Four years after its creation, the Pathways Program is proving effective at bringing talented people into the federal workforce—more than 35,000 in that time—more than nine-tenths of whom plan to remain with the government for the foreseeable future, OPM has said.
OPM released a first of its kind report on the program, which consists of:
* the Presidential Management Fellows program, which primarily places those with advanced degrees into fellowship type positions with the opportunity to convert to competitive service status after one year of satisfactory performance;
*the Recent Graduates program for graduates of colleges, community colleges and vocational schools (typically within two years of graduation, but up to six years for those serving military duty), with the potential for conversion to competitive status after one year from the end of a training period; and
* the Internship Program for high school and college students to familiarize them with government work with a potential route into federal employment.
“With more federal employees becoming eligible for retirement, Pathways Programs have become a great resource for agencies to help bolster our civil service ranks, and the report shows that retention rates among Pathways participants has been high so far,” said OPM acting director Beth Cobert in a statement.
The program was created in part to replace the Federal Career Intern Program, which federal unions came to view as over-used by agencies to end-run competitive hiring practices.
