Stabilization and Reconstruction Staffing - RAND Corporation

86 Stabilization and Reconstruction Staffing: Developing U.S. Civilian PersonnelHR system managers should consider personnel from varioussources, such as civil servants, members of state and local governments,and private-sector personnel, as appropriate, for a given billet.A detailed analysis of JMD billets would provide significant amountsof information about which personnel sources are most appropriate forwhich billets. To do this, consideration should be given to the functionalrequirements of each position and to where the expertise foridentifying those requirements can be found. Second, considerationshould be given to which systems have the best chance of recruiting thebest personnel. Options include using U.S. government HR systemsand contracting with private-sector firms to identify personnel thatthe U.S. government would hire either as government employees or ascontract personnel. These decisions should also be based on an analysisof the JMD billets and the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. governmentHR systems. Within the U.S. government, consideration shouldbe given to which agency HR systems could find the best people foreach billet.To attract the right people and keep them available for deployment,attention must be paid to inducements and impediments torecruiting and retention. As discussed in Chapter Four, personnel managershave many tools for creating incentives for interested personnel.Furthermore, innovative as well as standard management tools shouldbe considered for this function. For example, the State Departmentcurrently keeps a database of retired FSOs who are willing to considerdeploying on such operations, and several other databases list privateindividuals with specific skills who are willing to help with general orspecific causes. All such approaches should be considered.Once people are designated against specific billets on the JMD,care must be given to retaining them, which involves providing trainingas well as incentives. Training for SSTR operations will be relativelyexpensive. As well, the ability to operate as an organization will