October 18, 2004

MEMORANDUM FOR FEDERAL EXECUTIVE BOARDS

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as the Government’s leader for strategic management of human capital, is working with departments and agencies to increase Hispanic representation at all levels in the Federal Government. While the Federal Government has generally succeeded in becoming a diverse employer, there are still challenges to be met regarding Hispanic employment.

Today, more than 38 million of our citizens—approximately of every eight persons in the United States—are of Hispanic origin. Although Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, comprising about 13 percent of the civilian work force, they are only seven percent of the Federal workforce. While the citizenship requirement for Federal employment is one reason for this gap, the Federal Government still has not fully met the challenge of reaching out to the Hispanic community to communicate Federal employment opportunities.

Since the first day of his administration, President Bush has given us the goal of transforming government. His commitment to aggressive outreach, recruiting and retention efforts has resulted in larger percentages of Hispanic-Americans being hired by Federal agencies than in previous years. In just the past two years, the percentage of new Hispanic hires in the Federal workforce rose from 8.2 to 9.7 percent. And since 2000, there has been an 18 percent increase in the number of Hispanics who are in mid-to-senior level positions in the Federal workforce.

Federal Executive Boards (FEBs) have been working with local departments and agencies in their efforts to recruit and retain Hispanic employees. You are certainly a contributing factor to the progress that has been made and I appreciate your support. In order to continue on our path of improvement, I am asking that FEBs share the following information/ideas with local federal agencies to further assist them in their efforts to recruit and retain a diverse workforce:

• Disseminate information on tools (such as the Student Employment Program, the Outstanding Scholar Program, Cooperative Education and Student Work-Study Programs, the Federal Career Intern Program, and the Presidential Management Fellows Program, and the Bilingual-Bicultural program) available to Federal agencies to hire Latinos.
• Sponsor local job fairs - college recruiting is a key to maintaining a minority presence at our Federal agencies.
• Utilize the job-information fact sheets in Spanish available on the OPM USAJOBS web site, as well as Spanish-language versions of retirement and other benefit materials.
• Place recruitment ads in Hispanic magazines and publications.
• Distribute press releases and other information to key Hispanic organizations and news media.
• Provide the media with profiles of Hispanics serving in government.
• Place Public Service Announcements on Spanish radio stations.
• Support Latino organizations, and encourage Federal agencies to support them by partnering with them and participating in their training conferences.
• Participate in the annual conferences sponsored by Hispanic organizations.
• Ensure that job seekers are aware of current critical needs in the Government.
• Encourage students to “reach for the stars” by promoting careers in the “tough” disciplines such as math and sciences and computer technology.

Through our combined efforts, we can encourage talented people from under-represented groups to pursue careers in Government and contribute to a diverse and talented workforce that reflects the citizenry of our great Nation.

Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation.

Transmittals