New York City links with labor unions to drive hiring modernization
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Revamping the city’s hiring system is one step to enabling broader government modernization, one official says.
New York City is turning to local labor unions to help modernize and enhance its civil service hiring system.
The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services is partnering with local organized labor unions in an effort to revitalize the city’s hiring system and place people in municipal positions more efficiently, city officials said in an announcement last week.
The partnership between DCAS and the labor unions created the Civil Service Modernization Advisory Committee, which will work to present in-house solutions to the civil service system, according to city officials. The committee will also provide legislative recommendations for improving the city’s broader civil hiring framework.
The new initiative “looks to hire for the workers of today and tomorrow,” as city leadership recognizes how workforce needs and job opportunities have evolved as technology changes, Yume Kitasei, commissioner of the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, told Route Fifty.
The announcement also comes in the wake of a city hiring freeze that began in 2023 and left several city agencies still looking to fill job vacancies, she said.
“If city agencies can't hire, [they] can't hire the talent that they need, and it makes it pretty hard to do every other thing you want to do,” Kitasei said, adding that broader government modernization often “starts with hiring.”
New York City employs more than 300,000 people, approximately 80% of whom fill vacant city jobs through the civil service system, according to city officials. Through the system, prospective municipal employees have to take exams to qualify for jobs, including sanitation workers, electricians and staff analysts.
But legacy technology and siloed operations across local agencies have created administrative burdens and caused delays in the testing and hiring process, Kitasei explained.
In fact, 72% of state and local human resources professionals said they lost top candidates due to the hiring loop taking too long, according to survey findings released in August from the MissionSquare Research Institute.
By collaborating with labor unions city staff will prioritize improving the user experience of the civil service system, making it more accessible. For instance, a long-term priority for DCAS is enhancing website navigation and functionality for users looking to pursue civil service resources, Kitasei said.
The committee will help DCAS “understand all of the pain points and try to come to a consensus or agreement around what changes we all agree need to happen, and then … get those changes enacted,” she said.
Such improvements include simplifying online material and content, like job posting descriptions, because “it shouldn’t take a lawyer to figure out what the job description is actually saying,” Kitasei said. “Our material should be readable to anyone, including high school students.”
DCAS is also considering back-end improvements to replace a decades-old system, which will be key to enabling city staff to build functionality across the civil service system, she said. Such fixes are aimed at reducing hiring times and improving communication between agencies and applicants throughout the hiring process.
“In this historic partnership with labor leaders, our administration is prioritizing the quick fixes and long-term solutions that speed up hiring in city government,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “From addressing the current time to hire to advancing new and innovative testing strategies, this committee is already at work coming up with ideas to build a civil service system truly worthy of our city.”
Cities across the U.S. are taking innovative approaches to revitalize their job-finding and hiring processes. Over the last two years, Boston has overhauled its applicant tracking and employee onboarding systems, reducing the time and cost to hire for the city. Long Beach, California, launched a pilot program last year to use an AI platform to enhance the drafting of job descriptions, streamlining the city’s recruitment process.
The nonprofit Work for America recently released a toolkit to guide state and local leaders through addressing inefficiencies and other challenges within hiring systems. The organization also launched its second Talent Accelerator program this week, an initiative that will assist participating cities, including Jackson, Tennessee, with leveraging data to inform and improve hiring processes until December.