The 2025 Merit Hiring Plan, enacted through an executive order in January 2025, significantly transforms federal hiring practices, emphasizing skills, merit, and constitutional commitment while targeting hiring timelines under 80 days. These changes, implemented by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in late May, mark a departure from prior practices, particularly in recruitment, applicant evaluation, and diversity policies.
Essay Requirement for GS-5 and Above: Applicants for positions at GS-5 and higher must submit four 200-word essays addressing their commitment to the Constitution, ideas for improving government efficiency, alignment with the President’s agenda, and personal work ethic. Applicants must confirm they wrote these without external help, and essays are scored from 1-5, with low scores potentially disqualifying candidates. The new essay requirement introduces a subjective element, criticized as a potential loyalty test, unlike the more standardized, objective evaluations of the past.
Elimination of DEI Programs: The Merit Hiring Plan bans all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, prohibiting the collection or use of demographic data like race, sex, or religion in hiring, training, or promotion. Previously, federal hiring emphasized diversity through DEI programs, collecting demographic data to shape recruitment and retention. Agencies maintained diversity councils and targeted HBCUs and other underrepresented groups, a practice now eliminated to focus solely on skills and merit, raising concerns about reduced inclusivity.
Recruitment Shift: Recruitment now targets state and land-grant universities, religious institutions, homeschool groups, faith-based organizations, and military communities, excluding historically Black colleges, tribal colleges, and disability advocacy groups. Past recruitment cast a wide net, including diverse institutions and advocacy groups, to attract varied talent. The current plan’s selective focus on specific communities risks limiting applicant diversity and may prioritize cultural or political alignment over broad merit.
Simplified Application Process: Résumés are capped at two pages, and many agencies have dropped self-assessment questionnaires, streamlining applications. Agencies can now share applicant pools, building on prior bipartisan reforms to enhance efficiency. Earlier processes relied heavily on self-assessments and longer résumés, often up to five pages, which could inflate qualifications. The new essay requirement introduces a subjective element, criticized as a potential loyalty test, unlike the more standardized, objective evaluations of the past.
Focus on Skills and Assessments: Hiring prioritizes job-related skills over degrees, incorporating technical and alternative assessments mandated by recent legislation to evaluate competence directly.
The Merit Hiring Plan aims for efficiency and skill-based hiring but introduces controversial elements like essay-based evaluations and restricted recruitment. While it streamlines applications, critics argue it risks politicizing the process and excluding qualified candidates, potentially undermining merit principles compared to the more inclusive, data-driven approach of prior practices.
