OPM announces deadline for revamped postgrad program

The newly remodeled program to recruit recent graduates to federal service will be accepting applications starting Nov. 5 and remain open for two weeks, according to an approximate timeline  the Office of Personnel Management has released.

The Presidential Management Fellows program was overhauled in May as part of the wholesale changes made to the federal government’s initiatives for students and graduates. The goals of the reforms were to increase transparency and to simplify the application process. PMF is one of three tracks in the new Pathways Program; it offers a two-year stint performing various assignments at multiple agencies.

The rebooted program will use new tools to assess talent and improve training and orientation for participants.

OPM will notify applicants if they have been selected as semifinalists in mid-December and will make its final selections in March 2013. Around 10,000 candidates are expected to apply; 600 to 1,000 will be accepted, according to agency estimates.

OPM aims to avoid an error made in 2011 when it mistakenly sent acceptance letters to 300 applicants it had planned to reject.

Applications are available at USAJobs.