Federal portal USAJOBS.gov now offers update notifications for applicants

Official federal hiring platform of the US, USAJOBS, is aiming to bolster applicant visibility with the implementation of job status updates for its users.

The Office of Personnel Management hopes these status updates will help with a compounded problem set it faces in managing federal hiring through USAJOBS. Half of the jobs posted on USAJOBS.gov go without selections being made, in part, because applicants overestimate their skills when asked to self-assess — a problem the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) is working to fix.

And on top of that, the competition for open jobs is fierce: The USAJOBS system sees 18 million applications started annually for about 350,000 announced positions. Data from the talent acquisition system USA Staffing showed only 340,000 selections made out of 11.3 million applications processed, a mere 3 percent.

“That gives you a sense for the high-stakes nature of federal employment and why it may feel like a ‘black hole’ because of the steep competition,” Dianna Saxman, deputy associate director of human resources solutions (HRS) within OPM, told FedScoop.

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