OPM Issues Interim Rule for Recruiting and Hiring Student Interns

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released an interim rule on August 18, 2021 that would make it easier for student interns to be hired by federal agencies. In the past, federal agencies have had stringent rules surrounding their internship programs leading to a path of full employment. This new policy would make it easier for agencies to recruit and retain talented interns.

According to OPM, students pursuing a bachelor’s or graduate degree on at least a part-time basis will be eligible. Agencies can hire student interns on a temporary basis or offer them a one to four year contract of employment. While in school, students will work at the GS-11 level or below.

The goal of this new policy is to hire young, entry level talent into the federal government- something the federal government has struggled with for years. The new rule does not address the Pathways program, which is currently the primary internship to job pipeline the federal government offers. However, it does allow agencies to offer paid employment to student interns while they are still in school.

Under the new intern hiring policy agencies can use strategic outreach approaches and advertise the positions on their own websites, other third-party platforms, and USAJobs.gov. Agencies can also move these interns to permanent positions as long as they’ve completed their degree programs and at least 640 hours of employment. They must also meet OPM’s usual qualification standards and time-in-grade requirements for the job.

Tracey Therit, Chief Human Capital Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, explained, “That doesn’t mean we do not have to advertise positions, it just means that we have flexibility in how we identify and select candidates, which expands access to federal government jobs to a wider audience.”

OPM Director Kiran Ahuja, whose first job out of college was with the federal government, wrote of the new policy, “Opportunities like this [working in government] are locked behind financial barriers. When the gateway to a federal career is an unpaid internship, the most likely people to make it through are the ones who can afford to work for free. The Post-Secondary Student Hiring Authority is one way we’re preventing that outcome, extending the opportunity of a federal career to Americans of all walks of life, and welcoming a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints.”