New Data Scientist Hiring Toolkit, Amid Calls to Revamp Fed Data Job Series

The Biden Administration wants to bring more data scientists into the federal workforce, and now there’s a new toolkit to help managers do so.

The Data Science Hiring Toolkit was developed by the Chief Data Officers (CDO) Council with significant input from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the Excellence in Government Fellowship Program (EIG).

The toolkit provides guidance on the best ways to hire data scientists, which are usually Series 1560 positions.

Data scientists apply skills in quantitative analysis, computer science, mathematics, and statistics to interpret large, often unstructured data sets and explore unknown insights. Such insights give managers and leadership valuable information to make data-driven decisions on agency operations and management.

Common positions include work at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Census Bureau.

“It is well-positioned to assist both candidates and hiring managers in the recruiting and hiring processes,” stated the toolkit’s authors.

The toolkit includes insights on how to do the following: 

• hire a diverse workforce

• appropriately scope skills and responsibilities in position descriptions

• choose the suitable job series for a data science position

• develop substantial interview questions

• effectively prepare candidates and hiring managers for the hiring process

It also reviews hiring incentives and programs such as the Internship, Recent Graduates and Presidential Management Fellows Programs.

The toolkit will be updated as the field of data science evolves.

Data Positions Need Clearer Path

This comes as CDO Council Vice Chair Rob King told FedScoop that the federal government needs to create a clearer path for data scientists in the federal government, to keep such workers on the federal payroll. 

King said that there are limitations with the existing data-related job series and that the current roles in series 1560 and series 1515 (operational research) are at the end of the data lifecycle. Instead, he urges creating a career path that focuses on managing data before it gets to the end of the lifecycle.

“These are foundational roles that we need to be successful as a data profession, especially as we find ourselves in the AI tsunami,” said King.