From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
As a candidate, Barack Obama had a simple answer for people's distaste for government. He would make public service "cool again." But as president, he has a larger challenge in his way: making sure those just embarking on their careers can get into government at all...Bureaucrats and college officials alike hope that may be about to
change. Last week, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management released draft regulations for putting in place a 2010 executive order, Recruiting and Hiring Students and Recent Graduates, that charged the agency with remaking four cumbersome federal hiring
programs. In their place, the order established something called the Pathways Program, designed in part to do a better job of converting interns into full-time employees and hiring inexperienced but talented graduates.
And NextGov:
New Details on Pathways Programs
The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday issued proposed regulations to create more uniform and transparent pathways to federal service for students and recent college graduates.
In December, President Obama issued an executive order calling for streamlined "Pathways" programs to improve federal recruiting and provide training, mentoring and career development opportunities for students and recent graduates. OPM said Thursday that the proposed regulations limit the Pathways programs to serve as a supplement to competitive examining and veterans' preference.
"These regulations commit the federal government to two key goals," said OPM Director John Berry. "First, they require pathways to federal service to be clear and accessible for students and recent graduates. Second, they press us to create a federal culture where agency leadership is actively engaged in recruiting, training and managing top talent."
The program includes three tracks for students in high school, undergraduate or graduate programs as well as recent graduates. Participants would be hired under a newly created Schedule D of the excepted service, allowing for more flexibility in hiring while still preserving veterans' preference. The proposal also would require agencies to make meaningful assessments of participants before converting them to permanent positions in the competitive service.
The internship track of the program would replace existing internship programs and be targeted towards students in educational institutions from high school to the graduate level. The recent graduates track would target recent college graduates, requiring them to apply for a job within two years of degree completion.
The proposal also would beef up the Presidential Management Fellows program by expanding the eligibility window for applicants and making it more student friendly by aligning it with academic calendars.
