Wright-Patt hosts rapid improvement event for civilian hiring initiative

AFMC Personnel Programs Branch

7/24/2015 - WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Key personnel across the Air Force are working together to analyze the current civilian hiring process. Participants in this initiative include Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command, Headquarters Air Force Personnel Center, installation civilian personnel offices, and Directorate of Personnel employees within AFMC. This partnership is working to analyze each stage of the hiring process to identify inefficiencies and duplications, and develop a future process that eliminates barriers and streamlines processes wherever possible.

Last week, Wright-Patterson hosted the ninth rapid improvement event that examined the roles and responsibilities of the manpower office in the hiring process. This is part of a series of RIEs which have been ongoing since February of this year at multiple locations.

"We are looking at every avenue to improve the civilian hiring process not just in AFMC but across the Air Force -- even when it appears the initiative may be difficult to implement," said Tammy Lyons, chief of AFMC's Personnel Support Division and co-leader of this most recent RIE. "In addition, both the stakeholders and owners of the process must to be open to changing roles and responsibilities. Improving timeliness in the hiring process ultimately results in our ability to support the AFMC and Air Force missions. Our goal to have positions filled within 80 days (i.e., from vacant to employee in seat) is achievable if we are proactive and responsive to the hiring process."

During this most recent event, the group conducted significant reengineering of current procedures, resulting in identification of a more efficient process. The initiatives identified through this RIE will be incorporated into a pilot program. Participating organizations in the pilot program are the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center here, the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and the 502nd Air Base Wing at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. The organizations in the pilot will be tracking the initiatives, measuring timeliness of the actions and providing feedback to continually refine and improve the hiring process.

The next two RIEs will be held at JBSA-Randolph and explore reengineering such hiring stages as the announcement process, issuance of referral certificates, candidate selection, making a job offer and setting the entry on duty date.

"We recognize that in order to remain competitive with the private sector and other Federal agencies, we need to expeditiously recruit and hire the best and brightest candidates to help carry out our mission," Lyons said. "The successful completion of this project will promote a more proficient hiring process for both management and applicants."