This report models the effect of filling institutional requirement (IR) positions on a career field's health. The report also examines how changing the number of IRs affects the operational development, career experience diversity, and career paths of space officers. The fill rates of most space jobs would not be affected by reductions in the total number of IRs allocated to the space career field. IR effects on space officers' careers could be lessened by careful job selection and position prioritization.

Using RAND's Military Career Model to Evaluate the Impact of Institutional Requirements on the Air Force Space Officer Career Field

Alexander D. Rothenberg, Lisa M. Harrington, Paul Emslie, Tara L. Terry

ResearchPublished Jul 10, 2017

This report summarizes findings from modeling the effect of filling institutional requirement (IR) positions on a career field's health, given that filling IR positions draws labor away from core authorizations. The authors adapted RAND's Military Career Model, a detailed personnel simulation model, to evaluate the impact of changes to IRs on the space officer career field and study IRs' effect on a variety of career field metrics, including the ability to fill core requirements and IR positions simultaneously. The report also examines how changing the number of IRs affects the operational development, career experience diversity, and career paths of space officers. According to the model, the fill rates of most space jobs would not be affected by reductions in the total number of IRs allocated to the space career field. If fewer IRs were assigned to the career field, the biggest effect on fill rates would occur for jobs with slightly less priority than IR positions, particularly staff jobs at the O-4 grade. IR effects on space officers' careers do exist, but they could be lessened by careful job selection and position prioritization.

Key Takeaways

  • The fill rates of most space jobs would not be affected by reductions in the total number of institutional requirements (IRs) allocated to the space career field. If fewer IRs were assigned to the career field, the biggest effect on fill rates would occur for jobs with slightly less priority than IR positions, particularly staff jobs at the O-4 grade.
  • Being assigned to an IR position has the potential for both positive and negative effects on officer development and career progression. Negative IR effects on space officers' careers do exist, but they could be lessened by careful job selection and position prioritization.

Recommendations

  • Increase the fidelity of priorities for space jobs and ensure space officer assignments are made based on these priorities. Our analysis of the impacts of IRs at the career field and individual level revealed the importance of prioritizing jobs. Top-to-bottom career field visibility of job priorities — from space senior leaders to the space assignment team — will also help ensure that all high-priority positions are filled.
  • Carefully select IR jobs for space officers. The space officer assignment team should seek IR positions that provide officers with experiences and competencies to enhance and complement their space expertise.
  • Continue to maintain and possibly expand the use and management of the space experience code (SPEC). Without this code, which categorizes positions into subcategories in the space officer career field, identifying and analyzing positions below the Air Force Specialty Code level is difficult. Air Force Space Command should consider extending the use of the SPEC from labeling personnel with particular experiences to labeling each space authorization for future job-level analyses.

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Rothenberg, Alexander D., Lisa M. Harrington, Paul Emslie, and Tara L. Terry, Using RAND's Military Career Model to Evaluate the Impact of Institutional Requirements on the Air Force Space Officer Career Field. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2017. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1302.html.
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