A guide to navigating the federal hiring process

The good news for the legions of Washington area applicants seeking federal work is that the government wants to fill tens of thousands of jobs here. The bad news is that they have to first slog through the federal government's labyrinth hiring system to get one.

In a process that can involve 100 steps and take a year or more, applicants must deal with an online site many find cumbersome, sometimes vastly different procedures and requirements for the various agencies, and a culture loaded with mind-numbing jargon, codes and acronyms.

Navigating that process has given rise to an entire cottage industry of specialists, offering all sorts of assistance. Add now to that list "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Government Jobs," a new book by the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington-based nonprofit that helps the government find candidates.

In penning the title, the organization has elevated the federal hiring process to the level of learning other often stupefying topics, such as physics, calculus, making cheese, electrical repair, surviving an audit and etiquette -- subjects of other Idiot's Guide books.

Kevin Harris, 27, a Clinton resident who works as a salesman for a home-improvement company, said he has been looking for a government job for two years.

"I've been on usajobs.com [the government's Web site], and I've applied for 50 jobs," said Harris, who was inquiring about Federal Aviation Administration positions at a recent job fair. "I've had no interviews ... It's hard to get through."

Over the next five years, according to the book, the government will need to replace at least 550,000 workers who are slated to retire. Thousands more will be needed for new federal initiatives, including health-care and financial regulatory overhauls. Officials at the Partnership for Public Service say that about 25,000 of those jobs annually will be needed in the Washington area.

The 332-page paperback attempts to make the process of getting a government job more accessible. It walks applicants through the various agency, location and salary codes on the Web site. It provides an estimate of job openings for certain job categories -- 54,114 for medical and public health. And it explains the GS-1 to GS-15 grade levels, detailing some of the qualifications needed (for instance, a high class ranking in college) to get a better job.

The guidebook comes amid a push by the Obama administration to streamline the hiring process.

Last week, the administration announced a plan aimed at reducing the period of hiring to 80 days, about half the present time. The new process would eliminate KSAs -- knowledge, skills and ability tests -- and base hiring more on applicants' professional background.

The plan also would introduce a new system called "category hiring," in which applicants pre-screened by one department could be considered for jobs in another. This would eliminate the need for applicants screened by one department to start the process from scratch when seeking a position in another.

At the same time, said John M. Palguta, the Partnership for Public Service's vice president for policy, the government also is seeking to improve the workplace to woo applicants and retain employees.

"When you're recruiting, if you have a good work-life balance, you can use that as a way to encourage good people to come work for you," Palguta said, adding that some agencies are considering expanding telecommuting. Otherwise, "rather than getting the best and brightest, you get the best of the desperate."

Applicants, according to the book, should be prepared to thicken their skin when seeking government employment.

"You may have to hear a dozen nos before you get considered for a job," it advises.