Strengthening U.S. Air Force Human Capital Management A Flight Plan for 2020-2030 (2021) / Chapter Skim
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4 Entry Point Decisions for Air Force Accessions: Recruiting, Selection, and Classification
4 Entry Point Decisions for Air Force Accessions: Recruiting, Selection, and Classification
Pages 57-98
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From page 57... ...
. In this overview, special attention is paid to ways in which that process includes identifying and assigning individuals to highly specialized career fields, such as pilots, special operations, and cyber warfare.1 The overview was informed by relevant Air Force policy and information provided by Air Force representatives and was supplemented by the committee's own expertise.
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From page 58... ...
and in conjunction with the site visit to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019) .This particular quote is attributed to comments made during the USAFRS presentation to the committee on November 6, 2019 (see USAFRS, 2019a)
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From page 59... ...
6 An extensive research base exists on AFQT scores and high school diploma status validity (Strickland, 2005)
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From page 60... ...
, Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019) , and with CMSgt Kaleth O
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From page 61... ...
Army, that is used to predict job performance and attrition criteria. For additional information on individual differences relevant to military service, see Rumsey and Arabian, 2014.
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From page 62... ...
and Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019) and during its discussion with CMSgt Kaleth O
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From page 63... ...
22 and must take the TAPAS. Recruits who are identified as special warfare candidates are assigned to dedicated BMT flights that require more rigorous physical fitness, and the Air Force has recently implemented an 8-week preparatory/screening course that all special warfare applicants attend between graduation from BMT and starting their specialty-specific technical school.23 19 For example, during the committee site visit to Keesler Air Force Base, the committee learned that among initial cyberspace skills trainees, about 5 percent fail to complete and are completely removed from the career field, with about 4 percent of those being for academic/ aptitude reasons that permit re-assignment and another 1 percent for reasons that result in discharge from the Air Force.
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From page 64... ...
and in conjunction with the site visit to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019) ; with representatives of OTS and AFROTC (and Junior ROTC and Civil Air Patrol)
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From page 65... ...
28 The committee met with representatives of OTS and AFROTC (and Junior ROTC and Civil Air Patrol) during the site visit to Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base (January 15, 2020)
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From page 66... ...
It is an integer program (see Appendix D) that includes the following factors as inputs, in accordance with Air Force military personnel classification instructions (USAF, 2013)
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From page 67... ...
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR AIR FORCE ACCESSIONS To ensure that Air Force entry point decisions are valid and evolve appropriately to meet strategic priorities and reflect new capabilities, accessions processes and assessments are informed, designed, and validated by internally and externally conducted research efforts. Research is needed to sustain the current HCM system's performance, ensure continuous incremental improvements keep the system in line with best practices (Miller, 2019)
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From page 68... ...
Over the course of the study, the committee met with the offices responsible for Air Force accessions -- specifically recruiting, selection, and classification processes -- and asked each about the rationale behind existing accessions processes and assessments. The committee also asked about research being conducted or needed to evaluate the existing system's effectiveness and efficiency (especially with regards to entry and classification standards, and the process to obtain waivers to standards)
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From page 69... ...
• What processes are available for developing and implementing rec ommendations that might result from studies or programs of studies? 36 The committee regrets that key representatives from the USAF School of Aerospace Medi cine declined to brief the committee on the full spectrum of their human capital research activities during the committee's site visit to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (November 12–13, 2019)
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From page 70... ...
. It would promote better coordination and alignment of research efforts across the USAF HCM system if the Air Force raised these questions regularly and repeatedly across all its research initiatives -- including initiatives beyond initial selection and classification processes such as clinical, operational, leadership, or teamwork studies (e.g., those conducted by units of the 711th Human Performance Wing)
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From page 71... ...
40 This information was provided by representatives of USAF special warfare recruiting and training during the committee site visit to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019)
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. 42 "Roundtable Discussion to Revisit Key Force Management Considerations," committee meeting, Washington, DC, March 18, 2020.
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43 The topic of ASVAB validity was raised during committee data-gathering sessions with Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon (September 26–27, 2019) , Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019)
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From page 74... ...
and performance rating criteria need to be updated regularly. Although there is value in traditional approaches to analysis of the job-specific KSAOs and other requirements to ensure proper selection, classification, training, and performance management, many successful organizations, including the Air Force, have shifted to a greater reliance on competency models developed from job/occupational analysis.
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From page 75... ...
. As the committee consulted with multiple stakeholders during site visits to Air Force installations across the United States, the committee found little alignment between competency models developed and used by different groups across the Air Force, which results in discrepancies and redundancies between competencies identified, a point that has been noted in prior reviews of the USAF HCM system.45 The committee heard individuals express hope that those engaged in competency modeling efforts will follow AETC's process for developing and validating competencies.
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From page 76... ...
, whether some models were designed and used across various human capital activities, or where accountability for competency modeling efforts resides.46 Ultimately, this results in redundancies in research and the potential for adoption of competency models that are inappropriate for their planned purposes and/or that establish inconsistent competency expectations across a career t rajectory -- making it difficult or impossible to achieve them through systematic selection, training, and other career development efforts. 46 This information was provided during the committee site visit to Joint Base San Antonio Randolph (November 5–8, 2019)
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From page 77... ...
The lack of consistency in competency modeling affects manpower planning, and the committee heard about multiple examples at several of its site visits. For example, there are indications that training in cyber is currently concentrated at the task level rather than emphasizing structural 47 The topic of "resilience" was discussed with USAF representatives during site visits to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019)
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From page 78... ...
. This topic also came up during committee site visit to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS (January 9, 2020)
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From page 79... ...
Aligned competency models can help track Total Force capacities in different areas, allowing for greater proactivity in recognizing talent misalignment and adapting training quickly. Ultimately, the committee did not attempt to decide the skills, aptitudes, and knowledge future Airmen will need or the standards or minimum qualifications for classification into particular careers; this falls to the Air Force to determine based on strategy, potential futures, job analysis, and 52 The Air Force Strategic Plan specifically identifies that "The Air Force needs capability options to execute missions in support of national defense and joint and combined operations under a wide array of contingencies.
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From page 80... ...
However, as this section explains, without better integration and designated oversight of all job analysis and competency modeling efforts, the Air Force may be creating misalignment of human capital systems, creating misunderstanding and confusion regarding what competencies mean and what are the requirements for success, missing out on potential insights regarding personnel skill shortages, and inadequately identifying future force needs. As shown in the ecosystem model (see Figure 2-2 in Chapter 2)
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From page 81... ...
Such information is critical for any groups within the Air Force that may be tasked with evaluating and tracking the effectiveness of Airmen selection and classification decisions at scale (as described in Chapter 3, being "mission responsive" is a key attribute of an ideal system) Beyond the traditional outcomes mentioned above, the committee would be remiss not to mention the potential role of Airmen "fit" (e.g., finding people that are a good fit for a career field or the Air Force in general, finding career fields that are a good fit for an Airman or recruit; see Kristof-Brown et al., 2005 for a meta-analysis)
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From page 82... ...
Depending on the Air Force's strategy for validating its selection and classification processes, it may not be necessary to develop or maintain actual measures of Airmen job performance for each AFSC/rank.55 Under 55 To be clear, the committee is not suggesting that efforts to develop or maintain job perfor mance measures for each AFSC/rank would be unbeneficial for administrative purposes, such as Airmen performance appraisal or providing Airmen performance feedback. The suggestion here pertains to job performance measures specifically to be used in a research capacity for evaluating selection and classification assessments and decision-making.
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From page 83... ...
Consequently, the Air Force may benefit from alternative, modern approaches to evaluating validity evidence for its selection and classification processes (e.g., leveraging modern developments in synthetic validation,56 conducting transportability studies,57 leveraging meta-analytic evidence, combining samples with the U.S. Navy in similar career fields, developing content-oriented validation arguments; see McPhail, 2007 for further examples)
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From page 84... ...
. An infrastructure that accurately captures when and why Airmen leave active duty is necessary to support use of retention-related outcomes for purposes of evaluating validity evidence for selection and classification processes.
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From page 85... ...
. Ideally, when evaluating the efficacy of selection and classification for impacting retention-related outcomes such as attrition, the Air Force would base such evaluation on types of separation decisions that can be used to effectively update selection and classification processes.
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From page 86... ...
, Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019) , and 2nd Air Force at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS (January 9, 2020)
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From page 87... ...
and in conjunction with the site visit to Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019) ; their use in training was discussed numerous times over the course of the study, including during committee site visits to Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph (November 5–8, 2019)
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From page 88... ...
Furthermore, consideration should be given to better understanding the work experience of incoming recruits and better assessing the extent to which those experiences have predictive power for Air Force career performance, and so determining which experiences might usefully be considered in selection and classification processes. To collect information on incoming recruits, self-reporting of experience provides a preliminary starting point, but ultimately, skills and competency levels require verification through testing or other means of assessment.
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From page 89... ...
Later in an officer's c areer, the recently implemented Talent Marketplace provides an innovative online means for matching Airmen with assignments based on expressed preferences of Airmen and position owners for post-accession job assignments. However, the usefulness of expressed preferences depends a good deal on how much information is available to Airmen about positions and to position owners about Airmen (through the Talent Marketplace)
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From page 90... ...
Ideally, this would in turn positively impact downstream outcomes such as Airman performance, retention, and diversity. For example, with the baseline described above, the Air Force would be in a position to analyze whether types of information being used to evaluate waiver requests actually relate to downstream outcomes such as Airman job performance, retention, and diversity.
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From page 91... ...
Without systematic reviews of the system as a whole, the Air Force has no way to determine whether its current practice is any better or worse than randomly determining whose waiver gets approved and whose gets denied. By pursuing the research into the waiver approval process described above, the Air Force would be in a better position to clarify the types of information that waiver approval authorities should consider, and how that information should be combined to make waiver approval/denial decisions; this also has the advantage of more closely aligning with professional standards and guidelines.
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From page 92... ...
; Air Education and Training Command at Joint Base San AntonioRandolph (November 5–8, 2019) ; Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH (November 13, 2019)
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From page 93... ...
, the Air Force may stand to benefit from relaxing certain standards (e.g., physical fitness or chronic controllable conditions) or relaxing the amount of time required to meet physical fitness standards from 8 weeks to 18 months if those standards have little or no relation to subsequent Airmen performance or retention in those AFSCs (as described in Chapter 3, being "agile and flexible" is a key attribute of an ideal system; although consideration should be given to long-term consequences, such as medical care, across the human capital ecosystem, especially consequences that may occur if Air Force standards differ from DoD standards)
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From page 94... ...
The committee found little alignment among competency models used across the Air Force, with the risk that the models may establish inconsistent competency expectations across a career trajectory. Aligned competency models can help track Total Force capacities across skill areas, helping to recognize talent misalignment and adapt training quickly.
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From page 95... ...
Presentation to the committee, Joint Base San Antonio- andolph, R San Antonio, TX. Presentation materials available by request through the study's public access file.
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From page 97... ...
Virtual presentation to the com mittee. Presentation materials available by request through the study's public access file.
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From page 98... ...
Presentation to the committee, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, San Antonio, TX. Presentation materials available by request through the study's public access file.
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