Use of Hiring Alternatives Varies

MSPB also has said there is a significant difference in use by federal agencies of several alternative hiring authorities introduced in recent years that can be used when hiring from outside the government as well as in internal hiring. It said that the federal career intern program, which provides a two-year learning period and a path into a permanent appointment, was used in about 11,000 hiring actions in 2005, nearly double the number in 2003. Meanwhile, though, the “category rating” authority, which is an alternative to the “rule of three” and allows candidates to be ranked in broad groups, was being used by just nine of the 22 agencies MSPB contacted and even those use it for only about 20 percent of their competitive service hiring.