Senator’s bipartisan bill makes federal hiring more efficient and federal government more effective by updating federal hiring process
WASHINGTON – The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s bipartisan Chance to Compete Act—legislation introduced with Republican Senators Bill Hagerty (Tenn.) and James Lankford (Okla.), and cosponsored by Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), to make federal job hiring fairer for Arizonans by reducing traditional bureaucratic barriers that limit opportunities for federal job seekers.
“We’re making the federal government more efficient and effective by removing barriers for entry and expanding opportunities for skilled Arizonans who have the skills to work in the federal government,” said Senator Sinema, Chair of the Senate’s Government Operations Subcommittee.
“The need for a strong professional civil service has never been greater, as the country confronts the ongoing pandemic, global tensions with rival powers, and numerous economic challenges resulting from COVID-19, supply chain shortages, and global technological competition. Yet today both houses of Congress are weighing various pieces of legislation that would actually further weaken the competitive service, as several agencies seek additional exceptions to competitive hiring. We commend this bill from Chairwoman Sinema for moving in the opposite direction by modernizing and streamlining the competitive hiring process,” said the American Federation of Government Employees.
Sinema’s bipartisan legislation helps eliminate long-time challenges that often prevent skilled workers from getting federal jobs. Instead of relying on subjective self-evaluations, key-word search resume reviews, and binary credentials for positions, federal agencies will be required to use actual job evaluations and tests to determine if applicants can do the job. Sinema’s bipartisan Chance to Compete Act expands job opportunities and possibilities for Arizonans by making the hiring process more fair for all types of federal job seekers.
The bill also allows agencies to more easily share information about job candidates when they are working to fill similar positions. This will decrease time to hire for all applicants, making the federal hiring process more efficient and effective. The bill also takes steps to increase federal hiring transparency and improve federal Human Resource Departments.
Sinema’s bipartisan bill has broad support from employees and management, with endorsements from the American Federation of Government Employees, the Senior Executives Association, National Federation of Federal Employees, and the Society for Human Resource Management. The bill now heads for consideration by the full U.S. Senate.