Another view ...
... Why it matters: Meant to serve as guidelines to focus hiring on merit, the memo is the latest move from the Trump administration to politicize the civil service, eroding, more than a century of law and tradition meant to insulate career employees from politics, critics say.
Where it stands: Candidates for civil service jobs " including janitors, nurses, surgeons, engineers, lawyers and economists " are to be asked four questions on their level of patriotism and support for the president's policies.
- - - They are to answer in essay form, at a maximum of 200 words, and certify that they did not use help from artificial intelligence.
How it works: "How would you help advance the President's Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role?" reads the third question, which is garnering a lot of attention.
- - - It continues: "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."
Zoom out: These questions have nothing to do with a candidate's merit or skills, says Jeri Buchholz, a former chief human capital officer who led HR at NASA and ran HR at other federal agencies for decades.
- - - "When you're doing hiring, traditionally by law, you have to focus on the knowledge, skills and abilities required for the position," she says.
- - - The questions "are philosophical. They're not even aptitude related. And I'm very unclear how you score that." ...
