Federal Internship Hiring Improvement Proposal
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., on Thursday introduced the 2011 Federal Internship Improvement Act
I Want You(r internship to go exceedingly well)!
(H.R. 914) to increase the number of government interns who are converted to full-time employees. This legislation would establish reporting requirements so that the Office of Personnel Management could evaluate agencies’ implementation of intern programs based on conversion rates, as well as determine the quality of those programs through exit interviews. It also would also establish a central clearinghouse so that agencies can recruit qualified candidates who interned for another agency.
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Connolly expressed concern that agencies convert just 6.6 percent of interns to full-time employees compared with more than 50 percent in the private sector. Government will have to fill more than 200,000 mission-critical jobs in the next three years, he wrote.
It’s noteworthy that this proposal comes in the wake of large-scale changes to the way that Uncle Sam attracts junior talent.
Federal agencies currently are overhauling the process for bringing students and recent graduates into government service. President Obama on Dec. 27, 2010, issued an executive order scrapping the controversial Federal Career Internship Program. The directive also established three pathways for young talent to enter the federal workplace. OPM Director John Berry in January outlined how agencies should convert FCIP participants to competitive service, along with the steps for continuing use of current internship programs while regulations are finalized.
