The Office of Personnel Management needs to extend its oversight role by addressing the internship trial period as well as exercise its oversight role more fully over the program to ensure agencies are abiding by merit systems principles, veterans’ preference, and equal employment opportunity rules, the report said.
It said OPM should also hold agencies accountable for providing training and development activities to their career interns, as well as develop and promote better assessment tools and make sure agencies have access to them.
MSPB also made a number of recommendations to agencies designed to improve the program’s effectiveness, such as expanding recruitment methods to include paid online, radio or print ads, recruiting agencies and employee referrals.
Agencies should improve assessment by using multiple hurdles or a combination of valid and reliable pre-hire assessment tools, include a provision in their FCIP plans ensuring that supervisors use the trial period to determine if an intern should be offered a permanent position, according to MSPB.
It said agencies should improve performance management by rigorously assessing interns against standards for behavior and performance, and improve training by providing funding for formal training, ensuring appropriate on-job training, rotational assignments and mentoring, and creating individual development plans.
The report also called on agencies to educate supervisors about their FCIP plan and their responsibilities under it, ensure systematic communication between supervisors, interns and HR staff, as well as solicit feedback from applicants.
