Hiring/Retention

Agencies have new hubs to post STEM, national security openings

The two new portals are an effort to help agencies better target qualified job candidates and streamline the federal recruitment process.

Drew Friedman@dfriedmanWFED

July 10, 2023 5:16 pm

3 min read

Federal hiring managers may now have an easier time connecting with job candidates for openings in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and national security.

The Office of Personnel Management created two new portals on USA Jobs, the government’s main job posting website, specifically focusing on open positions in the two fields of expertise.

The portals, which OPM launched Thursday, are an effort to help hiring managers better target and find qualified candidates, as well as streamline the recruitment process in agencies’ HR offices.

Several agencies have already posted close to 250 total openings in the STEM portal, and another roughly 40 positions in the national security portal. Job candidates can sift through STEM and national security openings by agency, salary, location — including remote openings — and more, including whether the position is eligible for telework.

To develop the two new portals, OPM worked with the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Security Council — all under the umbrella of the national security workforce working group.

And it’s not the first time OPM has created dedicated spots on USA Jobs to highlight openings in certain sectors. Earlier this year, OPM launched a “one-stop shop” for federal internships, as well as a tech portal for other field-specific positions.

This latest step from OPM comes as the federal hiring process continues to face long-standing challenges, for a number of reasons — difficulties with strategic human capital management, an average three-month recruitment process and a months-long security clearance process can all hinder agencies’ ability to hire effectively and efficiently.

Those recruitment challenges also contribute to governmentwide skills gaps in particular areas, including in cybersecurity and IT roles, as well as with early-career employees. In response, OPM is now trying to expand pathways to recruit and hire new employees into the federal government, especially technical and specialized talent, while also removing barriers from the government’s hiring process.

“We know that millions of Americans want to serve their community and do impactful work, so our goal is giving them a place to see the full range of incredible jobs serving in the federal government,” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said in a statement Thursday about the new job portals.

OPM has taken other steps, too, to support recruitment in STEM and national security. For one, OPM recently created a direct hire authority for agencies to specifically support both STEM and cybersecurity occupations. Last December, OPM also published a final rule to let agencies make term appointments for up to 10 years for STEM professionals, significantly expanding the previous four-year limit. And earlier in 2022, OPM helped agencies quickly hire thousands of federal employees as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, many of whom are working in STEM.

But at the same time, agencies have also struggled in diversifying recruitment for STEM positions. Women still fall significantly behind in their representation in agencies’ STEM employees, according to a 2022 report from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Less than a third of federal STEM employees are women — and agencies have even lower numbers of women in STEM in the upper echelons of government.

Agencies such as the State Department, Federal Aviation Administration, Forest Service and Food and Drug Administration have already begun posting openings on the USA Jobs portals for STEM and national security, and the two portals will likely grow in the coming weeks.