Candidates flock to Senior Executive Service development program

The Office of Personnel Management began accepting applications Nov. 15 for its new Senior Executive Service Federal Candidate Development Program, and more than 3,200 candidates have applied so far. There are only 20 open positions in the first class, according to Ron Sanders, OPM's associate director for strategic human resources policy.

The application process is scheduled to close Wednesday, and officials say they are excited about the enthusiasm for the program, which is designed to develop future generations of senior executives in the federal government.

"Our larger effort is to ensure that the Senior Executive Service has the best talent available," Sanders said. "It is an aggressive outreach we are undertaking for that program.…It is going tremendously well."

OPM Director Kay Coles James initially contacted agencies' chief human capital officers in October, asking them for "assistance in identifying applicants who will help ensure that our 'leaders for tomorrow' participate in this program."

"As we all know, a significant percentage of our senior executives will be eligible to retire over the next few years," James wrote in the Oct. 29 memo. "The [Federal Candidate Development Program] will help develop the leadership capacity necessary to manage in a dynamic federal environment and drive organizational performance."

Sanders said the class sizes would most likely expand in the future, to 40 or 50 people depending on the experience of the first group.

"We know there is a lot of interest," Sanders said. "We wanted to keep it small to keep the kinks out…particularly the assessment program."

OPM officials also are making a point to reach outside the federal government to recruit candidates. If recruiters were to focus only on federal employees, "frankly, that limits the talent pool," Sanders said.

"We've gone to a number of professional associations," he said. "We've told them about the program. We've asked them to advertise the program."

The first classes are expected to begin in April. Officials plan to fine-tune the process after the program launches, but Sanders is also enthusiastic about the initial offering, saying, "I'm really excited most about the curriculum."