USAJobs, the Office of Personnel Management's online jobs opening platform, will go dark for one week in October as administrators overhaul the site in anticipation of a re-launch. USAJobs 3.0, as the revamped site will be called, "will enable HR professionals and recruiters to mine resumes for more specific applicant information to better target recruiting efforts," OPM associate director of employee services Angela Bailey told GovExec.com.

While USAJobs goes dark, between October 6^th and 12^th, no new federal job postings will be put online and OPM officials are currently working with federal agencies to extend application deadlines for jobs posted on the site. According to the Washington Post, the site currently costs about $6 million a year to operate with the agency planning to invest an additional $6 million in improvements over the next year. Visitors to the new and improved USAJobs can expect a more streamlined experience, with periodic updates of application statuses and the eliminating of users having to enter their personal and professional data multiple times.

This overhaul is part of an ongoing effort by OPM to improve the online fed job application process, coming on the heels of the May launch of USAJobsRecruit an online community for federal agencies. Another program called Assess, which seeks to replace "the complex knowledge, skills and abilities statements traditionally completed by government job applicants with testing tools for 12 types of positions frequently found across government," is currently in a testing stage according to GovExec.

This re-launch is coming at an important time for both agencies and their potential employees. With the job market continually in flux government positions are increasingly attractive options for jobseekers and a reliable online application platform is essential for both sides of the hiring process. If USAJobs 3.0 is ultimately successful in improving the application process for federal job openings it could maybe, just maybe, prove to be that most elusive of things: the federal job sector actually setting a trend that will be followed by the private sector. That in and of itself would qualify as a minor miracle.