Public Sector Hiring

Best Practices for Government & Public Sector Resume Screening

Government hiring is broken. The average time-to-hire in public sector is 119 days—more than 3x longer than private sector's 36 days. 60% of candidates abandon applications taking over 15 minutes. One in five public sector jobs sits vacant. And starting September 2025, federal resumes are limited to 2 pages—a massive shift from traditional multi-page federal formats. Veterans get preference points that move them to the top of hiring lists. Security clearances can take 9 months. Skills-based hiring is replacing degree requirements. With 30% of local government workers retirement-eligible and 78% of HR directors struggling to attract talent, resume screening needs to move faster while maintaining merit, compliance, and fairness. Here's how.