Letter: Army needs to fill vacancies

I work for the Army. About seven months ago the secretary of the Army signed a letter that requires all vacancies to be approved at the Army Command or Directly Reporting Unit, the four-star general officer organizations. Needless to say, recruiting has slowed down. We have to justify each position before it can be advertised. In addition, the human resources people are unsupportive in their work. My perception is they are involved to place as many roadblocks in the way of recruiting as possible. As an example, my directorate formally reorganized on Oct. 1, 2006, although we had informally reorganized three months earlier. Some of the positions are still not filled. One supervisor had four vacancies, only one of which has been filled. Trying to anticipate vacancies and recruit early is fine, but we are not trying to fill the positions early. We had four people retire in January. None have yet been replaced. We keep doing more with less. What this has led to is job burnout and people seriously looking to change jobs or retire. This comment is in regard to "Kelman: The hiring season is here."

Anonymous
Army