OPM Wants to Upgrade IT Systems to Improve Cyber Talent Acquisition

The White House’s Office of Personnel Management is looking to upgrade its personnel system to better compete with other agencies in terms of hiring cybersecurity talent.

OPM Director Kiran Ahuja acknowledged the government-wide demand for cybersecurity talent during a Dec. 3 webinar hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration.

The Department of Homeland Security, for example, is keen on building a cybersecurity talent pipeline for its new Cybersecurity Service. The agency is in the process of hiring the first cohort of employees ranging from entry- to expert-level professionals specializing in areas such as digital forensics and cybersecurity threat analysis.

Ahuja said the challenge in talent recruitment lies in equalizing the playing field, FedScoop reported.

The OPM is hoping to upgrade its health benefits comparison tool by applying for a grant from the Technology Modernization Fund. Other priorities for the OPM are updating its retirement calculator and launching a retirement application.

On her end, Ajuha said she recently approved critical pay increases for a couple of cyber positions within OPM.

In addition to its individualistic efforts to acquire cybersecurity specialists, the OPM, as the federal leader in enterprise human resources management, is committed to ensuring other organizations can hire top talent.

The OPM is currently in the preparation phase of launching a USAJobs .gov website for key infrastructure hiring governmentwide.

Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha is also working on improving government-wide talent acquisition. He has his sights set on adopting a workforce recruitment strategy similar to the U.S. Digital Service’s tour-of-duty model to attract federal tech talent in the short term.