Pentagon Pilot Cuts Army Hiring Time to 47 Days

The Army cut average civilian hiring time from 161 days to 47 in a Pentagon pilot, as the Defense Department works to rebuild a workforce it gutted last year. The program used artificial intelligence and consolidated recruiting steps, Michael Cogar, who oversees the department's civilian personnel policies, said.

Hiring Made Faster

The Army's Civilian Human Resources Agency, its Military Entrance Processing Command and the Defense Logistics Agency ran the pilot. AI analysis tools and new workflows cut the time spent on tasks before a job posting from 40 days to six, and reduced the selection phase from 18 days to four, Cogar said.

HR specialists can use AI to generate job announcements, vet resumes and present a slate of candidates. Before the changes, specialists spent eight hours a day sifting through disconnected databases and filling out templates manually. Cogar described how the job's duties should change: “The HR professional ceases to be a data-entry clerk,” he said. “They become an elite talent scout, a strategic advisor to the brigade commander and an active manager of the candidate experience.”

The department hasn't said how many people the pilot hired or how it could scale the results across the military. Pentagon leaders want to extend a firm job offer within 30 days of a job posting. Cogar said the pilot shows that target is possible.

Vacancies and the Workforce

Cogar said hiring delays can threaten national security when military jobs remain vacant. At the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference in Washington on Oct. 14, he described waits of 180 days, or 300 days in an overseas theater, to hire specialists and machinists.

“When a command takes 180 days, or in our overseas theater, 300 days, to hire an artificial intelligence specialist, a cyber operations engineer or an organic industrial-based machinist, we do not simply just lose a qualified candidate to the private sector. We lose our operational edge,” he said. His examples included jobs in artificial intelligence, cyber operations and the organic industrial base.

The Defense Department overhauled 11 direct-hire authority policies, which allow agencies to fill vacancies in critical fields more quickly. The department gave service secretaries and agency directors authority to make direct hires for certain essential roles; they can pass those decisions to manpower teams. Hiring managers also received more leeway on decisions HR typically handles.

“Using direct hiring authority is not an exception, it is the expectation,” Cogar said. The department also mandated that military spouses be considered for open positions and expanded the ability to telework while overseas.

Bonuses and Policy Changes

The department has awarded more than $1 billion in bonuses to more than 90,000 employees it identifies as top performers. Cogar said the awards averaged over $13,000 apiece and formed part of a new effort to reward and retain the workforce in the past year. Certain civilian leaders and colonels may offer up to 25% of a person's base pay as a recruitment, relocation or retention incentive without approval from higher headquarters.

Policy changes must come with changes to processes and technology, Cogar said. “We can write the most forward-leaning policy in the world, but if an operational requirement sits in a queue for 45 days waiting for a position description and another 30 days for a resume routing, policy means nothing.”

He urged Army officials to identify and fix policies and procedures that hinder efforts to build a stronger civilian corps. Cogar said the department had spent decades building “a bureaucratic fortress to protect ourselves from administrative risk,” creating what he called “severe operational risk.” Slow recruitment, he said, leaves high-performing employees carrying extra burdens and can drain morale and degrade readiness. He said, “That era is over.” The department hasn't disclosed the pilot's hiring total or how broadly it can be applied.