Two new talent programs announced on Wednesday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will help Federal agencies to better identify Federal interns and recent graduates, continuing the government’s efforts to recruit early career talent.
The programs are a new feature on the USAJOBS’ Agency Talent Portal (ATP), which is a recruitment platform that assists agencies in reaching out to “promising individuals eager to advance their Federal careers.” OPM announced the programs in an Oct. 23 memo to agency HR directors.
The Pathways Intern Talent Program will support Pathway Interns who are eligible for permanent or term employment but cannot convert at their current agency. The Recent Graduates Talent Program connects recent graduates with other Federal agencies.
“We encourage agencies to take advantage of this readily available pool of early career talent when filling vacancies,” the memo says. “The Pathways Interns and Recent Graduates chose to opt-in to the respective Talent Programs because despite meeting program requirements, their employing agencies were unable to convert them.”
The new programs aim to expedite the hiring process and fill vacancies non-competitively with pre-qualified candidates, OPM said.
The Pathways Intern Talent Program was first launched in March 2024, and the Recent Graduate Talent Program was launched in July 2024. OPM said that “the goal for this ‘soft launch’ was to give agencies sufficient time to identify agency points of contact and inform hiring managers and HR practitioners on the appropriate use.”
The programs’ announcement follows additional efforts to improve workforce recruitment after a rule issued earlier this year expanded applicant eligibility to allow individuals with and without a college degree – but who have completed qualified career or technical education programs – to take part in the Pathways Program. It also allowed agencies to convert interns to permanent Federal positions after completing a minimum of 480 hours in their internships and gave agencies additional time to convert interns into permanent positions.
The memo notes that any HR specialist or hiring manager who would like to access the Talent Programs will need an ATP account, which they can get by emailing recruiterhelp@usajobs.gov.
