DHS Scraps Automated Hiring Tool

The Homeland Security Department has abandoned a technology platform that the agency hoped would simplify and accelerate its recruiting and hiring activities.

Jeffrey Neal, chief human capital officer at DHS, told Wired Workplace on Monday that the tool, called TalentLink, was not working for the department. "The problem wasn't with the underlying software company," he said. "The company made a good product, but it was a product that wasn't designed for the federal hiring process. We had to build so many workarounds into the process that it wasn't saving the kind of time that we wanted it to save."

The system was supposed to help DHS automate ranking and rating processes, standardize vacancy announcements using plain language and facilitate better communication with applicants. It also was designed to eliminate the knowledge, skills and abilities questions traditionally found on federal applications, allowing candidates to submit just a resume.

Every component within DHS is still using an automated process using one of two programs -- a Monster product called QuickHire or the Office of Personnel Management's USA Staffing platform, Neal said.

Still, Neal emphasized technology is not a cure-all for the government's hiring reform efforts, noting such systems often have been designed to make the jobs of human resources leaders easier, when the real goal should be involving hiring managers more in the process. The hiring manager needs to take part in defining what their requirements are and what kind of talent they need, he said, rather than simply relying on HR to use technology to speedily come up with a list of the top candidates.

"We have grown so reliant on technology for the hiring process in the government that it's actually hampered our ability to get the right candidates," Neal said. "So we are rethinking our use of technology for the hiring process and looking at how we can do it in a way that gets the hiring manager involved in the process and keeps them involved all the way through to the end."