2017-03 Performance Audit Report: County of Hawai'i's Department of Human Resources Hiring Practices

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In 2016, DHR filled 404 civil service positions. We reviewed 46 recruitments from calendar year 2016. This consisted of 12% of total recruitments and 100% of recruitments in our audit scope of classes of work. Forty-two (91 %) of these recruitments contained questionable hiring practices. Specifically we found: Some departments did not review all applications for employment and circumvented DHR's Skill Set Criteria Evaluation procedures used to identify applicants to be interviewed. State law (HRS §76-1) requires the selection of persons based on their fitness and ability for public employment. To meet this law, the County assesses the desired skill set for the position in relation to the current and accurate position description and class specification. A skill set is a particular category of knowledge, skills, and abilities determined to perform the essential job duties. 0 42 instances within three departments (P&R, DPW, and Finance) where they did not consider all applications or candidates on the referred list. 0 42 instances within three departments (P&R, DPW, and Finance) where the skill set criteria evaluations were not uniformly conducted. 0 21 instances within two departments (DPW and Finance) where they used a random selection generator in Microsoft Excel to identify applicants to interview prior to the skill set criteria evaluation. 0 10 instances within one department (DPW) where personal letters of interest were used from potential applicants on the referred list to determine the interview pool. 0 18 instances within two departments (DPW and Finance) where they bypassed potential candidates based on the applicant's address on their application. Some departments did not comply with interview and records retention procedures. State law (HRS §76-1 (2)) requires impartial selection of individuals for public service by means of competitive tests which are fair, objective, and practical. In addition, an interview and records retention is required by DHR to ensure and validate the information the applicant provided on the application and to evaluate the applicant's fitness to perform the essential job duties described on the position description. 0 4 instances within two departments (P&R and Finance) where the department did not conduct interviews and/or retain interview and selection results. 1 instance within one department (Finance) where the department filled a Clerk III position with an expired contract hire after proceeding with open - recruitment. No interviews were conducted. Open -competitive recruitment requires an interview. Audit Results 12 1 P a g e