Postal Service Hiring Practices

The U.S. Postal Service has experienced issues with hiring and retaining employees, particularly among pre-career employees. This is due, in part, to the national unemployment rate overall being low, impacting most employers as they compete for talent. In September 2019, the Postal Service adopted a new centralized hiring process. The goals of this hiring initiative included shortening the time to hire by promptly extending job offers, getting applicants on the payroll, and eliminating interviews for most bargaining positions. The Postal Service measures the time it takes to hire an applicant (time to hire) from the date the job posting closed to the date an employee’s personnel and payroll records are created. Addressing unnecessary or prolonged steps with the goal of streamlining the hiring process will allow the Postal Service to timely hire external applicants.