All Things Being SME-QA
In federal hiring, the letters in SME-QA represent this process where experts and HR work together to evaluate candidates.
What is "Subject Matter Expert - Qualification Assessments"?
This bias occurs when hiring managers favor candidates who share similar backgrounds, interests, or characteristics, potentially overlooking more qualified individuals.
What is "Affinity/Similarity Bias"?
To ensure consistency, reduce bias, and maintain employer branding, what structured tool is recommended during the resume review process?
What is "a rubric"?
This 2015 act allows federal agencies to share lists of eligible candidates, streamlining recruitment and reducing redundant hiring efforts.
What is "The Competitive Service Act"?
This play focuses on aligning federal job titles with industry standards to attract top talent and improve transparency.
What is "Play 1: Modernize Job Titles "?
True or False: In a multiple-assessment process, applicants can be marked unqualified after each stage, and preference is applied only to those who pass all hurdles.
What is True?
This bias involves forming judgments about a candidate based on their appearance or behavior during the initial moments of an interaction, rather than their qualifications.
What is "First Impression Bias"?
In tech hiring, these evaluations include coding tests, take-home assignments, and structured interviews, focusing on both technical and behavioral skills.
What are "skills-based assessments"?
Under the Competitive Service Act, shared certificates can be reused within this time frame from the date of issue.
What is "240 days"?
This play encourages building relationships with tech talent before job openings by hosting events and outreach campaigns.
What is "Play 5: Engage Tech Talent Upstream"?
This guest speaker, a Product Lead for the U.S. Digital Service who focuses on improving federal hiring processes and modernizing digital services, presented on SME-QA during week 6 of the course.
Who is "Will Slack"?
This bias happens when one positive or negative trait of a candidate disproportionately influences the perception of their overall suitability for the role.
What is "Halo/Horn Effect"?
This type of interview ensures consistency and fairness by asking all candidates the same questions in the same order, with evaluation based on predetermined criteria.
What is "a structured interview"?
This hiring mechanism enables agencies to access pre-qualified candidates through shared certificates on USAJOBS, supporting a high-performing and diverse federal workforce.
What is "Pooled Hiring"?
This play emphasizes improving the candidate journey through transparent communication, automated updates, and clear roadmaps.
What is "Play 6: Elevate the Tech Candidate Experience"?
In the SME-QA process, less time is spent by HR specialists on this initial step, as compared to the traditional hiring process, where HR performs a full qualifications review. Instead, SMEs take over to evaluate applicants’ technical competencies through structured assessments.
What is "Resume Review"?
This bias unfairly evaluates candidates based on their speech patterns, accents, or tone of voice, rather than their skills or abilities.
What is "Accent/Speech/Voice Bias"?
This key hiring metric measures the total time from job posting to offer acceptance, reflecting the efficiency of the hiring process.
What is "time-to-hire"?
Your agency is hiring for a GS-12 Data Scientist position. The shared certificate includes candidates from the Data Analyst occupational series at a GS-9 grade level. Can the shared cert be used in this case?
What is "No"?
(The shared cert cannot be used because the candidates do not align with the correct occupational series and grade level for the Data Scientist position.)
To handle high applicant volumes efficiently, this play suggests using shared certificates, rolling pools, and tailored assessments.
What is "Play 4: Balance Volume and Quality"?
In skills-based hiring, where does the government identify job tasks, associated competencies, and relevant proficiency levels to inform the creation of assessments?
What is "In the Job Analysis"?
This bias occurs when interviewers are swayed by the opinions of others on the hiring panel, rather than making independent evaluations.
What is "Conformity Bias"?
According to the USA Staffing's Time to Hire Overview, with a 2-week job opening window, what is the aspirational time-to-hire goal (in days) from application to offer acceptance?
What is "80 days"?
This Director of OPM's Hiring Experience Group, who specializes in pooled and shared hiring actions, presented on the topic during our Week 7 class.
Who is "Roseanna Ciarlante"?
This play focuses on creating specialized roles like sourcing specialists and using dashboards to address complex hiring needs.
What is "Play 7: Developing a Talent Team"?