Attachment II.I. - Veteran Recruitment Strategy.pdf

Transportation Security Administration Veteran Recruitment Strategy

CY2014

February 20, 2014

Attachement II.I. - Veteran Recruitment Strategy

Table of Contents

1. Scope 3

2. Purpose 3

3. Veteran Recruitment Review: FY2013 4

4. Veteran Recruitment Strategy Calibration 5

5. Veteran Recruitment Strategy Goals 6

6. Measures and Sustainment 6

7. Addendums

A. 2013 Veteran Media Plan 7

B. 2013 TSO and FAM / MAP Veteran and Non-Veteran Applications 8

C. You Have Earned It – Veteran Employment Initiative Campaign 9

D. TSA Careers for Veteran Flyer - TAP Center Campaign 10

E1. Veterans’ Preference Recruitment Flyer FAQs - VEI Campaign 11

E2. Veterans’ Preference Recruitment Flyer FAQs - VEI Campaign 12

F. Veterans Day Salute – VEI Campaign 13

G. What We Do Matters – VEI Campaign 14

H. Veteran Outreach – TSA Homepage 15

Veteran Strategic Recruitment

1. Scope:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) protects the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. The TSA will continuously set the standard for excellence in transportation security through its people, processes, and technology.

As part of the agency’s over-all recruitment efforts in support of diversity and executive initiatives, and in support of creating a compelling employer brand as part of the TSA Workforce Strategic Plan, the TSA is committed to supporting the employment of veterans. An active and aggressive recruitment strategy to ensure the TSA career opportunity reaches the veteran community and exiting active duty military personnel. Currently, veterans make up a significant portion of our work force. TSA provides the broadest application of Veterans' Preference in the Federal Government.

In November, 2001, Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (P.L. 107-

71) which established TSA as an excepted service agency. As a result, TSA is not governed by most of Title 5, United States Code, or the policies and procedures established by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). However, TSA does provide Veterans’ Preference to eligible applicants. In addition, certain requirements and qualifications for some of TSA’s mission-critical positions such as the Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) and the Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) are based in statute and may not be adapted.

Preference consists of giving qualified, eligible veterans an advantage over others when recruiting under competitive external procedures (i.e., announcements open to anyone in the general public). Depending on the position being filled and the evaluation method being used, it may mean adding 5 or 10 points to a candidate’s earned score; placing the veteran ahead of other candidates in a category group or eligibility to apply under limited areas of consideration.

TSA will provide preference at the point of selection to eligible veterans who were discharged or released from military service under honorable conditions. Current TSA employees do not receive Veterans’ Preference when applying under internal procedures.

Operating on the front lines of America’s security, TSA is committed to increasing the employment of people with disabilities and offering skilled individuals an environment in which they may excel. TSA’s mission-critical occupations include strict physical and medical requirements that are based on statute; jobs potentially available for individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans are more likely to be in TSA’s Management, Administrative and Professional (MAP) positions.

2. Purpose:

The purpose of this plan is to outline a comprehensive strategy for the recruitment of veterans for career opportunities within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The key contributors to the successful implementation of the plan are:

• TSA Office of Human Capital (OHC)

• HRAccess Recruitment Strategy Team (RST) & Field Operations

• Coordination of efforts and information exchange with Department of Homeland Security

Office of Human Capital counterparts (DHS, Office of Diversity and Inclusion)

• Return on Investment reporting (ROI) to measure the successes of the strategy

3. Veteran Recruitment Review: FY2013

In 2013, TSA/HRAccess continued to seek targeted recruitment venues to encourage active military and veteran applicants to apply for opportunities within the agency. In addition to the general recruitment initiatives utilized, specialized and focused recruitment tools were included in recruitment planning. These efforts included, but were not limited to:

• Disabled military/veteran events

• Military/Veteran career events

• Military/Veteran focused e-mail blasts

• Military/Veteran focused internet advertising

• Veteran community outreach

• Veteran referrals

• Women in military/veteran career event

• Women in military/veteran focused outreach

In 2013, TSA/OHC continued outreach with the field offices of Operation Warfighter (OWF), to sustain TSA’s interest in recruiting recovering wounded service members.

TSA/HRAccess attended 120 military and veteran focused recruiting events and job fairs. As a result of these efforts, veteran applications for all TSA positions represented 25% of the applicant pool or 113,811 veteran applications.

In FY2013, veterans represented 49% of TSA MAP new hires and 27% of the MAP applicant pool. Veterans represented 14% of TSO new hires and 20.21% of all applications for this position. Disabled veterans made up 2.8% or 179 of TSA’s new hires. MAP generated a significantly higher veteran new hire yield.

Job Title Tour Veteran Non-Veteran Percent Veteran

New Hires (FY13)

TSO

Full time (4% of TSO hires) 59 194 23.32%

Part-time (96% of TSO hires) 750 4,742 13.65%

MAP (Non FAM and Non

TSO)

Full time 218 223 49.43%

Part-time 1 6 14.29%

Total

1,028 5,165 16.60%

In FY2013, 8% of the open Job Opportunity Announcements (JOA) for TSOs were for full time positions. A comparative review of the D Band salary range for full time TSO positions duty.

However, the reduced compensation for part-time TSO positions represents a 50% reduction in compensation for this level applicant. This factor contributed significantly to the lower offer acceptance rate of veterans.

As TSO positions represent a significant percentage of the TSA workforce, this shortfall had a negative impact on the agency’s over-all performance in veteran hiring percentages. This may offset the efforts in attracting veteran candidates and explain the higher veteran employment rates within MAP positions. MAP positions generally offer full time employment at higher pay band levels and subsequently higher compensation.

Additional considerations:

• Continued business rules do not apply Veterans’ Preference to applicants awaiting Computer Based Testing (CBT), the entry point into the assessment process. The application of the “first applied, first tested” rule restricts the agency’s ability to apply preference to those applicants in the pool until further in the process.

• Most veterans and exiting military personnel may have two to three years of supervisory experience and may not be attracted to the “entry level” pay band TSO position.

• Exiting military personnel’s location at the time of discharge may not be their original home of record making it difficult to align TSA workforce need with the location of preference to exiting service members.

• Many veterans and exiting military personnel may be seeking Federal government employment where LEAP pay is included.

• Many veterans and exiting military personnel may have transferable skills that can generate higher paying civilian and government opportunities, especially in law enforcement.

• Many veterans and exiting military personnel may not be knowledgeable of the Federal hiring process and/or timeline.

• Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) may translate into higher paying civilian careers in Defense and High Technology areas.

4. Veteran Recruitment Strategy Calibration

To improve the performance of the overall recruitment strategy for veterans and exiting military personnel, and based on performance in 2013, the following enhancements to the current strategy are recommended. Although not all of the challenges and candidate preferences can be resolved through recruitment, a more refined plan may further maximize veteran sourcing efforts.

• Communicate – develop an information session for Transitional Assistance Program (TAP) Centers focusing on the advantages of Federal employment, the process and career growth potential with TSA.

• Alignment – focus the veteran and exiting military personnel recruitment resources specifically at those Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) that align with TSA vacancies.

• Recruit – source from unemployed veteran groups, the disabled military and veteran population, and women in the military/veteran communities.

• Deployed – utilize deployed resources, at those specific locations with an open Job

Opportunity Announcement (JOA), to ensure we are recruiting veterans in those locations of preference with a current opportunity.

• Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) – enhance sourcing of Sole Survivor and Derivative Preference eligible.

The President’s veteran hiring objectives includes both the hiring of veterans, as well as the spouses of those veterans who were injured or died in combat. Facilitating the hiring of the spouses of wounded military members enables military families to preserve their financial livelihood.

5. Veteran Recruitment Strategy Goals

The following recruitment goals have been identified for this recruitment strategy and will be reviewed on a monthly basis in CY2014:

• Expand targeted recruitment to disabled military/veterans and women in the military/veterans

• Increase the number of veteran applications and hires

• Review the performance of veteran applications on a monthly basis to determine effectiveness of the Veteran Recruitment Strategy

• Revise and refine strategy based on continued applicant flow analysis

6. Measures & Sustainment

The TSA/OHC will continue to communicate with DHS Office of Diversity and Inclusion on the results of this enhanced recruitment plan on a routine basis, will reach out to hiring managers and selection officials regarding the TSA’s commitment to the veteran employment initiative, and will review policies and procedures that may have impact on the successful hiring of veterans and exiting military personnel recruited through this effort.

• Track quantity of increase in veteran applications and hires Fiscal Year

MAP Veteran Applicants

TSO Veteran Applicants

Total Veteran Applicants

Total Veteran Hires

Percentage of Veteran New Hires

2011 113,423 49,856 163,279 1,204 14.7%

2012 101,299 68,791 170,090 990 15.5%

2013 85,056 28,755 113,811 1,031 16.4%

• Communicate veteran hiring effort with stakeholders on a monthly basis.

• Recommend strategic or tactical adjustments based on veteran hiring efforts on a monthly basis.

Addendum A: 2013 Veteran Media Plans

MEDIA

RECOMMENDED PLACEMENT

IMPRESSIONS

Monster Military (can divert some impressions to the Spouse Channel)

Military.com Homepage Featured Employer 193,750

Veteran Career Center Military Friendly Employer (Government only)

106,500

Recruitment Veteran Jobs Newsletter (4 newsletters)

455,700

Fast Track Careers Newsletter (2 newsletter)

70,000

Military-Civilian.com

15 Job Slots per Month, Home Page + Career Page Rotating Banner

14,000+

Veteran Email Blast

Veteran E-Blast , 500K emails 2x (1,000,000 total)

1,000,000

Transition Assistance

Online

1 Dedicated Hiring Email Alert Emails (68,000 recipients each)

68,000

5 Job Slots N/A

Recruit Military

3-month manual Job Posting Subscription - up to ten 30-day postings.

N/A

Email (text-driven) Blast Campaigns to up to five designated market areas; a total of up to 2,500 sends.

Each Email Blast includes a 30-day Job Posting.

2,500

RecruitMilitary staff will distribute TSA marketing collateral/flyers at every expo during the 3-month term.

(Creative must be received 15 days prior to the first event date).

6,000

Addendum B: 2013 TSO and FAM / MAP Veteran and Non-Veteran Applications

2013 TSO Applications Veterans’ Preference

2013 FAM / MAP Applications Veterans’ Preference

0.39%

14.18% 1.87%

3.76%

79.79%

XP

TP

CP

CPS

NV

2.65%

6.62%

17.20%

0.52%

73.01%

CP

CPS

TP

XP

NV

Addendum C: You Have Earned It – Veteran Employment Initiative Campaign

Addendum D: TSA Careers for Veteran Flyer - TAP Center Campaign

Addendum E1: Veterans’ Preference Recruitment Flyer FAQs - VEI Campaign

Addendum E2: Veterans’ Preference Recruitment Flyer FAQs - VEI Campaign

Addendum F: Veterans Day Salute - VEI Campaign

Addendum G: What We Do Matters - VEI Campaign

Addendum H: Veteran Outreach – TSA Home Page

TSA Veteran Home Page Link:

http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/veterans.shtm

• See the Frequently Asked Questions on Veterans' Employment

• See Current TSA Vacancies (USAJobs.opm.gov)

• Learn more about TSA

• Know about Other Possible Opportunities for Veterans

• Know more about how USERRA applies to TSA

• Visit the Department of Homeland Security's Veterans Outreach Program

TSA Individuals with Disabilities (IWD) Home Page Link http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/disabilitiesoutreach.shtm* o Reasonable Accommodations o Personnel Rules and Procedures o How to Apply

* VEI Link for Disabled Veterans to return to Veteran’s Link http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/veterans.shtm http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/veterans_faqs.shtm http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/a9tsa.asp http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/index.shtm http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/veterans_opportunities.shtm http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/veterans_userra.shtm http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/careers/gc_1257531959159.shtm http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/disabilitiesoutreach.shtm http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/disabilities_outreach.shtm%23accommodations http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/disabilities_outreach.shtm%23rules http://www.tsa.gov/join/careers/disabilities_outreach.shtm%23how