Photo By Erin Sherwood | FORT KNOX, Ky. -“The Marketplace” is an Army process that most officers have...... read more read more
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FORT KNOX, Ky. -“The Marketplace” is an Army process that most officers have contemplated at some point in their careers. While there are many benefits to a permanent change of station and experiencing new scenery, being in a marketplace cycle can cause a range of emotions and prompt a lot of thought and consideration for an officer and their family. Having a better understanding of how the Army marketplace works, the talent managers role in the process, and new updates can help reduce questions and concerns officers may have about their assignments process now, and in the future.
Determining Unit Manning for each AOC and MOS
Each year the Army conducts two Army Talent Alignment Process (ATAP) market cycles for active component (AC) officers. Each cycle captures officer moves and unit officer priorities for fill within a six-month period (Cycle 1: October-March and Cycle 2: April-September). Officers are identified for specific marketplace cycles based on their Year Month Available to Move Date (YMAV).
Each marketplace cycle begins with a conference where account managers (which are individuals at HRC assigned to each Army unit who can advocate for specific spots at their respective units), and talent managers for each area of concentration (AOC) and military occupational specialty (MOS) come together to discuss which positions for a specific AOC and MOS will be validated for fill out of available authorizations. The conference participants prioritize the validation of critical jobs, guided by the active component manning guidance (ACMG). This guidance sets varying manning priorities for different units, ensuring that Army readiness is upheld by meeting the most crucial manning requirements.
“The conference is an opportunity for us as talent managers to say, we've got this many new movers. The distribution chief then determines what jobs the movers will fill in the marketplace," said Maj. Kevin Sandell, public affairs talent manager.
In the Army Human Resources realm, this distribution process is known as the Army Talent Alignment Process (ATAP) or “faces to spaces,” meaning how many individuals (faces) will participate in the market (spaces), and the specific job opportunities and locations that must be filled.
The AIM2 to IPPS-A Marketplace transition
Once the conference concludes, most officers and warrant officers are placed into the ATAP marketplace in the Assignment Interactive Module 2 (AIM2). In a pilot initiative, pre-key developmental (KD) and post-KD active competitive category (ACC) captains were placed into the ATAP Marketplace in IPPS-A. This pilot test the planned migration of ATAP marketplaces from AIM2 into IPPS-A expected to take place as early as spring 2025.
"If your YMAV is in the cycle, you'll automatically be in the market, whether you are supposed to be or not. So, it is important to make sure you are reaching out to your talent manager to ensure your YMAV is accurate with this transition to IPPS-A,” said Maj. Jesse Lansford, operations research/systems analysis officer.
One-sided vs. two-sided markets
In the current, two-sided marketplace model, officers’ preference the units they would like to be placed in, and the units’ preference the officers they would like to fill their open positions. This is often done following interviews that are conducted between officers and units.
Currently, the Army is piloting a one-sided marketplace pilot (ATAP 25-02) for pre-key developmental (KD) active-duty captains, which means that instead of the units preferencing officers for open spots, the unit is removed from the equation and the marketplace algorithm purely considers the officers preferences for their next assignment.
The one-sided market is being piloted for pre-KD captains specifically because all captains need KD no matter their skills, and these KD assignments are where these skills are developed. As officers rise in rank however, there is more of a need for a two-sided marketplace to ensure the officer is placed in a unit that is a strong match for their unique talents and abilities. This change provides two potential benefits – it reduces a burden on units, and it empowers junior officers to select their most preferred assignments.
"Army units aren't manned to do hiring actions 24/7, so it's a heavy burden on units to interview hundreds and hundreds of officers within a six-week period and to preference officers for anywhere upwards of 100 plus jobs," said Lt. Col. Patrick Sernett, distribution chief. “If the pilot does not achieve positive results for units and officers, we always have the option to go back to two-sided markets for pre-KD captains.”
Some other future changes the Army hopes to implement with the process is adding in a knowledge, skills, attributes (KSA) matching tool through IPPS-A that allows the officer to better understand how their individual KSAs correlate with the required KSAs for a unit they are interested in going to. This tool will also help units in the hiring process by identifying officers best suited for their organizations. While officers can add them into AIM, and view a units KSA’s, there is currently no matching tool that exists to make the process of officer to unit matching more efficient.
The Talent Manager Role
Talent managers play a critical role in the Officer’s assignment process: participating in the manning conference with account managers, overseeing the assignment process, helping officers understand their options.
“One of the key tenants of the Army Talent Alignment Process [which began in 2019] is to make everything transparent in the marketplace so there's no hidden menu of jobs, all the officers are known to each other on who's moving when, what jobs are being vacated, things like that. We want to make sure there's accountability and transparency for everybody who's involved in the process," Sandell said.
To stay up to date on any changes, Sandell recommends officers attend any leader professional development meetings (LPDs) their talent manager holds. These LPDs can help officers better understand how marketplace runs, and how they should write their resume to be competitive in the two-sided market. The assignment process can be stressful, but the best way to mitigate that stress is knowledge.
“We're trying to reduce that anxiety for officers and their Families to say this is how you should go into the marketplace with an education about how it runs, and then you can make your best-informed decisions” Sandell said.
Officers in a two-sided marketplace should be mindful of what their talent manager can and cannot disclose.
“We are not allowed to tell an officer, hey the 101st has preferenced you No. 1, or we can't tell the 101st, hey officer Smith has preferenced you No. 1," he said. “We want to do our best to try and get every officer to a one-for-one match because that means that the officer is satisfied and it means that the unit is satisfied with whomever they're getting for their No. 1 pick."
If there is one thing to keep in mind, it is that marketplace will keep changing to improve Army talent management processes and meet Soldier needs.
“What is perfect for us now isn’t perfect for us in the future,’ Sernett said. “We have to keep evolving to ensure we are doing what’s best for our Soldiers, and our organization as a whole.”
| Date Taken: | 10.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.22.2024 11:29 |
| Story ID: | 483654 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Officers: Your Guide to the Talent Alignment Marketplace, by Erin Sherwood, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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