Scene begins outside of a coffee shop called "Capitol Hill Beans". The Memo from the Hiring Memo training bite is visible through the door.

The camera zooms out as a bus arrives outside the shop. An advertisement for America's Veteran program, showing the website www dot FedsHireVests dot gov is shown on the side of the bus. Thea departs the bus, and walks to the door of the coffee shop. Inside, a man waves at her.

Scene changes to the inside of the coffee shop, where Memo is trying to order a cup of coffee from a rather pretentious barrista. Several people move about the background, including a disabled war veteran wearing her purple heart.

Barrista: Dude, I totally didn't understand a word you said right there.

Memo (frustrated and trying to explain what he wants): OK, I want a... um a big Big. Big-oh, large-oh, um coffee, dark roast. Um, just like it comes out of the pot.

Memo (gesturing and still trying to explain: Just, you know, from the pot to the cup... au naturel if you will?

Barrista: Dude, it's like you're speaking a different language.

Memo pauses to think about how to phrase his request, and continues. "OK, um, do you have, back there, some black coffee that you could just put in a large cup and I could pay

you for it, and then I could drink it?"

Barrista (finally gets the picture): "Oh, gotcha, little dude! Hey, Chuck," he calls out to another employee, " a large Grand-dad." He addresses Memo. "That'll be five seventy-

five."

Camera shows the memo looking incredulous.

The scene cuts to Thea and Tom meeting inside the shop. They face each other, talking.

Tom: Hi Thea, I haven't seen you for a while. I heard you became a manager a couple of months ago. How is it going?

Thea: Yes, I accepted a manager's job three months ago in our engineering division.

Tom: Congratulations on your new job. Now that you've joined the Federal managers' ranks, let me know if there's anything I can help you with.

Scene rotates to show Thea from Tom's perspective. In the background, a "no parking" sign sips coffee.

Thea: Well, there is something I've been struggling with and just can't seem to figure out on my own.

Tom: What is is? I'd be glad to help you.

Thea: Do you have time to talk now, or is it best to stop by your office some time later in the week?

Tom looks at his watch, which has a background showing the Veterans hiring website.

Tom: Now is great. Let's find a table. I have about thirty minutes before I have to get back to the office.

Title screen "Category Rating Made Simple" appears, covering the scene.

The sceen changes to Tom and Thea sitting at a table, talking and drinking coffee out of cups advertising the government's telework program. The camera focuses from one to another as they talk.

Tom: "Talk to me! What are you struggling with and what kinds of questions are you having difficulty with?" As the camera rotates to show Tom, we see the Memo at a table behind, drinking his coffee and rading a newspaper.

Thea: "Have you had to fill a job recently?"

Tom: "Yes I have and in fact I was a lot more involved in the process this time. HR asked me to write the job announcement," he visualizes his meeting with a woman from HR, " decide on which skills were really important to me, and sent more candidates to interview than ever before."

Thea: "Say it ain't so! A lot of candidates? Are you saying you didn't have to use the Rule of three?"

Tom: "No, I didn't! My HR specialist suggested a hiring process called Category Rating."

Thea: "Category Rating? What is it? Will it help with the problem of having only three applicants to select from under the current Rule of three process?" Thea visualizes three candidates standing next to each other.

Tom: "Absolutely! The purpose of Category Rating is to increase the number of names for managers to consider for the jobs they're filling." Thea begins to visualize a larger and more diverse group

Thea: "How does category rating work?"

Tom: "Well, in a nutshell, when people apply for your job, they're assessed against the knowledge skills and abilities, or competencies as we now call them, and instead of receiving a score, and you only seeing the three with the highest scores" Tom thinks of a sheet of paper titled candidates with three categories listed: good, better, and best. This switches to a piece of paper entitled canditates, showing two categories, highly qualified and qualified, with multiple entries under each category. " you now get to see all of the people who are in the highest quality category. They don't have scores associated with their names, but you will know that those in the highest quality category are all highly qualified."

Thea: "Can I interview and hire anyone in the highest quality category?"

Tom: "You can interview any of the candidates, but you can not, of course, pass over a veteran for a non-veteran. Category rating preserves veterans' preferences, but the beauty of using it is that you'll see all of the veterans, if there are any who are highly qualified, at the top of the category, followed by the non-preference individuals."

Thea: "I like it! But I have a question."

Tom: "Go ahead"

Thea: "What if there are only one or two people in the highest quality category? Are there other categories, like well-qualified and can I see those people too?"

Tom: "I'm glad you asked that question. If there are only one or two people in the highest quality category, you can ask to see those applicants who were assessed as well-qualified. My HR specialist called this 'merging the categories'. This should provide you with quite a few folks to interview for your opening."

Thea: "So category rating gives manages more selection choices while preserving veterans' preference."

Tom: "That's right. Hey, you catch on quick!" Camera zooms in on one of the coffee cups, showing the phrase Telework and the website address www dot OPM dot gov.

Thea: "Hey if I can get it, anyone can! This is really pretty easy." Camera focuses back in on Thea. "Do you have time for just a few more questions?"

Tom: "Sure, I have a few more minutes."

Thea: "What about the quality of the candidates?"

Tom: "That depends on how involved you, as the manager, are in the process. Like I mentioned earlier, I was thrilled at how involved I was in the process this time around. The best part about category rating is that you must have two or more categories in order to distinguish the quality of the candidates. The top category represents your ideal candidates with the knowledges, skills, abilities, education and/or experience needed to perform the job."

Thea: "OK. Who defines these categories? Is this where I can participate in the process?"

Tom: "Yes. You need to work with your HR specialist to accomplish this task." He thinks of Thea meeting with an HR specialist. "Keep in mind that you can't have a 'not qualified' category."

Thea: "Do we need to get OPM's approval to use category rating?"

Tom: "No, not at all. All your agency has to do is have a category rating policy in place. Your HR office should already have one in place, but if not, they can go to Hiring Reform dot gov and click on Category Rating. They will find all kinds of guidance, tools, training and even some sample policies to follow."

Thea: "Thanks Tom. This information was great. My next step is to do a little mroe research and talk to my HR office. Thank you again.

Tom: "Excellent. Well it's time to get back to work. I hope this has helped you. Let me know when you make your first hire using category rating."

The scene shifts to show Tom and Thea standing

Thea: "I certainly will. Have a great day."

Tom: "You too."

The scene dissolves to an outside shot of the coffee shop where Thea boards another bus and rides away, waving at the camera.