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State HR office reports surge in applicants but 24% vacancy rate; pilots fast-track hiring under ‘Operation Hire Hawaii’
Summary
At a Jan. 12 Senate Committee on Labor and Technology briefing, Department of Human Resources Development Director Bridal Hashimoto told senators applications jumped to over 41,000 in FY25 even as the statewide civil-service vacancy rate remained about 24%; DHIRD described faster screening, a WikiWiki listing approach and Operation Hire Hawaii intended to reduce time-to-offer.
Bridal Hashimoto, director of the Department of Human Resources Development, told the Senate Committee on Labor and Technology on Jan. 12 that the state received more than 41,000 applications for civil-service jobs in fiscal year 2025 — a roughly 27% increase from the prior year — even as the overall civil-service vacancy rate remained at about 24%.
Hashimoto said the state’s hiring process starts in individual departments, which typically recruit internally first. When departments cannot fill a position internally they submit a requisition through the department’s electronic recruitment platform (NeoGov), where DHIRD screens applications and certifies lists of qualified applicants for hiring managers.
Why it matters: the twin facts of a larger applicant pool and a steady vacancy percentage point to bottlenecks in screening, classification and department-level hiring practices. The committee heard that DHIRD is pursuing both process and staffing changes to reduce time to hire and to convert applicants to…
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