Government IT hiring day a success

In the face of a looming global shortfall of skilled cybersecurity workers, the US federal government has tried out an innovative recruitment drive.

The first-ever Federal Tech/Cyber Hiring and Recruitment Event was held in November last year, organised by the Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council, in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management.

The event had several goals:

• Attract, interview and ultimately hire as many IT and cyber professionals as possible.
• Consolidate and strengthen federal government vacancy marketing and outreach.
• Reduce ‘time-to-offer’ by six to eight weeks.
• Increase awareness of federal agency missions.
   

More than 30 government agencies took part, and the event attracted almost 2000 candidates from 42 states.

Many of those agencies were able to conduct interviews and make job offers on the spot.

Overall results included:

• More than 300 interviews were conducted.
• More than 50 tentative job offers were made within 30 days after the event.
• More than 200 participants attended free training seminars that covered resume writing, interviewing and applying for federal government jobs.
• More than 5000 applications were made for government-wide vacancy announcements.
   

The council’s website received a record-breaking 72,000 visits before, during and immediately after the event.

Further such events are currently under consideration.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/4Max

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