The Foreign Service Journal, March 2014

20 MARCH 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Report to the Transition Team by the Hispanic Council. In 2005, Hispanics comprised 4.1 percent of the USAID work force. But by 2008 the percentage had begun slipping, and in 2012 it stood at just 2.6 percent. This is despite a significant surge in overall hiring at USAID, a surge that has stopped and will likely usher in years of limited hiring—meaning that a golden opportunity to improve these dismal numbers may have been lost for some time. Learning from Our Past Here’s where the story gets really interesting. Back in the 1960s, USAID’s top foreign policy priority (other than the VietnamWar) was combating com- Hispanics in the Federal Workplace and USAID, 2000-2012 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Percent of Hispanics in Federal Workforce Percent of Hispanics in USAID Fiscal Year Percent in Workforce munism in Latin America. In reaction to a perceived communist threat to Latin America, USAID quickly ramped up Hispanic hiring, with no pretense of promoting affirmative action or diver- sity. Old-timers I met when I first began working with USAID in the 1980s told me that recruiters went to Puerto Rico and scooped up graduates, some of whom stayed on with the agency until about the 1990s. Perusing the 1970 staffing pattern, which one can find in the recesses of the USAID Library, one finds Hispanic surnames galore: Cabrera, Hernan- dez, Hinojosa, Romero, Vasquez, etc. The Office of Public Safety lists 11 such surnames out of 106, or about 10 percent of the staff. The 1970 USAID mission roster in Bolivia shows an even higher number—six out of 45, including the deputy director, or 13.3 percent—while the Dominican Republic staffing pattern features five Hispanic names out of 46, 10.9 percent. Admittedly, this is an imperfect mea- sure. But it does indicate that when hiring large numbers of Hispanics was linked to a national priority, the agency made it happen. That brings us to the third explanation for the current shortfall in Hispanic hir- ing: “Back in the 1960s and 1970s, USAID would hire people straight out of college. Now you need a graduate degree. And it’s hard to find Hispanics with that qualifica- tion.” Un momento. Yes, graduate degrees are required for most positions (although that practice should be re-examined). But what the assertion ignores is that the number of Hispanics with master’s degrees has more than doubled over the past decade, and the numbers earning law and doctoral degrees have shot up by 60 percent over the same period. Is better recruitment the answer? USAID’s Human Resources division and Office of Civil Rights and Diversity have launched some sincere efforts in this regard, and more resources should be devoted to recruitment. But I suspect these efforts may be falling short because of the disconnect between recruitment and the technical panels, which actually select candidates and are less focused on diversity goals. I should know. I’ve served on these panels. And Then There Were Four Recruitment is to the lower ranks of the agency, with the hope that a greater pool of junior officers will eventually push its way up the ranks. Little thought USAID is at the bottom among federal agencies in Hispanic representation. Sources: OPM Eleventh Annual Report, July 2012; USAID/M/HR, Annual Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program, FY 2001; ICF Consulting, Incorporating Affirmative Employment Goals into USAID’s Work-force Strategies, Oct. 15, 2005; Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, Diversity Profile FY 2007-FY 2008, Nov. 14, 2008; OCRD Diversity Profiles, June 2012.