A federal hiring authority that aims to make it easier for agencies to recruit college students to temporary positions will soon undergo a few tweaks and clarifications.
In a Feb. 19 final rule, the Office of Personnel Management cemented a “post-secondary” hiring authority for agencies. The regulations attempt to make it easier to recruit undergraduate and graduate students for paid federal jobs, usually lasting between one year and four years.
The new regulations let agencies continue offering temporary and term competitive service positions through the hiring authority, but with a few changes and clarifications that generally attempt to add more flexibility for agencies.
Agencies have already been using the post-secondary hiring authority for the last few years due to interim regulations issued in 2021. OPM’s new final rule, which will take full effect March 23, mostly aligns with what the Biden administration implemented in 2021, following a provision of the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
“The intended effect of the authority is to provide additional flexibility in hiring eligible and qualified individuals,” OPM wrote last week in the rule.
Under the post-secondary hiring authority, students can work part-time for an agency, earning a salary at or below the GS-11 level, while also being enrolled in classes. Students who are hired temporarily and later complete their degrees become eligible for a permanent position with the same agency, if available.
In one change under the final rule, OPM is letting the temporary student hires take “breaks in program” during their agency tenure, if approved. A break in service may occur when a student, for a short time, is not actively enrolled in school but still working for the agency, or stops both working and taking classes altogether. Although not common, a break under this hiring authority may arise due to medical leave, financial hardship or military service, OPM explained.
The decisions of when to approve a break in program, how long the break should last, and how many total breaks a student hire is allowed to take, will all be up to individual agencies’ discretion, OPM said. But the final rule still emphasized that it should be clear any students approved for a break will eventually be returning to school to complete their degrees.
“For example, a student who will be unable to work for the first month of the three-month summer break between school years may be approved for a break in program,” OPM wrote. “However, a student who is withdrawing from enrollment at an educational institution and has no plans or intention to return … should not be approved for a break in program.”
In another modification, OPM is allowing some extensions for term appointments beyond the standard four years, when approved by an agency. These extensions are one way agencies may be able to recruit students who need longer than the typical four years to complete their degree, while still remaining employed during that time, OPM explained.
OPM also clarified the rules around agencies’ annual cap on how many recruits they can make under the post-secondary hiring authority. Currently, agencies are limited to a number of hires equal to 15% of the total number of students they appointed the previous year.
The percentage itself cannot be amended, OPM said, but the final rule clarified that other types of student appointments, such as those made through the Pathways Program, may also count toward agencies’ student count — which may, by extension, increase the number of appointments agencies can make under the post-secondary hiring authority.
The final rule also removed data reporting requirements on agencies’ use of the hiring authority, something that was no longer required three years after the enactment of the fiscal 2019 NDAA, OPM explained.
“OPM continues to conduct oversight of all hiring activities including agency use of this hiring authority,” the agency wrote.
Additionally, despite some stakeholders requesting that the hiring authority be expanded to include students pursuing associate degrees, trade school programs, certificate programs and apprenticeships, OPM clarified that it’s unable to do so, due to federal statute.
“However, there are other programs available to agencies such as the Pathways Internship Program that may be used to recruit students pursuing other types of degrees or certificates,” OPM wrote.
For years, agencies have struggled to hire and retain early-career talent. The portion of the federal workforce that’s under 30 years old has consistently stayed below 10%.
Over the years, OPM has tried several strategies to expand agencies’ opportunities for hiring younger employees. Most recently, under the Trump administration, OPM launched a new “Tech Force” program to bring on about 1,000 technologists into government and work on various agency modernization projects. OPM Director Scott Kupor has said the program, in part, is targeted toward early-career talent.
Tech Force applications for software engineers and data scientists are currently undergoing a final review stage, according to Kupor. The first round of Tech Force offers may go out as soon as March 1.
But over the last year, early-career staffing in government has declined due to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce. Currently, 7.9% of the federal workforce is under age 30, compared with 8.9% a year ago.
“We all have to recognize that if we’re going to attract great people who are from a different generation, we have to speak in the language that they respond to,” Kupor said at a Feb. 19 event hosted by Government Executive. “And certainly right now we’re not doing that as effectively as we can.”
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