How Pennsylvania reduced hiring time by 35%
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Neil Weaver, the state’s secretary of administration, on Thursday shared that the commonwealth has reduced the time it takes to hire new employees and fill vacant state positions by 35%, in part thanks to generative artificial intelligence.
According to the announcement, it took the Pennsylvania’s Office of Administration an average of 90 days to fill a job vacancy, as of January 2023, from posting an opening to making an offer. As of this March, that number has come down to 58 days, officials said.
Officials said the goal is to reduce the time to hire by an additional eight days by the end of the year.
The Shapiro administration says it’s filled nearly 600 roles in permitting, licensing and certification, leading to improvements in processing times that have reduced or eliminated delays and backlogs.
Generative AI helped the state evaluate more than 3,600 open positions’ descriptions and job classifications for accuracy. The Pennsylvania Office of Administration also used additional techniques to fill the roles, including developing resources for job seekers, such as trainings on interview techniques and position descriptions, holding job fairs and tailoring recruitment efforts to give hiring managers larger pools of candidates.
The efforts are the latest from Shapiro to improve the state’s workforce shortage — a common problem across the public sector. Last May, Shapiro established the Hire, Improve, Recruit and Empower, or HIRE, Committee via executive order to improve hiring practices, retention and benefits for state employees, and help people pursue careers in public service.
