Federal Player of the Week: Opening the door for federal job-seekers

Juanita Wheeler has a big job ahead of her.

In December, President Obama issued an executive order that called for reforming the way our government recruits and hires student interns and recent graduates. Wheeler’s task now is to set up the new processes that federal agencies will use to bring young talent into the federal fold.

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

Personal Post

“Everyone is excited about getting it going,” said Wheeler. “We’re putting together a good foundation to help agencies.”

As head of federal student programs at the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM), Wheeler oversees the intern and student hiring and recruiting under the newly created “Pathways Program” She also helps manage the Presidential Management Fellows Program, a two-year leadership development initiative for entry level individuals with advanced degrees, now operating in approximately 80 agencies.

On the recruitment front, Wheeler said young applicants need to know what federal positions exist and often need help jumping over job-application hurdles. “The issue really is about learning about the jobs and making it through the federal hiring process,” she said.

Retaining newly hired employees is a trickier business. It’s a challenge for government to reward, recognize and keep talented employees.

“My office will be working to assist and support Pathway program officers with training and developing new, young, bright, energetic employees,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler is nothing if not empathetic toward young people trying to join the federal workforce. It took her eight years to get into government, deterred at first by a federal hiring freeze. She eventually landed that first job as education specialist intern at Fort Carson in Colorado. She was overqualified for the position, but willing to take the job in 1989.

“It was my entry way, my pathway to get into federal government,” she said.

Wheeler felt the federal government offered the “portable” career she needed because her husband was in the military and the couple moved every few years. “The federal government was the one employee that was going to be everywhere we were going,” she said.

Her federal jobs included 13 years at the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), where she enhanced working conditions by establishing a health and wellness program and a fitness subsidy program.

“Anything she touched, she just had the knack of making it the most professional thing you’ve ever seen,” said Angela Bailey, OPM’s deputy associate director, who also worked with Wheeler at DCMA.

In 2004, she became manager of intern programs for college students and recent graduates at DCMA and later launched a leadership development program. She also expanded the intern program from 275 to 700 participants.

“Her real talent was the energy and enthusiasm she put behind setting up programs and processes, bringing fresh ideas and ways to make the programs work,” said James Russell, DCMA’s deputy director.

Now that she’s moved up the career ladder, Wheeler has been able to give back by helping young people work for the government, and she hasn’t sat still since arriving at the OPM in June.

“She has pulled off five major events in her first nine months on the job,” said Bailey. This has included a graduation ceremony and a revamping of candidate assessments online.

While enthused about her career, Wheeler said her biggest disappointment is that federal employees are too often viewed in a negative way.

“I’ve worked with extremely hard-working, dedicated individuals who spend endless hours at their jobs,” she said. “They don’t have an attitude of ‘good enough for government.’ Their standard is much higher than that.”

This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Go to http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/fedpage/players/ to read about other federal workers who are making a difference.