Washington, D.C. - During his address at the 2005 Government Performance Summit, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Dan G. Blair spoke of the need to keep momentum going in changing government to meet Human Capital needs. He also discussed what federal agencies can do to streamline their hiring processes.

"We are making progress in transforming the federal government's most important asset, its workforce," said Blair. "Today, change is taking place. We are modernizing the civil service...we are achieving results for the American people. This change is real. Just as America re-tooled and re-armed to address the threats to world peace that existed following the Second World War, today we are responding to the need to address a more contemporary threat."

In particular, Blair credited an "active agenda" - the President's Management Agenda - which is enabling the federal government to make "real progress" and produce "real results."

"New personnel systems are defining the civil service of the future - a civil service that is able to react to changing events, adjust to unexpected circumstances and respond to unforeseen dangers - all while continuing to get the daily work of the government done," said Blair. "The role of government, its function ever more important, has no room for failure. The President's Management Agenda recognizes that results matter and that having the right folks, in the right place, doing the right job is fundamentally important if government is going to perform - and perform well."

OPM is currently working to transform the hiring process and to develop the legislation, policies, and operations that give all federal agencies hiring flexibilities to fill critical positions.

Some efforts that agencies may do now to encourage HR professionals to "fix" their hiring process include eliminating excessive layers of approval, redundant reviews, and unnecessary paperwork; writing job announcements in plain English without jargon; recruiting Veterans; adopting an accelerated hiring model; competing on campus; offering incentives for talent; utilizing on-the-spot hiring authority; leveraging new hiring flexibilities; going after outstanding scholars, and ensuring their entire HR staff is fully engaged.