The Department of Defense is taking steps to recruit a civilian cyber workforce that can quickly be mobilized for critical missions. Under Congress’s 2016 cyber excepted service initiative, hiring flexibilities while maintaining Title 5 employment rights, benefits, and protections have been extended.
CES will permit DoD to bypass traditional competitive service rules and recruit employees from throughout government. Furthermore, financial incentives will be offered in order to attract and retain top cyber talent.
CES is a mission-focused personnel system
Cyber Exceptioned Service (CES) is a new civil service personnel system designed to enable DoD to recruit highly specialized IT and cybersecurity specialists more easily. Exempt from traditional competitive service rules administered by OPM, CES positions offer more flexible recruitment and retention processes that make recruiting top talent easier; by advertising job openings more widely or hosting job fairs this new system will make recruiting top talent simpler, while simultaneously filling critical vacancies faster within military cyber mission forces.
Air Force CIO Goodwine is confident that CES can help the department compete more successfully with private-sector firms in recruiting cybersecurity specialists. She noted that DoD’s policy allows hiring managers more leeway when recruiting and retaining cybersecurity specialists, and allows the Department to offer more lucrative monetary incentives than private firms can offer. Furthermore, hiring managers have more clarity into understanding civilian cybersecurity employees’ skills and experiences due to CES policies.
CES initiative will give DoD more freedom in recruiting and retaining a skilled civilian cybersecurity workforce that is essential to protecting against cyber attacks, as well as respond quickly and efficiently when threats emerge. In addition, it allows DoD to prioritize resources based on expected outcomes.
CES initiatives will provide current DoD cybersecurity employees with more opportunities and benefits, including a qualification-based approach to promotion, QSI awards up to steps 11 and 12, targeted local market supplements for certain DCWF work role codes, and future career management programs. It is expected that CES will expand to encompass more agencies and locations.
USCYBERCOM will use the Cyber Employment Specialist Hiring Events (CES Hiring Events) to recruit employees for its mission-critical positions and demonstrate how they can assist their fellow service members. Speakers and panels from DoD, AFCC and local community organizations will attend these events; those interested in joining can visit either its website or social media pages for more details and instructions on how to apply.
CES is a flexible personnel system
The Air Force is taking steps to increase recruitment and retention of civilian cyber professionals by enrolling them into its Cyber Excepted Service (CES). This system gives DoD greater flexibility when hiring and managing civilian cyber professionals while offering strong employee protections. Furthermore, hiring managers have greater freedom in setting pay rates for new hires – giving them an edge against private sector employers in competition for talent.
CES stands as an exception to traditional OPM competitive service personnel systems and was approved by Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016. Congress intends for it to provide advantages to DoD and service components when recruiting and retaining highly-skilled personnel by offering flexible hiring processes, unique monetary incentives and career development opportunities for highly qualified personnel.
DoD has, in the past, used active duty military service members to fill gaps in its civilian cybersecurity workforce. While this approach can be time and cost-efficient when absolutely necessary, an easier alternative might be contracting out for individuals that possess appropriate education, experience and hard/soft skills to do the work instead of hiring active duty members from military. Doing this would save both resources as well as increase security of both infrastructure and sensitive data for our nation’s infrastructure and information systems.
One option would be to create a hybrid personnel system that incorporates elements of both Title 5 and Title 10. This approach would enable the Department of Defense to attract top cyber talent while remaining competitive with private sector firms. To test out this approach, the DoD would first implement this new personnel system within U.S. Cyber Command, Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Networks and with their Chief Information Officer of Cybersecurity before expanding it outwards across other DoD organizations and service cyber components.
In the meantime, the Air Force is taking advantage of Congress’ authority to transition its competitive service positions into CES positions voluntarily and within 30 days voluntarily; those who transfer will keep their current performance ratings, retirement benefits and leave accruals as well as apply for promotions, awards or special incentives.
CES is a market-based pay system
The Department of Defense is seeking to hire cyber talent, but is experiencing competition from private companies also hiring. To attract and retain cybersecurity candidates, the Defense has implemented various initiatives under its Cyber Excepted Service (CES) program; such as allowing hiring managers to hire directly and creating market-based pay scales. Congress authorized this initiative so the Pentagon can hire faster while also cutting bureaucracy with less paperwork requirements for hiring processes.
CES is an enterprise-wide approach to managing civilian cyber professionals that aligns with Title 10 and Title 5 provisions, offering greater flexibility for recruitment, retention and development. Service components can use this model to source candidates with more options and post jobs clearly identified as Cyber Excepted Service in various locations. Furthermore, incentives such as targeted local market supplements and cyber restructured allowances will provide for more targeted compensation approaches.
CES has increased their recruiting and hiring efficiency by streamlining the recruiting and hiring process, including shortening resume processing times and permitting hiring managers to set salaries up to two additional steps above OPM pay tables – this will increase hiring power so it can compete more successfully with private employers for top cyber talent.
CES allows the Pentagon to offer an attractive compensation package to employees working in critical agencies, locations and work roles. These monetary incentives aim to retain cybersecurity experts even during periods of budget uncertainty; and also creates a more competitive work environment for existing cyber employees who may want more options on where they wish to work.
Cyber managers who become adept at using the flexible hiring and pay setting authorities provided by CES will be able to recruit more civilian cyber workers. This will enable the Pentagon to meet the increasing demands of its cybersecurity mission. Already, Air Force leaders have leveraged their CES authorities in recruiting civilian cyber professionals as well as offering them various incentives.
CES is a career system
DoD is experiencing an acute shortage of cyber talent and requires a flexible hiring system to attract top IT specialists. Congress granted DoD secretary authority to establish Cyber Excepted Service (CES), an alternative civil service personnel system exempt from traditional Office of Personnel Management competitive service rules that provides more agile recruitment and retention processes – helping DoD fill critical vacancies more rapidly for operational readiness and lethal cyber capability.
The DoD can use the CES to hire employees more quickly, use flexible pay structures, and compete against private sector salaries to recruit top candidates. Furthermore, targeted local market supplements and career broadening swap programs may offer additional financial incentives to attract cyber specialists to join its workforce. Lastly, this resource helps the DoD find candidates who align well with its culture and mission goals.
As current government employees move over to CES positions, their career status, performance ratings, retirement benefits and leave accruals will remain intact. At present, NETCOM is recruiting for these vacancies at various job fairs and through social media. Their aim is to fill all 133 vacancies within six months.
At these events, NETCOM staff interviews candidates on-the-spot and makes same-day job offers to candidates they interview. Most positions available are mid to senior-level jobs with USCYBERCOM specifically looking for experienced IT professionals with cybersecurity experience – at one recent event 18 candidates received offers that same day!
Other benefits of CES include flexible promotion authorities that are not subject to time-in-grade requirements and instead focus on qualifications rather than experience; this enables the DoD to attract top IT talent while developing an agile cyber workforce.
Future expansions to the Cyber Employment Strategy may allow the military to compete more directly against private-sector pay for these positions and create a more diverse civilian workforce, aiding in fulfilling cyber missions more efficiently while safeguarding national security and economy. These changes would enable our armed forces to better meet cyber missions while safeguarding national security and economy from threats.