A year and a half ago, the Health and Human Services Department moved all its bureaus to an automated staffing system called QuickHire to make the hiring process easier for applicants and faster for managers.
Filling vacancies at the department became anything but easier and faster in February, however, when job seekers and human resources staff found it difficult, often impossible, to access the Web-based system.
After a month of failed attempts by the vendor to fix the problem by upgrading hardware and software, HHS took the system offline March 9 and reverted to the old way of doing business. For most bureaus, that means accepting applications by letter mail or e-mail and manually reviewing each application to determine whoís most qualified for the job.
Filling vacancies is taking longer than before, said Angelia Jarrard, an HR specialist with the departmentís Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Instead of simply confirming the list of top candidates that QuickHire would automatically generate for each job, HR staff now must rate and rank each applicant by hand. Attempts to fix the system also added delays because agencies extended open job announcements several weeks with the expectation the problems would soon be fixed.
ìSome of the vacancies we had open just had to be completely canceled and redone,î Jarrard said.
HHS isnít the only agency experiencing problems with QuickHire. The system has been down for more than two weeks at three Homeland Security Department bureaus: Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In addition, a faulty server caused job sites to go down March 18 at a handful of other agencies using QuickHire, including the Interior Departmentís Bureau of Land Management. Monster Government Solutions, the developer of QuickHire, replaced the server and restored service for those affected job sites that day, Marketing Manager Renee Henrich said in a March 24 statement.
The issues at HHS and the Homeland Security bureaus are more complicated, however. Henrich attributed the problems to ìan unanticipated and exceptionally high volume of applicants and open positionsî at those agencies. Spokesmen for the affected agencies confirmed the sites were generating more activity when the problems began.
ìWe have been working together with these agencies on a daily basis to develop short- and long-term solutions for each job site,î Henrich said. ìAt this time it is unclear how long the sites will be unavailable, but we remain committed to resolving the situations with these agencies as soon as possible.î
Henrich said Monster is working with agencies using QuickHire to anticipate and manage surges in Web activity.
Monsterís performance issues come at an inopportune time for the company, which is awaiting word on whether its contract for managing the governmentís primary online recruitment system will be extended. The Office of Personnel Management held a competition late last summer for the USAJOBS Recruitment One-Stop contract and is reviewing bids, OPM spokeswoman Susan Bryant said. OPM expects to make its selection within a month, she said.
Monsterís contract expired Sept. 30, although Bryant said the company continues to manage the USAJOBS site under a bridge agreement with OPM. Bryant declined to say what impact, if any, Monsterís current performance problems with other agencies would have on the USAJOBS contract decision.
USAJOBS itself isnít having any performance problems, OPM said.
At this point, managers affected by the QuickHire Web problems seem to be taking the inconveniences mostly in stride.
Barbara Morrissey, an HR specialist in the Bureau of Land Managementís Denver office who oversees that agencyís QuickHire system, said she has anticipated some technical snags as the agency moves to a fully integrated Web-based staffing system. BLM uses QuickHire only for the front-end collection and sorting of applications, although itís expanding its use of the software so HR staff will be able to review lists of applicants and send those to hiring managers through the system.
ìI think with technology, there are always some glitches and bumps,î Morrissey said. ìI know what it was like in the old days. I donít want to go back to paper.î
CDC appears to be faring better than many of its fellow HHS bureaus. Before adopting QuickHire, CDC had developed its own Web-based system for accepting job applications thatís able to create a list of top candidates based on the manual rating and ranking of each applicantís qualifications by HR specialists, Jarrard said. CDC resurrected its homegrown system when QuickHire went down and will continue to use it until the QuickHire problems are resolved.
ìWeíre moving forward,î Jarrard said. ìItís a little slow, but weíre moving forward.î
Online hiring systems crash - slow HR work
Filling vacancies at the department became anything but easier and faster in February
