U.S. SPACE FORCE (USSF) ACQUISITION OCCUPATIONAL COMPETENCY INTEGRATION INTO A TALENT OPERATIONS PLATFORM

Abstract

The idea of using competencies as a vehicle for effective talent management has been an idea explored by many organizations. Recently all service components across the Department of Defense (DOD) have begun a revolution within talent management, particularly with job placement. The DOD’s newest component, the United States Space Force (USSF), actively seeks to implement a competency-based process as dictated by the Guardian Ideal. This capstone report provides USSF with recommendations on effectively integrating a scalable competency-driven system into a talent operations platform that manages Guardian talent during assignment placement. The team evaluated civilian and governmental talent operations systems and processes through interviews with relevant talent management personnel within the DOD and industry. This qualitative analysis fueled the team’s development of a simulation model to identify the effects of competency integration on the system and its interaction with external variables. Throughout the research, the team confirmed that all services desire the effective integration of competencies but lack the implementation of accountable competencies by a validation method. The team recommends Space Force develop a way to validate and input competency assessments by implementing the competency framework within a software system in terms of a scoring algorithm to provide a clear picture for Guardians and Commanders to determine the best fit for vacant billets.