Job prospects for those pursuing a career in government service or public administration are stronger than ever, so much so that the number of available positions to be filled is proving too much for those who match jobs to job seekers, according to leaders of the federal human resources system.

In response to sluggish employment growth in the private sector, recent initiatives by the Obama administration have led to a sharp increase in federal hiring, but many HR executives in the federal government fear the influx of new applicants and employees is too much for the antiquated federal human resources system to handle. To address the issue, the president has also ordered an overhaul of the hiring system, but HR executives believe their employees lack the training and skills to fully implement the president's plans. The result is a surplus of available jobs waiting to be filled by new entrants into the federal workforce.

These are the findings of a new report by the non-profit Partnership for Public Service in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with Grant Thornton, LLP. The report, titled "Closing the Gap: Seven Obstacles to a First-Class Federal Workforce," is based on in-depth interviews with Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCOs), policy advisors and other key figures in the federal hiring system.

Chief among the concerns of HR executives is the lack of system-wide technology resources available to federal hiring managers. According to the report, many federal agencies still rely on outdated manual and paper-based techniques to screen and process applicants. What IT resources do exist are often developed by individual agencies in-house and are incompatible with other federal entities, crippling the government's ability to quickly match qualified applicants with appropriate open positions across the federal landscape.

All this is occurring in the face of a robust hiring environment at the federal level. One CHCO is quoted in the report as saying succinctly that the government is asking him to hire a large number of people, but his HR staff does not have the skill set to do it.

Among the solutions recommended by federal HR executives in the report is a significant increase in technology and training resources for frontline HR managers who deal directly with the rapidly increasing pool of workers seeking federal employment. Also, greater collaboration and standardization among different government agencies is desired to address HR needs across the entire federal system.

Those seeking federal employment can take heart from the fact that new jobs are being created more quickly than they can be filled, but federal HR executives admit in the Partnership for Public Service report that qualified candidates are passing up opportunities in federal employment because of the elongated hiring process.

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Source: Partnership for Public Service and Grant Thornton LLP report: "Closing the Gap: Seven Obstacles to a First-Class Federal Workforce." http://www.ourpublicservice.org/OPS/publications/viewcontentdetails.php?id=147