[Hiring] Early Career Recruitment Specialist @Department of Homeland Security Headquarters

Role Description

This is a 6-month non-reimbursable assignment. The only compensation for this assignment is the federal salary you are already receiving.

Virtual/Remote: You may perform this assignment from your current federal employing office anywhere in the country. This assignment does not confer any new telework benefits. Only current, full-time federal employees are eligible.

DHS is advancing a Department-wide effort to build reliable early career talent pipelines that expand access to employment opportunities for students, recent graduates, Job Corps participants, and other emerging talent. This requires sustained coordination across DHS Components and with partners such as the Department of Labor's Job Corps, colleges and universities, career and technical education programs, workforce-development organizations, and other external stakeholders.

The Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer's (OCHCO) Merit-Based Engagement, Recruitment, Integration and Talent (MERIT) Team seeks a skilled detailee to support the development and implementation of a sustainable early career recruitment and outreach program. The detailee will provide programmatic, analytical, and operational support to strengthen talent pipelines, improve candidate experience, and help DHS attract early career talent for mission-critical occupations.

This role will help transition DHS early career recruitment from event-based outreach to an integrated, repeatable, and results-oriented program by developing outreach frameworks, standard processes, partnership strategies, candidate support tools, tracking mechanisms, and program assessments informed by workforce needs, data, and stakeholder feedback.

A dedicated detailee is needed to provide the capacity and recruitment expertise required to sustain partner engagement, prepare candidates for DHS opportunities, track participants through the hiring process, and evaluate recruitment outcomes.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in recruitment or talent acquisition, including targeted outreach and development of talent pipelines with Job Corps, colleges and universities, or similar partners.
• Knowledge of federal hiring processes and early career programs, with the ability to guide candidates through applications and hiring milestones.
• Experience developing sustainable outreach, mentorship, or candidate support processes that can be used across multiple partners.
• Skill in using program data and stakeholder feedback to evaluate results and recommend improvements.

Requirements

• Develop and maintain candidate tracking tools, status categories, referral processes, dashboards, and follow-up procedures to monitor candidate progression from initial engagement through application, assessment, selection, onboarding, or final disposition.
• Analyze pipeline activity, candidate progression, mentorship participation, curriculum feedback, and stakeholder input to identify trends, barriers, process gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
• Prepare executive-level products, including briefing papers, executive summaries, decision memoranda, talking points, presentation slides, status reports, dashboards, and recommendations for DHS senior leaders and key stakeholders.
• Synthesize workforce data, program information, implementation risks, resource considerations, outcomes, challenges, and decision points into clear and concise materials for leadership review.
• Coordinate input from DHS Components and program stakeholders, resolve inconsistencies, respond to follow-up questions, and assist in translating leadership decisions into program actions.
• Assist in designing and implementing a structured DHS mentorship program for Job Corps students interested in homeland security careers.
• Develop mentorship program materials, including eligibility criteria, mentor and mentee expectations, matching procedures, orientation resources, engagement schedules, discussion guides, feedback tools, and success measures.
• Support mentor and mentee engagement through career-exploration activities, progress check-ins, referral procedures, and recommendations to improve program effectiveness and scalability.
• Act as a liaison for Enterprise Services with Job Corps and other relevant DHS offices to assess Job Corps curricula, training materials, and career-readiness activities for alignment with DHS occupational needs, technical competencies, professional skills, and federal employment-readiness requirements.
• Conduct gap analyses and recommend enhancements to existing curricula or supplemental modules on DHS careers, federal résumé development, USAJOBS navigation, application requirements, interview preparation, workplace expectations, security and suitability considerations, and career advancement.
• Coordinate with DHS subject-matter experts, recruiters, program offices, and Job Corps representatives to validate curriculum recommendations, support implementation, and establish feedback mechanisms for continuous improvement.
• Support the development and implementation of a department-wide early career outreach and recruitment framework focused on Job Corps students, students, recent graduates, and other emerging talent populations.
• Coordinate with DHS National Recruitment Advisor to strategize overall DHS recruitment to include Component and stakeholder engagement, long-term planning, short-term execution, and ways to position DHS as an employer of choice for top talent.

Company Description