I have always been assured by my friends who work for the government that, “The government is always hiring;” although, admittedly, recent government hiring has, and it seems, will continue to slow or even stop. Nevertheless, over the next decade the government will need to step-up its hiring efforts. With baby boomers retiring the government is finding itself in need of not just a few new employees, but what some might consider an entire new workforce. In fact, according to the Partnership for Public Service-run site Where the Jobs Are, the government is set to hire 270,000 new employees between FY2010-2012!
Over the next decade, however, Lily Whiteman—author of the long-titled book How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job—reports that “about 60 percent of federal employees—including 90 percent of senior federal managers—will be eligible to retire and about 40 percent of employees are expected to retire.”
It is no surprise that the Obama Administration has worked hard to pave pathways for students and new graduates who are interested in public service, understanding that the present generation of federal employees will, at some point, need to be replaced with a new generation of federal workers. One such pathway was recently created by an Executive Order issued on December 27, 2010 by the Administration. The Executive Order both keeps and builds on existing programming for student and new graduates. Specifically, the Order keeps in place the increasingly popular Presidential Management Fellows Program, and adds an additional program, called the Recent Graduates Program, which is similar in structure, and provides recent grads with a two year employment opportunity with the possibility of obtaining a permanent full-time position with the federal government.
The Order also replaces the Student Career Experience Program—an internship program which allows students, upon successful completion of the program, the opportunity to transition into a full-time permanent position—with a newly designed Internship Program. The Order fails to mention however, in what ways and how this program will differ from the already-existing Student Career Experience Program. Nonetheless, what is important is that the new Internship Program and the newly created Recent Graduates Program, if successful, could create lasting opportunities for students and new graduates with an interest in public service.
If you have questions about details of the changes, or need clarification, or are not sure how this will impact you if you are applying or currently in a SCEP/STEP or another government program, feel free to e-mail careerservices@apus.edu.
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