The landscape for Federal hiring has changed dramatically in the past 12 months. The Chance to Compete Act of 2024 (CCA), Executive Order 14170 (Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service, January 20, 2025) and the Merit Hiring Plan (MHP, issued May 29, 2025) require Federal agencies to: a) incorporate skills-based assessments into their hiring processes; and b) eliminate the use of self-rating assessment questionnaires that have been used pervasively across government for many years. The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the central agency for providing human resources solutions to Federal agencies. Through its Human Resources Solutions (HRS) Federal Staffing Center (FSC) USA Hire Program Office, OPM provides Federal agencies with high-quality assessment tools through a centralized assessment platform that meets the goal of more efficient evaluation of applicants and better-quality hires across government. USA Hire includes a range of assessment solutions that can help agencies meet skills-based assessment requirements. In Fiscal Year 2024, USA Hire customer agencies used the program to assess approximately 1 million applicants for over 20,000 job opportunity announcements; OPM expects continued exponential growth in the use of its assessments in future fiscal years. USA Hire ? provides an online assessment program designed specifically to meet the hiring needs of government agencies. Federal agencies need professionally developed and validated assessment tools to identify highly qualified and proficient applicants and ultimately make the best hires. Better assessments can lead to better hires and a stronger workforce that builds a high-performing organization set up to achieve mission success. USA Hire currently offers off-the-shelf assessment batteries covering over 800 individual job series/grade combinations, off-the-shelf assessment batteries covering skills and competencies shared across jobs (e.g., project management, writing, data skills, supervisory skills), and custom assessment batteries targeting the needs of individual agencies, access to test center locations worldwide, and a broad array of assessment and IT expertise. HRS can develop, customize, and deliver assessment solutions that effectively and efficiently meet the needs of Federal agencies. USA Hire was built specifically for use in the Federal Government; USA Hire fully integrates with USA Staffing®; USA Hire meets all Federal IT standards; and USA Hire maintains high levels of security, accessibility, and usability. Agencies use the USA Hire platform to administer a wide variety of online assessments such as traditional multiple-choice assessments, sophisticated work simulations, video-based assessments, computer adaptive tests (CAT), computer-scored writing assessments, video-based interviews, and more. USA Hire currently blends state-of-the-art assessments and technology-enabled assessment delivery solutions to modernize and transform the Federal hiring process. Through USA Hire, Federal agencies have access to online assessment (proctored and un-proctored) products and services with the goals of helping to manage large applicant pools, improving the quality of hires, decreasing the time-to-hire, minimizing applicant burden, and improving the applicant experience. USA Hire is part of an integrated solution that currently combines HRS’ internal expertise (e.g., Industrial/Organizational Psychology, staff acquisition), assessment technology resources (USAJOBS and USA Staffing) with the external capabilities of industry partner(s). USA Hire includes computer adaptive testing technology. All assessments are fully compliant with Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, and video-based items are supported by an HTML5-based video player and allow for closed-captioned videos. USA Hire also complies with all Federal IT security and privacy mandates.
