Chances are applicants for information technology positions at the Internal Revenue Service haven’t interviewed for their positions or demonstrated their skills and the agency is pushing to keep it that way despite recommendations from the inspector general’s office.
A June 2 inspector general report found that of 335 individuals the IRS hired for IT during fiscal year 2020, the vast majority—84%—are deficient in one or more “mission-critical” skills for their position.
“While it is unlikely that all skill gap deficiencies can be eliminated, interviews and hiring assessments may allow the IRS the opportunity to hire individuals who possess more of the mission-critical skills required,” the auditors wrote.
Due in part to demands created by tax legislation in 2017, the IRS used surge and direct hiring authorities to staff roles in critical information technology and cybersecurity as many of its more experienced employees in the space prepare to retire. The agency was trying to fill 2,427 positions in two years, and the special hiring authorities allow circumventing aspects of the competitive process.
The report divides the IT workforce into seven functions: applications development, enterprise operations, user and network services, enterprise services, strategy and planning, cybersecurity, and the enterprise program management office. Among the 14 mission-critical skills considered are acquisition, data analysis, cybersecurity and software, although software was not included in the IRS’ skills gap reports.
Additionally, not all of the seven IT functions participate in a skills gap mitigations. “As a result, there could be more skills that need to be addressed,” according to the report. “This further supports the need for IT organization management to review and assess all mission-critical skill gap reports for their staff.”
The IRS agreed with the inspec ..
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