AF implements hiring tool 7 weeks ahead of schedule

by Debbie Gildea
Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO - RANDOLPH, Texas – Bringing new Air Force civilian employees on board is more efficient and timely now following full-implementation of the USA Staffing Onboarding Manager tool, said Air Force Personnel Center officials.

In April, AFPC initiated a phased implementation strategy to replace the civilian virtual inprocessing tool with the OM tool, starting with new hires at the Air Force Reserve Command, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., Arnold AFB, Tenn., and Eglin AFB, Fla., with a planned phased deployment to replace cVIP Air Force-wide.

“We expected full implementation to take until the end of August, but some hard work at every level – base, major commands, and AFPC – resulted in final deployment seven weeks ahead of schedule,” said Nancy Tackett, AFPC Human Resources Technical Operations Branch.

The tool helps reduce the average amount of time it takes to inprocess new civilians before they enter on duty, she said.

“It is one of several continuing efforts to move the service closer to an 80-day civilian hiring process,” she explained.

In addition to simplifying and speeding up the onboarding process, the OM tool brings AF hiring in line with Office of Personnel Management Enterprise Human Resources Integration requirements, Tackett said. It “speaks” to the electronic official personnel folder, enabling onboarding information to flow to the eOPF, reducing the number documents that must be manually processed.

“OM is one of many process improvements we have been working to implement to increase efficiencies, save time and money, and ultimately get the right people in the right place to accomplish the Air Force mission,” Tackett said.