Agencies tailor use of management fellowship program

The federal government is tailoring its prestigious fellowship program to fill top management spots in fields with the most pressing needs.

The Chief Human Capital Officers Council is partnering with the Presidential Management Fellows program for the first time to identify each agency's specific management needs and to use the fellowship to recruit elite candidates.

In 2003 President Bush eliminated a 400-person cap on the program, though budgetary constraints remain. CHCOs completed surveys of their agencies this summer to determine critical occupations.

"The intent is to work together to build and maintain a pipeline of qualified eligible men and women who possess graduate degrees in a number of fields," said Michael Orenstein, a spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management, which administers the PMF program.

CHCOs identified the top three management priorities as: accounting/finance/business, information technology, and environmental science/engineering/statistics. Other desired fields included human resources and public policy.

PMF program coordinators will take this information to college campuses for more directed recruitment.

Fellows are graduate students nominated by their school's dean and are awarded two-year positions at a GS-9, 11 or 12 level. Finalists are selected by OPM and are then given access to a job bank and a job fair in Washington, where they can apply for available positions. This year the online application form will be available from Sept. 1 to Oct. 9.

In addition to the job, fellows also receive at least 80 hours of formal classroom training a year and can take short-term rotations at different federal agencies.

The partnership was created as part of OPM's effort to improve federal recruitment. The agency also launched a television advertising campaign in the spring to entice more applicants for federal jobs.