The Office of Personnel Management announced Wednesday the launch of two new programs aimed at boosting agencies’ recruitment of federal interns for early-career jobs.

Under the Biden administration, OPM has made it a priority to improve how the federal government recruits young workers, and in particular to revitalize federal internship programs, whose utilization – and conversions – have declined from internships to full-time positions – over the last decade. The agency finalized regulations last April overhauling the Pathways program, which include provisions expanding the eligibility of recent graduates to include non-college postsecondary education and reducing the minimum number of work hours required of an intern to become eligible for permanent employment.

In a memo to agency heads Wednesday, Veronica Hinton, OPM’s associate director for workplace policy and innovation, announced the creation of two new tools – the Pathways Intern Talent Program and the Talent for young graduates – which are now accessible to agencies via the USAJOBS platform. Similar to shared certifications, another recent recruiting innovation that allows multiple agencies to hire from the same list of candidates deemed qualified for a particular job, these programs allow agencies to contact interns and recent graduates in the whole government.

“The Pathways Intern Talent Program connects Pathways interns who meet program requirements for conversion to permanent or temporary employment in the civil service, but who cannot be converted in their employing agency, with other federal agencies ” wrote Hinton. “The Recent Graduate Talent Program serves the same purpose, except it connects recent graduates with other federal agencies. These talent programs allow agencies to connect with promising individuals interested in advancing their federal careers.

Hinton said these measures are another tool to help agencies fulfill a priority of President Biden’s management agenda to improve federal agencies’ hiring capacity and speed, and reduce barriers to entry into the federal workforce.

“They allow agencies to effectively identify Pathways interns or recent graduates to provide them with the opportunity to be considered for conversion to other agencies,” she wrote. “It also expedites recruitment for agencies that can fill open positions non-competitively with Pathways interns or recent graduates who have already completed Pathways program requirements and been found qualified.

The Pathways Intern Talent program officially launched within USAJOBS in March 2024, while the recent graduate program was implemented in July. OPM said it will soon conduct demonstrations of the new functionality to agency HR managers.

“The goal of this ‘soft launch’ was to provide agencies with sufficient time to identify agency touchpoints and educate hiring managers and HR practitioners on appropriate use,” wrote Hinton. “Following the rollout of the revised Pathways Program regulations in April 2024, OPM continues to assist agencies with any questions, features or policy issues. We encourage agencies to consult their designated point of contact on the USAJOBS Agency Talent Portal for agency-specific instructions before using the Talent Programs.