I mean, I 23 would trade quantity for just consistency. And if you 24 develop a consistent relationship with the community, 25 whether it's Hispanic or Latino immigration or the . Page 43 . 1 churches, you can probably begin to find, you know, the 2 people that will be responsible. Because word gets around 3 in our community. The good, when you hear something good, 4 the word gets out. When you hear something bad, the word 5 gets out as well. 6 >> LARK McCARTHY: Over here. 7 >> I'm Mary Martin, I'm a special agent for the Internal 8 Revenue Service. 9 (Applause.) 10 There were some comments that don't make me happy. And 11 I'm a perennial. However, I wanted to add information. I 12 haven't heard anyone talk about co-ops. I don't know if 13 you have co-op programs or not. But that's also a very 14 good way to get good people. Additionally unique to IRS, 15 we created 12 years ago a financial investigations course 16 that we present to colleges. They teach it. We taught it 17 in the beginning, and now they have other individuals. 18 But it can be applicable to a criminal investigations 19 degree or it would also go for accounting. Those are just 20 other ideas. 21 >> LARK McCARTHY: Are the co-ops with the colleges? 22 >> Yes; usually juniors in college. They actually are 23 paid. They have a certain number of hours that they have 24 to work. And the best part for them is that they do not 25 have to go through the hiring process, they do not have to . Page 44 . 1 take the treasury enforcement exam. So there are a lot of 2 pluses, at least in my position. So... 3 >> LARK McCARTHY: Do the other agencies do the co-ops 4 with the college students? 5 >> Yes. I would just augment with the fact that the 6 program, in addition to the benefits that we just 7 articulated, allows the agency and the applicant/student 8 to really build a relationship over time. As she 9 mentioned, they come in in their junior or senior year, 10 during the summer or at breaks during school, and have an 11 opportunity to do meaningful work in that time period. 12 And upon graduation and completion of it, it's 640 hours, 13 they are now competitively converted, which does save the 14 lengthy hiring process. 15 >> Put that in plain English, what does it mean? 16 >> TYRA DENT SMITH: Well, it's a very effective 17 mechanism. It's very effective. It brings them in, they 18 get acclimated to the agency, the agency to them. Ad the 19 end of the period, when they graduate and when they worked 20 a total of 640 ours, they can be converted to a permanent 21 position, noncompetitively. 22 >> ROBERT BARD: If I may add, regarding the IRS 23 specifically, you know, you guys have a very effective and 24 very well connected in the community Hispanic organization 25 within the department. And some of the benefits there are . Page 45 . 1 unbelievable. Actually, one of my best friends just moved 2 his family from DC to Texas. And there's not that many 3 jobs where you can move everything and take the job with 4 you. Actually, he took the job with him to Texas. And I 5 was just amazed that he was able to do that. 6 The Hispanic organizations, it's a great source of 7 intelligence. In corporate America we see all these 8 companies that spend sometimes millions of dollars doing 9 focus groups with people all over the country with people 10 they don't even know, trying to determine where their 11 products should go, what kind of strategies they should 12 use. And it has always been the position of our company 13 that your first resource, look inside. You have people 14 within your companies that know the philosophy of your -- 15 your philosophy, how to accomplish things, how to get 16 there. Of course, don't choose a disgruntled employee, 17 because that wouldn't do good. But find somebody who is 18 really having a career that is very successful, and 19 believe me, he or she will be the best poster child that 20 you can have. 21 >> LARK McCARTHY: We have a question for Allen, whether 22 or not the government competes with the private sector? 23 Are you finding with the dot com bubble bursting, that 24 people are wanting to go into that, or is that a tough 25 area for the federal government right now? . Page 46 . 1 >> ALLEN HOLMES: It definitely was when the dot com 2 explosion was happening. We found it, trying to attract 3 reporters. But one thing I was talking to Carol earlier 4 on is that now that the economy is a bit shakier and some 5 people are going through a tough time in the economy for 6 the very first time, that they are looking at the 7 government -- you know, maybe a stable job isn't so bad 8 after all. So I think there are people -- I think that 9 the job fair that just got 21, 22,000, the cyber job fair 10 that the OPM and the cyber council just did was a huge 11 success. So I think the people are turning to the federal 12 government. There are not that many IT jobs out there 13 right now. The federal government has a lot. 14 >> ROBERT BARD: You know who has done the best job at 15 refocusing their recruitment efforts, you don't think it, 16 actually, they refocused this effort. It's the armed 17 forces. Now it's an adventure. We do more from 6 to 8 18 before your friends even get out of bed. And what they 19 have done, really, is have identified specific things 20 within the job that could make it appealing to the 21 constituency they're trying to reach. 22 And maybe it is, you take up the jobs and you look at them 23 in a different way. Because I'm sure that if you're 24 offering a job that is an 8 to 5 job that is very mundane, 25 very repetitive, people just won't respond. There are too . Page 47 . 1 many choices today. And even for Hispanic professionals, 2 let me put it that way, or Hispanic students, there is a 3 great competition for them. That's true. You're not 4 competing with other agencies, you're competing with 5 corporate America who desperately wants them. They are 6 seeked because of the global economy. Now to have an 7 employee that is bilingual at a time that we are opening 8 up markets to Latin America, it's extremely beneficial. 9 And that should be the same way for agencies. You know, 10 look at the jobs and all the things that are with it, and 11 refocus the way, how you present them. 12 >> LARK McCARTHY: Another question? I have one then. 13 There was a story in the Wall Street journal this week and 14 it was comparing military to the private sector when it 15 came -- the federal government and the private sector, 16 when it came to how military reservists were being 17 treated. In many cases, the private sector was actually 18 being more accommodating. First of all, I was wondering 19 if that story is accurate and if it was true, how could 20 that be? Did you notice that as well, Dale, that story 21 about how the reservists are being treated? 22 >> DALE COLLINS: I didn't see it, but in the federal 23 government there is a certain amount of leave that is 24 given for reservists, but beyond that period of time, it's 25 pretty much up to the agency. . Page 48 . 1 >> LARK McCARTHY: It's up to each agency. Yes. 2 >> DALE COLLINS: Yes. And I guess I'm not too surprised 3 that the private sector would be ahead of the federal 4 government. 5 >> LARK McCARTHY: Another question? We need a 6 microphone, of course, all the way down here. We have one 7 over here, too, we will get another microphone to use one. 8 >> Thank you. You know, I just want to -- I just bought a 9 phone, a few weeks ago, a cell phone, and I had trouble 10 with it. I couldn't get service on it. The private 11 sector there is not necessarily providing customer 12 service. I think the IRS provides better service when it 13 comes to getting our tax returns back. 14 One thing I want to say is there is a lot of president 15 bashing, starting with the Reagan administration and all 16 that went on, and 9/11 changed the defining of that. 17 Maybe 25, 30 years may be too long, but I bet we could 18 believe that there is dignity in work, all work, no matter 19 what you do. When you think of a personnel work that 20 might be helping a personnel specialist arrange a room 21 for orientation for new employees coming to work on a 22 Monday morning, trying to make them comfortable by giving 23 them, making sure the seat is arranged and so forth, maybe 24 by having coffee available. 25 Over the years, I've been really fortunate myself. I've . Page 49 . 1 had a chance to meet heads of agencies. During the Carter 2 Mondale transition I remember Griffin Bell, the Attorney 3 General, was appointed to come in and run the department. 4 One day I was sitting up in the office, I got a call. 5 Bob, go down and talk to Griffin Bell and his staff. They 6 want to get paid. Well, that's pretty exciting for a 7 young kid coming to the government and serving in 8 personnel. 9 I had another situation, and this, you know, once again, 10 it may seem to be a small thing. But in the light of 11 9/11, what happened was we have got this program that 12 nobody wants in the government. It's called the combined 13 federal campaign. And everybody is always looking to hide 14 when they want to assign it to somebody. Well, the 15 justice department, when they want something to do down 16 the hill, it goes to personnel. Human resources, we run 17 it and we do a good job running it. But we see it 18 differently than other people in our agency. We see it as 19 an opportunity to get with the heads of agencies who 20 appoint another political appointee for us to work with, 21 to run that campaign for all the departments. And we do 22 it well. 23 Once again, there is dignity in all work and you can make 24 something good come of it, the contributions have doubled 25 and tripled over the years. We have made the campaign . Page 50 . 1 meaningful in the department. All I'm saying, once again, 2 all I'm saying is, there are a lot of people out there 3 that do good work and you get tired of hearing it. I 4 don't think -- and I think we have a complex from it and 5 we shouldn't have. I think we ought to stand up, 6 recognize what we do, and do well, but what we need to 7 improve doing it. 8 And that's just my take on the whole thing. 9 >> LARK McCARTHY: Thank you for your time. 10 (Applause.) 11 >> ROBERT BARD: If I may make a quick comment on that. 12 It's the fact that in the media, looking from the media 13 side, very seldom you get the success stories and the 14 achievers or the successful programs in the media. And 15 for us to sort through it, you know, when we're bombarded 16 with the bad stuff, not only from the federal government 17 or the government in general, but with all kinds of 18 people. If you look at the, you know, with all due 19 respect, if you look at television leads, you know, on TV 20 for the news, it's all accidents and things that really 21 grab people's attention. It's the same thing with 22 everything else. I mean, we're ready to look immediately 23 if it's some disaster or something really bad happens to 24 somebody else or somebody committed a horrendous crime, 25 everybody is grabbed by it. . Page 51 . 1 So it goes back again that if you want to change the image 2 of government, you have to have a government program, or 3 not program, but a government effort that is sustained. 4 Because you have to really battle all those bad 5 impressions. When corporations get bashed in the general 6 market, when they get bashed because -- I don't want to 7 use some really bad example and get myself in trouble 8 here, but when they did something wrong and they get 9 incredible bad PR, they have another side of them that is 10 having all this good PR being fed and diverted and trying 11 to present their case. 12 I don't see the government really presenting their case. 13 I don't see -- I look through my office. Nothing comes up 14 saying this is a really cool place. Look at what they're 15 doing. 16 >> LARK McCARTHY: Let me jump, and that's where the 17 personal relationships come in handy, where part of your 18 job is to work with media, if you know the assignment 19 editors or the key producers on the various programs, that 20 you've been reliable on the facts of stories, so if you 21 come and say I have a good human story, I have a long time 22 worker who is doing this program. We have this program, 23 it really is working, they are more likely to at least 24 listen and give you the time of day as opposed to having 25 the immediate rea this is just self serving, they want us . Page 52 . 1 to put some piece on the air. So it really is important 2 to know the people, to know what sort of content is on the 3 various programs, and try to target where you think that 4 story might be effective, might be well received. So do 5 just keep that in mind. 6 >> Hi. My name is Randi Blank and I'm the communications 7 officer for the DC Office of Personnel, local not federal. 8 I was floored by the fact that you have 125 recruiters 9 that go out. I was wondering, what kind of resources do 10 the agencies have to do both sort of employment 11 communications and what is their relation with those that 12 do the public relations communications? Are they the same 13 staff? Is there some sort of partnership between them? 14 How does it work? So I guess this is really for those who 15 work in the agencies. 16 >> LARK McCARTHY: Who wants to start? 17 >> We don't have a public relations staff. our recruiters 18 are all auditors, and of course that is the major -- that 19 is about the only mission in our agency. But any public 20 affairs, I think this is true in the Department of 21 Defense, any public affairs, that is contact with the 22 press or other media, I'd say at least 95 percent of it 23 has to get funneled through the department. So we're 24 essentially out of the, at least the direct public affairs 25 relationships, organizationally we have been put out of . Page 53 . 1 it. 2 >> And it's the same way within the Census Bureau. Our 3 125 recruiters are staff employees. So they are a 4 combination of our statisticians, our mathematical staff. 5 And this is a, you know, other duty type of arrangement 6 that they graciously do on behalf of the HR office and the 7 agency. 8 >> LARK McCARTHY: Betsy, do you want to jump in on that? 9 >> BETSY KRAVITZ: The workforce recruitment is a combined 10 effort among a lot of agencies. It's cosponsored by the 11 Department of Labor and Department of Defense, and we 12 borrow people from other agencies, many of whom are 13 HR people and many of whom are actually -- you know, have 14 jobs with other titles and who just go out for us and do 15 recruiting. This one particular recruitment trip, and so 16 it I think really is in most agencies like that, you might 17 have a couple recruiters, but most places like to use 18 people that work in the field that they are recruiting 19 for. But we do have a public affairs office, though. 20 >> LARK McCARTHY: Just one final question. 21 >> This morning's panel discussion, OPM stated that to six 22 the process was a major concern and in my estimation, when 23 I think about the barrier to effective recruitment in the 24 federal sector. And I was just curious as to what the 25 panelists here consider a major barrier to effective . Page 54 . 1 recruitment. Is it fix the process, focus more on the 2 people instead of the process, or are there other 3 barriers? I could talk all day about barriers. A lot of 4 things have to do with fear, to be honest with you, just 5 thank goodness, my God, how do I deal with that person? 6 And that's why we like to use summer co-ops, bring people 7 in, let people get used to the idea of working with 8 someone and find out nine times out of ten that they are 9 just a regular person. Temp person is usually just a bad 10 worker and nobody would like to work with them regardless, 11 because that's just the way people are. So that is our 12 biggest barrier in our particular agency, our particular 13 field. But overall, just as a federal employee myself and 14 as the child of federal employee, the application process 15 is a bear. And it's really unpleasant. And I think that 16 is our biggest barrier as an organization. When I go to 17 colleges, and they look at the 612 or the 171 way back 18 when and when they look at what you have to put it on the 19 resume, the federal resume, these kids don't want to deal 20 with that. And I think that's one of our biggest 21 failures. 22 >> I think you're absolutely right, Betsy. Time is a 23 barrier. And what I mean is from the time your agent, the 24 recruiter, means a desirable candidate, to the time the 25 actual offer is made is absolutely crucial. And without . Page 55 . 1 special arrangements, special deal, if you will, the 2 process just consumes an inordinate amount of time to get 3 from that point A to that point B. 4 >> LARK McCARTHY: Thank you. Please join me in thanking 5 our panelists this afternoon. 6 (Applause.) 7 >> CAROL HARVEY: I know that many of the people in the 8 room -- many of the people in the room are public affairs 9 people and not people for whom your major job is 10 recruiting. But, you probably don't realize that as a 11 public affairs representative of your agency, you are 12 branding your agency and you actually have an impact on 13 the public's perception of your agency, and people's 14 willingness to come work for your agency or the federal 15 government in general. 16 And so this is sort of an educational process for all of 17 us to think of ourselves as multitasking, multiimpact. 18 I would like to ask you some questions now, to get out 19 your devices to give us some feedback. And tell us what 20 are the primary types of stories and messages that your 21 agency is communicating. Are they your program benefits 22 and information, your success stories, which is something 23 that the panel this morning thought were very important. 24 Where to get more information and help or something else. 25 What kinds of stories are you communicating? Whoa. We . Page 56 . 1 haven't had any that is that evening. Mostly programs and 2 benefits information. I think at OPM, that's what we do, 3 too. Everybody wants to know about their retirement and 4 how to get a federal job as well. 5 Okay, now, does your agency have a branding campaign? Are 6 you aware of one for your products and services that you 7 provide? I'm not surprised at that. One of the things 8 that we were wondering, if it would come out of today is 9 whether or not we as a group, a collection of individuals, 10 would recommend that we have a branding campaign for the 11 federal government as a whole, either for our individual 12 agencies or for us as the government employer. 13 And then what do you think is the best communication 14 tactic for government to attract the best and the 15 brightest? Which one of these tactics should we be using? 16 I was wondering if anybody actually uses direct mail. 17 Okay. 18 So this group feels that a web-based electronic way is the 19 most effective way to reach people, especially if you're 20 looking at younger people, rather than older people, 21 although I'm finding that many retired people are going on 22 the Web now. They finally have the time to sit there and 23 figure it out. And I'm hearing from relatives I never 24 heard from before. 25 Okay. And one final question: Should there be a . Page 57 . 1 government wide campaign to promote public service? What 2 do you think? Well, thank you. Now we know what we can 3 tell people. 4 I will tell you one story, Ambassador Richard Haas from 5 the state department tells a story of how, when the 6 president was going to make his first visit to the state 7 department, everybody was of course all Aflutter, excited 8 that he was coming and planning, orchestrating the visit 9 down to each minute. And when Colin Powell asked the 10 assistant secretary, whose area was the primary area that 11 was the subject of the visit, who was going to brief the 12 president, the assistant secretary said well, sir, I was 13 planning on doing that. And Colin Powell said no, you're 14 not. I want you to find the most junior person in your 15 organization and have that individual conduct the briefing 16 for the president. And the assistant secretary was pretty 17 taken aback, needless to say. But they found a junior, 18 fine service officer, who ended up briefing the president. 19 They found two individuals. They conducted the briefing 20 for the president. And according to Ambassador Haas, 21 everything went just as planned and was absolutely 22 perfect, until the president asked the question and the 23 young man said "yep," and Colin Powell was used to yes, 24 sir. 25 But that visit had exactly the effect that he hoped it . Page 58 . 1 would have, which was word spread quickly throughout the 2 department that you don't have to work there for 30 years 3 before you get to brief the president. And that was the 4 message that Colin Powell wanted to convey. This 5 afternoon after the break, we will hear from somebody who 6 is a master communicator for the president in the White 7 House, the real West Wing, Kasey Pipes, who is the kind of 8 young person that we want to attract to government. And 9 I'll see you again at 3. Let's thank our panel again. 10 Thank you very much. 11 (Applause.) 12 (Break.) 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 . Page 59 . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 . Page 60 . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8