politicizing the apolitical civil service: OPM's new 'Merit' Hiring Plan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm, what's wrong with any of this?

The part where it says “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role” is the last thing any of us should want for federal hires. This is asking explicitly for people who have a partisan leaning. Why would it be good for the country if we hire only people who have a political bent? That’s exactly what the current administration has been trying (incompetently and ill-advisedly) to find and weed out.

Umm, you work for the President. If you can't work with his priorities and orders, then you shouldn't work for the Government.

If they are legally implanted and funded by Congress, absolutely. A half a## EO that is immediately enjoined? Not so much. You follow the statutes and regulations applicable to your position. Not Trumps tweets. And he can break the law. The rest of us cannot.

I’m a lawyer. You can’t make a false representation to a Court, or sign a brief that does so without risking your law license. But now Trump political are asking attorneys to lie, obfuscate, mislead, etc. At which point you resign, like a lot of DOJ has.

Trump isn’t a king.

+100%

Likewise, in the military, the Uniform Code of Military Justice says that if you are given an unconstitutional or unlawful order by a superior, not only can you disobey it, you are legally bound to disobey it.

This "DA PREZIDENT IZ DA BOSS AN YOU DO WHAT HE SAY" mentality does not fly and only demonstrates the cluelessness, naivete and/or lack of critical thinking of those who presume to want Trump to be king.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reviewing four essays that are unrelated to the actual skills and knowledge of the position will not speed up hiring or make the process more efficient.

Though I agree with a push to bring in more young employees, I no longer recommend government service to new grads based on what this admin has done to the workforce.

Yes, I highly discourage any young people from going into government service early in their career. If they want to support the mission, they should build a professional network and portfolio and join in their late 40’s or early 50’s.

Both my kids wanted to join the government, one in science and one the foreign service. I’m strongly encouraging them not to.

My highly intelligent and capable kid just graduated with a highly sought-after STEM major and had been interested in working for the government. But with Trump and all of the chaos he's sown, my kid is no longer interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OPM's new hiring plan calls for flag pins and few intellectuals. Or more specifically, according the Federal News Network
>
Federal hiring too often focuses on elite universities and credentials, instead of merit, practical skill, and commitment to American ideals,” the strategy states.

OPM and the White House are calling on agencies to focus their recruitment efforts on state universities, religious colleges and universities, and community colleges — and reach out to students at high schools, trade and technical schools, homeschooling groups, faith-based groups and 4-H youth programs about careers in the federal workforce.
<


Applicants for federal jobs will also be required to answer four essay questions, of which one is “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.”


https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/05/governmentwide-hiring-plan-calls-on-agencies-to-recruit-patriotic-americans-into-federal-workforce/

Joke's on them. Most agencies have been hiring in places other than elite universities for a long time now. But this current administration called all of those hires DEI hires.

[Anonymous]

It's weird Republicans think lots of feds are from elite universities.

Most of those folks can make more money elsewhere and tend to only be at the very top of agencies.

Oh well, most people under 40 aren't going to chose a federal career after all this anyhow.

[Anonymous]

Where besides DOJ, SEC, and perhaps a few other agencies honors programs hires from elite universities? I went to Washington U St Louis, and went to the most "prestigious" school within my division at my agency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OPM's new hiring plan calls for flag pins and few intellectuals. Or more specifically, according the Federal News Network
>
Federal hiring too often focuses on elite universities and credentials, instead of merit, practical skill, and commitment to American ideals,” the strategy states.

OPM and the White House are calling on agencies to focus their recruitment efforts on state universities, religious colleges and universities, and community colleges — and reach out to students at high schools, trade and technical schools, homeschooling groups, faith-based groups and 4-H youth programs about careers in the federal workforce.
<


Applicants for federal jobs will also be required to answer four essay questions, of which one is “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.”


https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/05/governmentwide-hiring-plan-calls-on-agencies-to-recruit-patriotic-americans-into-federal-workforce/

These sort of ideological loyalty pledges have no place ina free society. Whether it's trump trying to create a trumpian environment in the federal service or harvard trying to create a woke environment in academia. Unless you are applying for a job in the clergy, your beliefs are your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OPM's new hiring plan calls for flag pins and few intellectuals. Or more specifically, according the Federal News Network
>
Federal hiring too often focuses on elite universities and credentials, instead of merit, practical skill, and commitment to American ideals,” the strategy states.

OPM and the White House are calling on agencies to focus their recruitment efforts on state universities, religious colleges and universities, and community colleges — and reach out to students at high schools, trade and technical schools, homeschooling groups, faith-based groups and 4-H youth programs about careers in the federal workforce.
<


Applicants for federal jobs will also be required to answer four essay questions, of which one is “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.”


https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/05/governmentwide-hiring-plan-calls-on-agencies-to-recruit-patriotic-americans-into-federal-workforce/

These sort of ideological loyalty pledges have no place in a free society. Whether it's trump trying to create a trumpian environment in the federal service or harvard trying to create a woke environment in academia. Unless you are applying for a job in the clergy, your beliefs are your own.

Obviously you should be willing to affirm your loyalty to the constitution but not political correctness from the left OR the right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm, what's wrong with any of this?

The part where it says “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role” is the last thing any of us should want for federal hires. This is asking explicitly for people who have a partisan leaning. Why would it be good for the country if we hire only people who have a political bent? That’s exactly what the current administration has been trying (incompetently and ill-advisedly) to find and weed out.

Umm, you work for the President. If you can't work with his priorities and orders, then you shouldn't work for the Government.

If they are legally implanted and funded by Congress, absolutely. A half a## EO that is immediately enjoined? Not so much. You follow the statutes and regulations applicable to your position. Not Trumps tweets. And he can break the law. The rest of us cannot.

I’m a lawyer. You can’t make a false representation to a Court, or sign a brief that does so without risking your law license. But now Trump political are asking attorneys to lie, obfuscate, mislead, etc. At which point you resign, like a lot of DOJ has.

Trump isn’t a king.

This. We swear an oath to uphold the constitution. As long as Trump’s orders do not violate the law, we have zero problems implementing them. But they must be legal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm, what's wrong with any of this?

The part where it says “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role” is the last thing any of us should want for federal hires. This is asking explicitly for people who have a partisan leaning. Why would it be good for the country if we hire only people who have a political bent? That’s exactly what the current administration has been trying (incompetently and ill-advisedly) to find and weed out.

Umm, you work for the President. If you can't work with his priorities and orders, then you shouldn't work for the Government.

Federal workers work for the American people, not the President.

Ok, I'm an American citizen, so I can tell you what to do? Cool. Do what the President says to do.

Is that how it works?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm, what's wrong with any of this?

The part where it says “How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role” is the last thing any of us should want for federal hires. This is asking explicitly for people who have a partisan leaning. Why would it be good for the country if we hire only people who have a political bent? That’s exactly what the current administration has been trying (incompetently and ill-advisedly) to find and weed out.

Umm, you work for the President. If you can't work with his priorities and orders, then you shouldn't work for the Government.

Federal workers work for the American people, not the President.

Ok, I'm an American citizen, so I can tell you what to do? Cool. Do what the President says to do.

Is that how it works?

No. You swear an oath to the Constitution, not a person. It's not Russia or North Korea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: when Ashcroft wanted modesty garments out of nude statues).

Fake news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: when Ashcroft wanted modesty garments out of nude statues).

Fake news.

The word used was Wanted. Which is not fake news. I was there during this debate. I did not say it happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird Republicans think lots of feds are from elite universities.

Most of those folks can make more money elsewhere and tend to only be at the very top of agencies.

Oh well, most people under 40 aren't going to chose a federal career after all this anyhow.

This.
And lots of fed jobs require nothing more than a high school diploma. Such as the Foreign Service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm, what's wrong with any of this?

Not all federal jobs are political. Without a test how would we know if these places have a criteria for being better than current hiring? Why isn't this just DEI?

Every federal worker who is not a political appointee is apolitical. That has been the law for a hundred years and was designed in the wake of scandals that made the federal government dysfunctional.

And now we're ending woke. Scandals ars back in style

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Trump is creating the deep state that he claims to be fighting?

Exactly. And sadly the delusional, misinformed MAGAs have no problem with this because they've been operating under the false belief that this is already how America operates, but now it's somehow "good" because Trump is in charge of it.

Every accusation is a confession