6.332.1 Workforce Recruitment Strategies

Manual Transmittal

July 28, 2023

Purpose

(1) This transmits revised IRM 6.332.1 Workforce Recruitment Strategy.

Material Changes

(1) IRM 6.332.1.1 – Added Program Scope and Objectives, Background, Roles and Responsibilities, Commonly Used Acronyms and Terms and Definitions to address internal controls in accordance with IRM 1.11.2.2.5

(2) Throughout document updated name of IRS Recruitment Office to the Strategic Talent Analytics & Recruitment Solutions (STARS) Office

(3) IRM 6.332.1.2 – Added the STARS Office mission to the IRM. The STARS Office mission was established when the STARS Office was formed

(4) Throughout document updated names of Divisions in Human Capital Office (HCO), Employment Talent and Security Division (ETS), Employment Office (EO) to the following: Talent Acquisition (TA), Program Execution Office (PEO), and Policy & Audits (P&A)

(5) IRM 6.332.1.2.1 – Added social media to update the flexible resources available for recruitment purposes

(6) IRM 6.332.1.3.1 – Added language to indicate that the STARS Office maintains an inventory of recruitment handouts and brochures

(7) IRM 6.332.1.8 – Added language to indicate that the STARS Office is responsible for creating and revising marketing tools

Effect on Other Documents

This IRM supersedes IRM 6.332.1, Workforce Recruitment Strategies, dated February 26, 2010.

Audience

All business units and functions

Effective Date

(07-28-2023)

Traci M. DiMartini, IRS Human Capital Officer

Program Scope and Objectives

  1. Purpose. This IRM provides Servicewide policy, standards, requirements, and guidance relating to strategic recruitment activities within the IRS. This IRM must be read and interpreted in accordance with pertinent law, governmentwide regulations, Treasury Human Resources Directives, as well as applicable case law. All previous official Servicewide policy, guidance, requirements, and authorities formerly contained in memoranda, guides, and other documents are incorporated into this IRM, if current and applicable.

  2. Audience. Unless otherwise indicated, the policies, authorities, procedures, and instructions contained in this IRM apply to all business units. For employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, such as Document 11678, National Agreement (NA) - IRS and National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), should any of the policies in this IRM conflict with a provision of the NA or other negotiated agreement, the agreement prevails.

  3. Policy Owner. IRS Human Capital Officer

  4. Program Owner. HCO, Office of Human Resources Operations (OHRO), Talent Acquisition (TA), Program Execution Office (PEO), the Strategic Talent Analytics & Recruitment Solutions (STARS) Office

  5. Primary Stakeholders. HCO, OHRO, TA, PEO and STARS

  6. Program Goals. Following the policy in this IRM supports the IRS’s goal of building and maintaining a diverse, highly skilled workforce. This IRM is designed to provide IRS guidance relating to strategic talent analytic and recruitment solutions.

Background

  1. This IRM is part of the Servicewide effort to provide IRS Human Resource practitioners with the most current policies and procedures from the HCO, Policy & Audits Office (P&A).

  2. This IRM reflects the role of the IRS Recruitment Office/STARS Office in meeting the over-arching recruitment goals of the IRS. It includes policy and guidance on strategic recruitment activities ranging from marketing materials and campaigns (print, radio, television, and internet) to recruitment activities and strategy.

  3. This IRM also establishes the relationship between the IRS Recruiting Branch, the STARS Office, and other IRS operating divisions and business units.

Authority

  1. Laws:https://uscode.house.gov

  2. Public Laws:https://www.congress.gov

    1. Public Law No. 93-112, as amended, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/house-bill/8070/text

  3. Regulations:https://www.ecfr.gov

    1. 5 CFR 332, Recruitment and Selection Through Competitive Examination at: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-332

    2. 5 CFR 307, Veteran’s Recruitment Appointments at:https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-307

  4. Other:

    1. Executive Order 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce dated June 25, 2021 at:https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/06/30/2021-14127/diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce

    2. Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government dated January 20, 2021 at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/25/2021-01753/advancing-racial-equity

    3. Executive Order 13583, Establishing a Coordinated Governmentwide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce dated August 18, 2011 and later revised into Executive Order 14035 at:https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2011/08/23/2011-21704/establishing-a-coordinated-government-wide-initiative-to-promote-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the

    4. Governmentwide Strategic Plan to Advance Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce distributed by the Office of Personnel Management at:https://www.opm.gov/about-us/our-mission-role-history/agency-deia-strategic-plan/deia-overview

Responsibilities

  1. The Human Capital Officer is the executive responsible for this IRM and overall Servicewide policy for recruitment and hiring.

  2. HCO, OHRS, P&A is responsible for developing, maintaining, and publishing content in this IRM.

  3. HCO, OHRO, TA, PEO and the STARS Office are responsible for:

    1. Policy application and compliance with this IRM

    2. Ensuring vacancy announcements meet regulation and contain appropriate language for appointment

    3. Serving as the primary point of contact for hiring managers

    4. Obtaining clarification from P&A on policy guidance and program requirements as needed

    5. Initiating and coordinating the IRS Affirmative Action Plan for the employment of persons with disabilities with the HCO, TA, the STARS Office, Employment Office, Office of Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and Treasury

  4. All IRS managers are responsible for ensuring government resources are used efficiently and effectively, with a minimum potential for waste, fraud and mismanagement. They must administer procedures covered in this IRM with integrity and in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.

Program Management and Review

  1. This IRM provides policy guidance on workforce hiring strategies to build a diverse and highly skilled IRS workforce. The HCO, OHRS, P&A gauges the effectiveness of this policy based on feedback from customers and staff members. During the review and publishing of this IRM, sections are added or removed based on statutory and/or regulatory changes and based in part on this process.

Program Controls

  1. The STARS Office manages the Servicewide recruitment strategy. The recruitment strategy supports and balances all division and business unit hiring needs, allocates resources to recruiting campaigns and activities that support consistent messaging, ensures continuation of regional relationships with recruiting sources and field and campus responsibilities of local recruiting efforts.

Terms and Definitions

  1. The following table defines terms contained in this IRM:

    Terms Definitions
    Recruitment The action of enlisting new people to be employed by the IRS
    Social Media Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking
    Affinity Employee organizations within the IRS with members and stakeholders
    Primary Schools Tier 1 of 3 in the STARS Office selected colleges and universities identified by Return On Investment assessment, and feedback from IRS stakeholders and corporate recruiters
    Secondary Schools Tier 2 of 3 in the STARS Office selected colleges and universities identified by Return On Investment assessment, and feedback from IRS stakeholders and corporate recruiters
    Supplemental Schools Tier 3 of 3 in the STARS Office selected colleges and universities identified by Return On Investment assessment, and feedback from IRS stakeholders and corporate recruiters

Acronyms

  1. The following table provides acronyms contained in this IRM:

    Acronyms Definitions
    CI Criminal Investigation
    C&L Communication & Liaison
    EDI Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
    HCO Human Capital Office
    OHRO Office of Human Resource Operations
    OHRS Office of Human Resource Strategy
    OPERA Office of Program Evaluation and Risk Analysis
    OPM Office of Personnel Management
    P&A Policy & Audits
    PEO Program Execution Office
    STARS Strategic Talent Analytics & Recruitment Solutions
    TA Talent Acquisition

STARS Office Mission

  1. The mission of the STARS Office is to support and develop the IRS recruitment goal of establishing the IRS as a leading employer of choice by identifying, recruiting, and developing a workforce that attracts highly skilled and diverse candidates.

  2. The STARS Office mission has been modeled after the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) publication Building and Maintaining a Diverse and High-Quality Workforce, a Guide for Federal Agencies found at: www.opm.gov/news/releases/2022/07/fact-sheet-building-a-better-workforce-for-the-american-people.

STARS Office Strategies and Objectives

  1. The STARS Office accomplishes its mission by:

    1. Establishing a data-driven annual recruiting plan to include a single set of Servicewide recruiting targets. Targeted recruitment efforts, such as geographic locations and/or candidate’s segments are based on long-term workforce needs, the efficient use of resources, and the annual recruitment plan. These efforts ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion considerations are addressed.

    2. Partnering directly with all operating divisions and business units including HCO, EDI, and IRS affinity groups to ensure that all recruitment efforts are incorporated or reflected in the corporate recruitment strategy.

    3. Strategically managing relationships with key contacts at gateway institutions and organizations that are included in the recruitment marketing strategy. This includes the use of a diverse set of flexible resources that can be adjusted to meet variable recruitment needs such as banners, tablecloths, email content, social media, flyers, recruitment and information sessions, and other materials.

    4. Using standardized high-quality recruitment marketing materials to present a consistent IRS brand message specifically tailored to attract identified, desirable candidate segments and market the IRS as an employer of choice.

    5. Maintaining relationships with job candidates throughout the recruitment cycle using established tracking systems and communication processes.

    6. Tracking effectiveness and return on investment of recruitment activities through continual analysis of performance measures that are aligned to IRS and HCO strategic goals, incorporating continuous process evaluations and improvements.

    7. Providing guidance and approval to field activities and business partners on recruitment activities such as videos, handouts and material that will be released, in coordination with Communication & Liaison Office (C&L) Office, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Office (EDI) and the IRS Design Office.

STARS Directorate

  1. The STARS Office is an office under HCO, TA.

  2. The STARS Associate Director is the advisor to the Chief Human Capital Officer on strategic recruitment issues.

  3. Four branches report to the STARS Office Director:

    1. Operational Recruitment Staffing Branch

    2. Recruitment Branch

    3. Special Emphasis Programs Branch

    4. Outreach & Talent Analytics Branch

STARS Office Marketing and Media

  1. The STARS Office manages strategic recruitment contracts that include: media and marketing, job boards, the IRS Careers Website, media buys, and other recruitment related functions.

Strategic Employment Marketing

  1. A permanent media presence is vital to the continual improvement of the IRS image as an employer of choice. The STARS Office is responsible for strategically communicating the benefits of IRS employment to potential employees.

Campaign Design

  1. The STARS Office designs employment marketing campaigns using the research, analysis and design services available through the IRS’s employment marketing contract. Campaign design activities include conducting research on media placement, job advertisements and direct marketing components, using research from focus groups, analyzing industry best practices, evaluating proposals, developing prototypes and final products, all of which supports the IRS Careers website at: www.jobs.irs.gov.

IRS Employment Marketing on the Internet

  1. The IRS Careers Website is available at: www.jobs.irs.gov. This website is focused on employment marketing and recruitment, and contains links to the online vacancy announcement and application systems. The site is not used to distribute any tax related information. The site is hosted on a public facing server controlled by the contractor and managed by the STARS Office IRS Careers Website program manager. Strategic media campaigns direct audiences to the IRS Careers website which provides links to all approved IRS internet sites.

Strategic Print Media Campaigns

  1. The STARS Office works with the IRS Design Office, C&L, and business units to ensure a consistent approach is used to communicate with national and local print publications including professional journals, college recruitment publications, diversity-focused publications, and special-interest publications. Print media campaigns can reflect nationwide employment opportunities or may be targeted to specific jobs and/or locations. The STARS Office recommends approaches consistent with the market and current trends.

Strategic Internet and Social Media Campaigns

  1. The STARS Office maintains advertising and job posting on the internet, including event promotion sites, professional organization sites, college recruitment sites, general recruitment sites, diversity-focused sites, special interest sites, and general interest sites, including social media. Internet and social media campaigns can reflect nationwide recruitment events, nationwide employment opportunities or may be targeted to specific jobs and/or locations.

  2. Placements are purchased on job posting and career information sites for use during the campaign year. These job postings supplement, but do not replace official vacancy announcements on www.usajobs.gov. The STARS Office manages the posting of job announcements and career information to selected sites through the media campaign contract.

Strategic Employment Marketing Materials

  1. The STARS Office maintains a presence at in-person and virtual career fairs and other venues where recruitment materials may be displayed and/or distributed. Recruiting materials may also be made available for placement in local newspapers and other outlets.

Recruiter Displays

  1. The STARS Office is responsible for the design, procurement and distribution of recruitment displays for IRS. Additional copies of the national displays and additional photo-panels may be purchased by operating divisions and business units through the Service’s recruitment marketing and advertising contract by contacting the STARS Office.

Employment Marketing Handouts and Brochures

  1. The STARS Office uses brand management to market the IRS as an employer of choice. The marketing created reflects the values, vision, and mission of the IRS. Standardized recruitment marketing materials deliver a consistent message and are used across the IRS. Content within branded materials can be tailored to attract identified candidate segments.

  2. The STARS Office maintains an inventory of all employment marketing handouts and brochures. Creation and revision of all recruitment materials is facilitated by the STARS Office in collaboration with the IRS Design Office and Publishing Services, to ensure IRS design standards and an enterprise branding approach to recruitment are maintained. Recruitment products are published and ordered through Publishing Services and warehoused in national distribution centers. Corporate recruiters and local recruitment offices can order handouts and brochures from the national distribution centers.

Promotional Items

  1. The STARS Office procures and maintains an inventory of promotional items (giveaways) for distribution at recruitment events by corporate recruiters. The giveaways contain at a minimum the official IRS logo and the IRS Careers Website address: www.jobs.irs.gov.

Local Recruitment Print Advertising

  1. The STARS Office is responsible for the creation and maintenance of an inventory of media templates that can be adapted for local use by operating divisions and business units. These templates contain approved graphics and employer branding messages. Local job titles, salaries, grades, location, and contact information for local offices can be stated in the approved media templates as needed. Creation and revision of these templates is facilitated by the STARS Office, in collaboration with the IRS Design Office, and Publishing Services, to ensure IRS design standards and an enterprise branding approach to recruitment are maintained. Operating divisions and business units are responsible for the placement of ads in local advertising outlets.

Local Recruitment Television Advertising

  1. The STARS Office is responsible for ensuring that all recruitment advertising on local television is consistent with IRS Brand and Marketing guidelines, where such advertising is necessary.

Local Recruitment Radio Advertising

  1. The STARS Office is responsible for ensuring that all recruitment advertising on local radio is consistent with IRS Brand and Marketing guidelines, where such advertising is necessary.

Seasonal Campus Recruitment Campaigns

  1. Each fall, the STARS Office provides recruitment advertising to help fill thousands of seasonal and temporary jobs during the tax filing season (primarily in Submission Processing centers). In addition to the usual print and Internet media, the STARS Office uses a wide range of marketing tools developed specifically for individual campuses such as local flyers, transit ads, cinema ads, cup sleeves, billboards, radio ads, and direct mail campaigns. Creation and revision of these marketing tools is facilitated by the STARS Office, in collaboration with the IRS Design Office and Publishing Services, to ensure IRS design standards and an enterprise branding approach to recruitment are maintained.

STARS Office Planning and Analysis Function

  1. The STARS Office maintains recruitment targets based on operating divisions and business unit forecasted hiring needs. The annual corporate recruiting plan takes into consideration IRS resource needs, diversity considerations, contingency plans and execution of the recruitment strategy against the plan.

  2. The annual corporate recruiting plan is created jointly with IRS stakeholders. Primary stakeholders include representatives from offices within HCO, hiring coordinators representing operating divisions and business units, and EDI representatives. In addition, the STARS Office partners with managers, HR specialists, and other organization stakeholders to review and analyze each division’s specific hiring needs to ensure that recruitment efforts remain in sync with evolving hiring projections and diversity needs. Communication occurs on a quarterly basis, at minimum. In some cases, members of IRS affinity groups and/or representatives from C&L National Public Liaison participate in the discussions.

Performance Measures

  1. The STARS Office performance management system ties recruitment success to HCO and IRS strategic goals. The STARS Office conducts studies and analyzes data for use in measuring the success of each recruitment source. Return on investment targets vary for each source strategy. The STARS Office measures the cost of a source strategy against recruitment success and utilizes various performance measures to gauge the effectiveness of recruitment efforts.

Source Management Metric

  1. The STARS Office tracks the effectiveness of recruitment programs using the following measures:

    1. Volume of applicants touched at in-person events

    2. Return on total recruitment budget spent at in-person events

    3. Event satisfaction scores

  2. The STARS Office tracks the effectiveness of the overall recruitment strategy using the following measures:

    1. Improvement on ROI by source such as employee referral, in-person, or internet

    2. Percentage to plan

Effective Recruitment Measures

  1. The STARS Office performance is measured by the following elements to ensure timely hiring of applicants:

    1. Total number of applicants hired

    2. Total number of candidates touched/targeted

    3. Recruiting conversion rate, number of recruited applications compared to the number of applications touched

  2. The STARS Office performance is measured by the following elements regarding efficiency:

    1. Actual hiring funds spent compared to the number of hires

    2. Percent of applicants qualified and touched by recruiting

    3. Number of applicants hired compared to the number of applicants that applied

STARS Office Use of Recruiters

  1. The IRS attracts talent for hard-to-fill occupations and/or locations by effectively utilizing corporate recruiters, event planning, and relationship management. The STARS Office is responsible for attracting and recruiting the best candidates. The STARS Office plans an annual calendar of recruiting events, which reflects budgetary and cost considerations and return on investment.

  2. The STARS Office oversees the following program areas:

    • Corporate recruitment

    • Schedule A disability

    • Veteran

    • EEO and diversity

    • IRS affinity groups recruitment

    • Corporate recruiter diversity

    • College recruitment

    • Executive recruitment sponsor

    • Business unit participation in recruitment activities

    • Professional association recruitment

    • IRS campus recruitment support

    • Employee referral

    • Candidate tracking system and communication processes

STARS Office Corporate Recruiters

  1. The STARS Office is responsible for the recruiting, selecting, hiring, supporting, and managing of a diverse staff of full-time corporate recruiters who market the IRS mission and its careers. Corporate recruiters build strategic relationships with key partnership organizations including, but not limited to colleges, universities, and IRS affinity groups. Corporate recruiters coordinate with IRS field and campus executive as well as senior and frontline managers in a team-based approach to plan and implement recruitment events.

  2. Corporate recruiters are responsible for the following recruitment programs:

    • Maintaining relationships with colleges and universities

    • Initiating and maintaining contact with professional organizations, IRS affinity groups, stakeholder liaisons and community organizations to execute annual initiatives

    • Conducting and attending events

    • Working cooperatively with IRS executives and representatives to ensure presence at events and consistent messaging

    • Identifying and communicating with candidates

    • Maintaining recruitment event and contact information using the recruiter candidate tracking system.

  3. Corporate recruiters are responsible for representing the recruiting needs of all IRS operating divisions and business units. They work closely with the embedded recruitment offices of all IRS operating divisions and business units.

Corporate Recruiter Training

  1. The STARS Office is responsible for providing annual recruiter training. All full-time corporate recruiters are required to complete the annual training. Training topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

    • Recruitment functions, roles and responsibilities in the recruiting process

    • Use of corporate brand and targeted candidate messages

    • Hiring authorities

    • Candidate tracking systems

    • Applicant system updates and enhancements

    • Communication plans and practices with operating divisions and business units and executives

    • Operating division and business unit hiring plans and timeliness

    • Supporting IRS Campus recruitment

    • EDI action plans

    • Cultural awareness

    • Recruitment Do’s and Don’ts

    • Governance of policies and laws

Schedule A Recruitment Initiatives

  1. The IRS is committed to supporting the recruitment, hiring and retention of employees with targeted disabilities, as defined by the Office of Personnel Management on their website here: www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment. The STARS Office partners with other HCO divisions, EDI, the Office of the Chief Accessibility Coordinator and IRS business units to deliver disability recruitment outreach activities and disabled veterans outreach efforts. STARS is responsible for Schedule A program oversight on a Servicewide level.

  2. The STARS Office partners with the Office of the Chief Accessibility Coordinator to assist operating divisions and business units in identifying individuals with targeted disabilities who are interested in a position in the post of duty where a job is to be announced or projected vacancies are scheduled to occur. The STARS Office supplements the Office of the Chief Accessibility Coordinator’s national contacts with Veterans organizations, regional and state Vocational Rehabilitation Centers, and nonprofit organizations to identify and recruit potential schedule A candidates.

  3. The STARS Office supports the IRS initiative to increase the hiring of disabled employees through recruitment efforts including:

    • Participating in career fairs including disabled virtual job fairs

    • Engaging in recruiting partnerships with colleges to support the recruitment of students with disabilities

    • Leveraging relationships with IRS stakeholders including IRS Deaf Empowerment and Advocacy Forum, Visually Impaired Employee Workforce and Military Outreach for IRS employee organizations

    • Advertising in print and internet media to provide employment information to individuals with disabilities

    • Supporting targeted recruitment initiatives and programs like the Warrior Intern, Non-Paid Work Experience, Veteran Hiring Employment Recruitment Opportunities, and Operation Warfighter

Veteran Recruitment Initiatives

  1. The STARS Office is the IRS Veterans Program Office and is committed to supporting the recruitment, hiring and retention of U.S. veterans who are a good fit for the IRS based on skill sets and leadership experiences acquired during their military tenure.

  2. Veteran recruitment incorporates The STARS Office participation at veteran and military career fairs and outreach through advocacy groups designed to increase awareness of the IRS as an employer of choice for veterans including those that transition back into the workforce.

EDI and Diversity Recruitment Initiatives

  1. The STARS Office collaborates with operating divisions and business units, and EDI to determine target population segments and geographic areas in which to focus recruitment efforts to ultimately hire employees that are as diverse as the taxpayers IRS serves. The STARS Office partners with the Office of Program Evaluation and Risk Analysis (OPERA) and EDI for barrier identification, evaluation, and investigation of under-represented segments within the IRS workforce in accordance with Management Directive - 715 (MD-715) standards established by OPM.

  2. The STARS Office incorporates diversity considerations and addresses barriers to under-representation in the annual corporate recruitment plan based on the MD-715 report and diversity recruitment needs as determined by EDI and OPERA for the fiscal year. EDI provides timely data on diversity recruitment needs to the STARS Office, which is used to develop a detailed schedule of marketing, media, and recruitment events, that helps achieve the annual corporate recruitment plan.

Recruitment Program with IRS Affinity Groups

  1. The STARS Office partners with IRS affinity groups also known as employee organizations or employee resource groups to identify recruitment opportunities and enhance recruitment efforts to leverage the relationships that affinity groups have with members and stakeholders.

IRS Affinity Groups

  1. The STARS Office partners with IRS affinity groups to identify recruitment opportunities. IRS affinity groups include, but are not limited to:

    • AIM-IRS - Association for the Improvement of Minorities - IRS

    • ASPIRE - Asian Pacific American IRS Employees

    • BIG - Blacks in Government

    • FEW - Federally Employed Women

    • HIRE - Hispanic Internal Revenue Employees

    • IRS DEAF - IRS Deaf Empowerment and Advocacy Forum

    • IRS GLOBE - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Employees of the IRS

    • IRS SAIGE - Society of American Indian Government Employees

    • NextGen - NextGen Network IRS

    • VIEW - Visually Impaired Employees Workforce

STARS Office Collaborative Recruitment with IRS Affinity Groups

  1. Affinity group leaders and members are encouraged to reach out within their communities to share information about IRS career opportunities. Members are asked to assist the STARS Office in developing a creative and effective recruitment strategy and methods for delivery.

  2. Targeted affinity group leaders and members are asked to solicit excellent employees amongst their membership to represent the IRS at official recruitment events as the face of the IRS. This allows affinity group representatives to offer their expertise and experience as IRS employees. The STARS Office serves as a consistent point of contact for all recruitment questions, assists with affinity group members needs and keeps affinity group members informed of new IRS employment at centers.

Corporate Recruiter Diversity Teams

  1. Corporate recruiters in The STARS Office serve on diversity recruitment teams to ensure that the IRS recruitment efforts incorporate diversity outreach.

  2. The STARS Office recruitment efforts incorporate outreach to the following assigned diversity groups:

    • African American

    • Asian/Pacific Islander

    • Hispanic

    • American Indian and Alaska Native

    • Veterans

    • Individuals with disabilities

College and University Recruiting

  1. The STARS Office develops relationships with colleges and universities as a key component to recruiting applicants at the pre-career and early-career level. Recruitment activities at selected colleges and universities include participating in job fairs, making classroom presentations, placing ads in student newspapers, and sending email blasts to students. The STARS Office maintains a focused approach to college recruitment using a tiered system of school relationships identifying colleges and universities as primary, secondary, and supplemental. Recruitment strategies for college and university events are adjusted on an annual basis through activities including a review of the tiered list of colleges and universities, Return On Investment assessment, and feedback from IRS stakeholders and corporate recruiters.

Primary, Secondary, and Supplemental Schools

  1. The STARS Office focuses its recruiting and marketing efforts at primary schools in the top accredited colleges and universities fields whose diverse student populations have targeted skill sets that are a good fit for IRS occupations. Corporate recruiters partner with IRS executives to develop a relationship with each primary school.

  2. The IRS builds relationships with career counselors and, in high-volume hiring years, has an increased attendance in job fairs and other campus events at additional colleges and universities located within proximity of our larger post of duties, IRS campuses, and primary schools. These are known as secondary schools.

  3. The STARS Office engages in recruitment efforts at colleges and universities where the IRS has successfully recruited in the past or anticipates success regardless of location. These schools are known as supplemental schools. Efforts at these schools supplement those at the primary and secondary schools, particularly when recruitment efforts should be increased to facilitate large hiring initiatives or hiring for a specific location.

Operating Division and Business Unit Participation in Recruitment

  1. The STARS Office provides collaborative recruiting across all operating divisions and business units. Each business unit provides annual hiring needs to the STARS Office in a timely manner to enable the STARS Office to create a calendar of events and the annual recruitment plan.

  2. Operating divisions and business units provide recruitment representatives to assist corporate recruiters at events as requested. Assistance may include attending recruitment events, making presentations to targeted organizations and communicating with potential candidates. Feedback on recruitment activities provided by recruitment representatives is considered in the development of the annual recruitment plan and recruitment calendar of events.

Participation in Recruitment Events Planned Outside of the STARS Office

  1. Requests to represent the IRS at recruitment events that are received directly by the operating divisions and business units should be shared with the STARS Office, who can provide logistics, planning, and scheduling support. Recruitment events may include speeches, workshops, and presentations to students, professional organizations, affinity groups or the public.

Collaboration with Criminal Investigation

  1. Servicewide policy requires close coordination between Criminal Investigation (CI) Special Agent part-time recruiters and the STARS Office corporate recruiters to ensure the IRS is represented as one agency at events. The STARS Office supports CI hiring through recruitment outreach efforts and collaborates on recruitment event participation with options such as sharing booths. In addition, the STARS Office provides standardized marketing and media materials for recruitment activities.

STARS and Professional Associations

  1. The IRS has established relationships with professional associations and organizations throughout the country that are excellent channels for reaching diverse applicants of all ages, especially those in mid-career who have gained specialized experience. STARS shares IRS recruitment messages with these external institutions. STARS centrally manages these relationships through corporate recruiters and relationship managers that handle the administrative and logistics of recruitment. Service wide representatives serve as the face of the IRS to candidates.

STARS Campus Recruitment

  1. The IRS campus recruitment remains primarily with campus personnel. The STARS Office provides support to the campus recruiting efforts and oversees campus recruiting through the following:

    • Collaborating with the STARS Office, Marketing & Media Branch to create effective campus marketing materials

    • Providing corporate advertising funding and materials

    • Coordinating cross-campus information sharing

    • Highlighting campus hiring needs in communication with colleges and affinity groups

    • Building relationships with campus-relevant professional associations such as contact service representative associations

    • Helping campus personnel staff collect, synthesize, and act upon the STARS Office performance metrics

    • Helping refine recruitment strategy for attracting high-quality and diverse candidates

Candidate Tracking System and Communication Process

  1. The IRS maintains relationships with candidates throughout the recruitment process and tracks successful applicants in permanent positions throughout the first years of their IRS career.

Non Traditional Recruitment Intake Channels

  1. The IRS utilizes various hiring flexibility available to the federal government to hire college and graduate students including:

    • Pathways Presidential Management Fellows

    • Pathways Recent Graduates

    • Pathways Student Internships

    • Student Volunteers

  2. The IRS further capitalizes on non-traditional intake channels to hire college students and recent graduates. These programs are used to hire hard-to-fill locations where the competitive process does not render sufficient applicants and/or attract a more diversified workforce.

  3. IRS also promotes the appropriate use of non-traditional intake programs for veterans and people with disabilities. The STARS Office engages managers and hiring coordinators within operating divisions and business units to understand the appropriate use of non-traditional recruitment intake programs.

  4. Programs are being developed that facilitate interactions between students and provide managers to expose students to IRS career opportunities and to encourage them to apply for positions upon graduation. This allows the IRS to compete for candidates who might otherwise be lost to other employers.